HD Radio? What’s that?

Oh, come on, you’ve never heard of HD Radio?  Really?  It’s the greatest thing ever!  It slices, it dices, look at that tomato!

Image via Wikipedia

Okay, seriously, what is HD Radio?  In a nutshell, it’s digital radio, capable of being broadcast over FM or AM, with the possibility of offering multiple programming choices on the same frequency.  Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know that.  In fact, a recent survey has shown that most people don’t know what HD Radio is.  Most have heard of it, but many don’t know anything about it.  Very few know that HD Radio offers more programming choices.  Those that thought HD Radio had better sound quality were basing their knowledge on HDTV (i.e., HDTV is better looking TV, so HD Radio is better sounding radio).  Finally, some are confused about the difference between HD Radio (which is free) and satellite radio (paid subscription), and some think HD Radio is satellite radio.

Image via Wikipedia

Despite having been around since 2002 or so, HD Radio has made very little inroads.  There are a lot more HD stations now than there used to be, but the public’s awareness of HD radio isn’t any more than it has been from a few years ago.  Finding an HD Radio isn’t too difficult, but it still requires some searching, and if you do find one, the tuner might not be sensitive enough to pick up the radio signal(s) you want.  Right now, the digital signal is being broadcast on the same frequency as the analog signal as a hybrid (HD originally meant Hybrid Digital).  However, the digital signal is not being broadcast at full strength, in fact it’s a far cry from full strength.  Then there’s the issue of sound quality.  With the both the analog and digital signals take up the full bandwidth of the frequency, the sound quality on the analog side picks up interference from the digital side.  Conversely, the digital side, which may be further sliced into sub-channels (offering multiple programming), may not sound much better than a 64kbit/s MP3 file.

HD Radio has a long way to go before it becomes as ubiquitous as its analog counterpart… if ever.  It could disappear faster than you can say “AM Stereo.”  For the technology to survive, it need to be promoted better to the public, not to mention improvements to the technology itself.  If you purchases a device, and it doesn’t work as expected, you’re not going to use it.

I’ve got blisters on my fingers!

Good evening, welcome to Metal Shop!  You’re late!!!

Image via Wikipedia

In 1983, Fingers Metal Shop (FMS) made its debut on 102.3 WBAB, Babylon.  It roared on, loud and proud, for 21 years.  Then, in 2004, FMS was no more.

Seven years later, it came back, complete with web site, Facebook, and Twitter presence.

I’m not sure why the show went away in the first place.  Was Fingers tired of the show?  Were the show preparations too time-consuming?  Did grunge have anything to do with it?  I guess that doesn’t matter now.  FMS is back, and the hard rock and metal fans have new/old place to find the music they love.  Nowadays, they don’t have to stay up very late on Sunday nights anymore, since the show starts at 9pm.  No more falling asleep during Monday morning staff meetings!

Just in case that’s not enough loud music for you, there are a few other options.

Friday nights on Q-104.3 (WAXQ, New York), Eddie Trunk hosts Friday Night Rocks at 11pm.  This same show is syndicated elsewhere under the title Eddie Trunk Rocks.  You may also be familiar with Ed’s face/voice on VH1 Classic or SiriusXM’s Boneyard Channel.  Twisted Sister frontman, Dee Snider, hosts the syndicated House of Hair, heard every Saturday night on 103.9 WRCN, Riverhead.  House of Hair focuses on metal/hard rock of the 1980′s and early 1990′s.  You’ll also find other metal shows sprinkled in the schedules of 88.7 WRHU, Hempstead and 90.3 WHPC, Garden City.

Coincidentally, I’ve been trying various metal/hard rock streams via TuneIn, just to see what’s out there.  Hair Metal Radio, like House of Hair, plays mostly 1980s and early 1990s metal, but seemed a bit repetitive when I listened for a couple of hours.  They went back to the KISS catalog several times, and felt more like a jukebox than radio.  KNAC.COM and Pirate Radio 100.3 recall the spirit of their former on air counterparts (105.5 KNAC and 100.3 KQLZ in Los Angeles).  Both sounded more like real radio stations, but Pirate Radio seemed to play more obscure songs than KNAC.

Got all that?  Now show the horns!

Local AM Radio Updates

We’ve got an update this week for the Long Island Radio Dial.  540 WLIE-AM, Islip is now featuring Spanish programming, a change from the South Asian programming they’ve had for a while.  ”International 540 AM” leases time to programmers who are willing to pay for it, and it would appear that the South Asian programmer’s time and/or money has run out.

Also, gospel station 1520 WTHE-AM, Mineola added a couple of new syndicated shows to their lineup, according to AllAccess.com: Redding News Review and The Shayla Bennett Show.

New Bruce Juice

Are we back?  Did we defeat SOPA?  Not quite yet?  Well, let’s keep fighting the good fight, ladies and gentlemen.

Image via Wikipedia

For those of you old enough to remember (or just well-versed in history), Dave Herman was a radio personality on the legendary WNEW-FM.  Occasionally, he would play a Bruce Springsteen track and announce it as a dose of Bruce Juice.  On Wednesday, we got a taste of some new Bruce Juice, which, to me, sounds like… well, kind of like “classic” Springsteen.  Then again, I thought the same thing about “Radio Nowhere” and “The Rising.”

Springsteen fans will like “We Take Care Of Our Own,” as well as endlessly discuss the lyrical content (which you can see in the video below).  Is he making a commentary on the state of the U.S., in that the country should take care of its own?  Or maybe, based on a cursory read through the YouTube comments, he’s making a reference to Hurricane Katrina, and we as individuals need to take care of our own, and not count on the country to do it for us?

Have a listen for yourself.  What do you think?

“We Take Care Of Our Own” – Bruce Springsteen

Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” has gotten a fair amount of airplay on WEHM, so I have a good idea of what the song should sound like.  Now that I’ve a chance to watch her performance on Saturday Night Live, I see what went wrong that night.

She was nervous, and her breathing was irregular.  This broke up the phrasing of the melody, adding awkward inhales/exhales to what should have been a very smooth delivery.  She also didn’t seem to know what to do with her hands (aside from hold the microphone).

The scheduling of her appearance wasn’t right, either.  Her new album, Born to Die, isn’t due for release until the end of January.  The general public hasn’t had time to “live” with her music.  Only her current fans (the “early adopters”) knew who she was, and the rest didn’t know what to expect.  Everything turned this event into an off night in front a national television audience (not to mention Hulu and YouTube).

Whoever said that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, I hope they’re right.

Check out this performance where she’s much more sure of herself.  Notice how her breathing and phrasing flow much more naturally.  This is what you should expect if you go to one of her concerts.

Lana Del Rey – “Video Games” (live at Corinthia Hotel London)