If, like many Americans, you're holding off on buying an HD Radio because you're not sure there are any stations broadcasting in HD Radio technology, you could stop holding off. There are already more than 500 stations across the U.S. broadcasting in HD Radio technology and more are adding the technology every day. This is not limited to just major markets, either. For example, here in Colorado, there are stations broadcasting in HD Radio technology in Colorado Springs. And Ft. Collins. Albuquerque has seven stations broadcasting HD radio signals, and both Memphis and Nashville, TN have HD technology licensed stations. Naturally, the major markets such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis all have numerous stations broadcasting HD Radio. Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Miami do too. In fact, it's almost impossible to find a city with a population of more than 200,000 that does not have at least a couple of HD radio stations. How about HD AM stations? While many of these stations are HD FM, there are also a number of HD AM stations. For example, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver/Boulder, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, and Minneapolis-St. Paul have HD AM stations, as do Albany-Schenectady-Troy, San Diego and San Antonio. What's the advantage of HD AM stations. It's that HD enables AM stations to sound as clear and static-free as conventional FM stations. So, if you're a talk radio fan, you would be able to hear your favorite programs with the same clarity and fidelity as if they were broadcasting in FM. The future also looks very bright for HD Radio. The big broadcast corporations such as Infinity and Clear Channel have pledged their support of HD Radio. Plus, HD radio is being pushed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) which has announced an agreement that will accelerate the conversion of over 800 PBS AM and FM stations to iBiquity's digital HD Radio broadcasting. Just as important, iBiquity recently announced that is has signed agreements with four, new China-based manufacturers to produce low-cost HD radios. |
