So, we kind of had some malaise over the last little while at Droxy, and kind of ignored the BIGGEST event in satellite radio history.  Now that the king of all media is broadcasting from space, what are your week one impressions?  Personally, yeah, it's Howard freaking Stern.  I'm not that impressed.  Why?  I didn't like him before, so my opinion doesn't really matter.  What did you think?  Is Stern the best thing to speed adoption of satellite radio? Obviously droves of people plunked down their hard earned cash to cop a Sirius subscription, but do you think if Stern left, they'd stay?

Would you rather have 97.5-HD1 and 97.5-HD2 or would you rather have 97.5, then in HD 108.3, 108.4, etc?  A new study conducted by some radio analysts says consumers prefer to have the 'extended band' of radio, instead of a 'layered approach.'

Real quick background, with HD/DVB now stations can multi-cast more than one station, on around the same frequency.  The only problem, is nomenclature (naming schemes.)  With digital multicasting, many industry pundits were saying it would be a good idea to layer stations, and have KISS-FM HD1 through how ever many multicast stations there are.  Consumers seem to like the approach of having stations they can turn to, and know exactly where they're going.

Basically, the research was done so manufacturers and broadcasters can come together on a more uniform standard, and avoid consumer confusion.  The next step?  Researchers will meet up with manufacturers ar CES this January and try and hammer something out.

Normally, I'd ask what do you think about this, and whether you agree or disagree.  Unfortunately, the weekend of the 17th and 18th, comments will be closed while we check out some stuff.  After that, then be the first person to comment on the new system.

Infinity Broadcasting, former home to Howie Stern, renamed  themselves to CBS radio.  Ever since Viacom divested CBS and the mass-media broadcasting counterparts (anything broadcast, not MTV or other cable outlets) CBS has seen a rebranding of sorts at the corporate level.

As part of the name change, CBS Radio will also emphasize other facets of the market.  Their new slogan is, "CBS Radio:  Broadcast ... HD ... Streaming ... On-Demand," so to me, that says they're trying to shake their 1928 terrestrial broadcast image.

We're quite intrigued by a bit of news that came across our desk, Motorola's iRadio has been named best radio service at the 2005 Digital Entertainment and Media Excellence Awards in L.A.  I personally haven't been following the iRadio saga, although Droxy's Ryan Saghir has.  Apparently an iRadio enabled phone takes Internet radio and MP3s and plays them, "seamlessly" transitioning from just the cell to the car over (presumably) Bluetooth.  The phone on the iRadio website looks reminiscent of the original ROKR which might be why they're not dropping the unsuccessful phone line altogether.  Regardless, the concept is getting some major attention, but only time will tell if it's really worth paying some attention to.

Clear Channel, the purveor of all that is corporate radio, says they're looking at distributing their content online, and through mobile devices.  FMQB says they're already talking with Microsoft, Yahoo! and Apple, but the article doesn't mention exactly when the overlords would make the large jump online.  Clear Channel already is looking towards terrestrial radio's future with HD, so I imagine DVB-H and other types of future broadcasting won't be far away.

Now, listeners in Southwestern Florida have an HD Radio Station, like many others it is an AM news/talk (sports/talk in this case.)  An article by a local paper, the News-Press, says that while it's available, no one has HD receivers, much like the current state of HDTV.  HD Radio is definetly the future, but at $500, it might not be the most near future.  What do you think?  Would you pay $500 for one HD radio station in your market?  Of course not.  How many stations and incentives would it take for you to plunk down enough cash to cop an HD reciever?

definitely
defiantly
definably
deftly
decently
Edit...
Revert to "definetly"

 Podcasts on your cell are one thing, but now Cingular says they're going to offer 40 channels of digiral radio through MobiRadio.  The content will ultimately be through Music Choice, the folks who do digital radio on your cable boxes.  Right now, the service is only available with the Nokia 6620, Sony Ericsson S710 and Z500a, and it's pretty pricey at $6.99 plus kilobyte usage, but people who really want their digital radio have a chance now.  If it were me, I'd still rock the Rokr or Moto V3i with iTunes, and rock out to 100 different songs.  That's just me though.

MTV, you remember the M stands for Music and not just Marketing, has a (surprisingly) insightful piece on the future of the industry.  They say that with the advent of iPods, satellite radio, podcasting and Droxy (ok, just blogs), the landscape has gone from our rock-music driven industry to something much much different.  With Howard Stern jumping ship to satellite radio, consumers are going to get more familiar with that market segment.  Now, instead of just replaying music, terrestrial radio stations are going to have to face the facts that music might not be the best option.  Talk radio is already a force to be reckoned with on the AM dial, and now more and more stations are moving talk radio to the FM dial, and to the web.  More FMs are changing from Modern Rock to a reggae format, as well as a new format dubbed 'Hurban' (Hispanic Urban.)  I agree with most of the article.  It feels like we're changing the same way they did in the 50s, with radio leaving the entertainment and storytelling formats, and heading almost exclusively to music.  Regardless of where this goes, it should be a very interesting 10 years.

 Arbitron, the company that measures ratings across all radio markets, says its not going to modify its rating system for the winter in all markets to include internet radio and sattelite radio.  In a statement today, they said, "While we believe that modifying the diary instructions is the right thing to do from a research quality standpoint, Arbitron has decided to address more fully our customers’ concerns with a limited test of the revised instructions in 25 markets in February 2006. Implementation would follow a successful outcome, but not sooner than Summer 2006."