YES, THERE ARE PEOPLE LISTENING TO HD RADIO. SORT OF…

The November Nielsen Audio PPM’s do show a measurable audience for four HD stations.  But it seems to me that many of these listeners are actually hearing HD channels on terrestrial FM.

HD radio is the biggest radio technical boondoggle since AM Stereo.  In an effort to prop up the sagging platform, the FCC began authorizing the rebroadcast of HD-2 or HD-3 channels on terrestrial FM translators.  Many commercial broadcasters have claimed their "HD spot on the FM dial."

Here is the chart of the four HD stations in the November Nielsen Audio PPM’s ranked by weekly cume rating:

STATION	NIELSEN AUDIO MARKET	FORMAT	METRO RANK	WEEKLY CUME PERSONS	WEEKLY CUME RATING
WPOZ HD3	Orlando	Contemporary Christian	33	2.4	82,800
WPOZ HD2	Orlando	Contemporary Christian	33	0.2	34,600
WAMU HD2	Washington DC	Bluegrass Music	7	0.1	29,900
WPBI HD2	West Palm Beach	NPR News	48	1.0	27,900

KEN’S ANALYSIS:

• The WPOZ HD twins cover Orlando from several translators including the awesome W292DX at 106.3.  WPOZ HD-3 features Christian Rap music.  Here’s the map for W292DX:

 

• WAMU HD-2 blankets the heart of DC via W288BS, aka 105.5 FM. W288BS:

Reader tip: John Garziglia’s great translator article in Radio World: http://www.radioworld.com/article/let%E2%80%99s-talk-about-fm-translators/273859:

• WPBI HD-2 benefits from listening to W27OAD via 101.9.   Here’s the map for W27OAD: