HD Radio

Let me loose in a store's electronics department and I'm like a kid in a toy store. When a new gizmo comes out, I like to think I'm riding the wave of technology. Sometimes that serves me well, while other purchases gather dust. I got a digital SONY HD radio like this one for Christmas last year. The jury's still out on HD radio. It works fine, with rich sound and even an input for CD, iPod and even my old FM/AM stereo Walkman from the 1980s. The Hartford FM stations, which come in well here in Colchester, promoted HD Radio quite heavily and I really enjoyed getting the HD-2 "stations between the stations." Since then, I noticed a certain lack of enthusiasm on the part of several big corporate broadcasters. The smooth jazz HD-2 channel on one frequency has gone silent. Another has shut down their HD-2 classic hip-hop, although I didn't know hip-hop was old enough to have that many classics. When the corporate cost-cutters pull the plug on something you bought into, there's a letdown involved. AM HD is supposed to sound like FM, but Colchester is not a great place for AM reception in the first place. The only station I get with some consistency in HD is Sports Radio 66 WFAN. Even WCBS-880 doesn't quite make it here in HD. At night, some AM stations will sound awesome for a few minutes - like WINS, WBZ or WOR - only to fade badly. I also don't count on FM HD-2 stations to wake me up in the morning, because the stations disappear completely if the HD signal falls even slightly short. For all its promise, I get the impression that HD radio may be too little too late. The two stations I listen to the most on this radio are not in HD at all: Public Radio and Soft Rock 106.5 WBMW. As a radio geek, I want every station to have HD. As a listener, HD hasn't made its case - yet.