![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Whew (HD-radio)
Sep. 20th, 2008 10:49 amMda had read up on HD-radio, and had thought that, like television, that analog radio was going off the air on Feb. 19 and that no one was really informed about this like we've been informed about television going digital (this was part of the reason why he bought us an hd-radio, although I still like the analog better unless we're listening to Air America).
I've been trying to figure out how not having analog radio would impact us: what we would do at night, when we like to listen to radio while going to sleep, and what I would do about listening to the radio in the car. mda was freaked about what all of this would mean for npr and people who don't have a lot of money (if you can't afford to buy an hd-radio, would you be cutting yourself off from the local news that you need, and would radio just turn into Sirius satellite commercial radio?).
I asked him yesterday if this was really happening, so he did more follow-up research/reading and it turns out he was wrong.
I've been trying to figure out how not having analog radio would impact us: what we would do at night, when we like to listen to radio while going to sleep, and what I would do about listening to the radio in the car. mda was freaked about what all of this would mean for npr and people who don't have a lot of money (if you can't afford to buy an hd-radio, would you be cutting yourself off from the local news that you need, and would radio just turn into Sirius satellite commercial radio?).
I asked him yesterday if this was really happening, so he did more follow-up research/reading and it turns out he was wrong.
*A:* Presently the FCC requires that the analog AM and FM signals remain in operation. Some industry observers believe it could be 10 years or more before stations seek authorization to switch to digital-only transmission.That's a relief, although I did mention this to people I work with, and now I look kind of stupid. I hate it when that happens.
http://wpr.org/hd/hd_faq.cfm
So there WILL be a significant "overlap" period of both Analog and Digital signals, and only the TELEVISION stations will go exclusively Digital on 2/17/09.
"By now nearly everyone has heard something about the digital TV transition set to take place on Feb. 17, 2009. That's the day when all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will cease broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting solely in digital." (channel3000.com, WISC-tv)
Sorry I was a panic-meister about the radio thing. I'm just happy to have been wrong. I had a frightening vision of the future where less than 30 days after the new President is sworn in, all radios go dark. Who knows what (say) Blackwater would do in such a situation if there was a pres they didn't like.
