I tuned in KTCT (but they are calling it KNBR?) AM 1050 today to listen to an NFL playoff game, and they were in HD. The signal sounded all wrong though-the channels were out of phase and kept almost cancelling each other out and other problems. It is good to get another AM HD station in the Bay Area, though. KCBS 740 used HD on one day a while back, but I have not heard them in HD since.

If their channels continue to be out of phase, be sure to tell them. You'd be shocked at how many AM stereo stations I used to have to tell 'back in the day' "Dudes, your channels are out of phase. I'm listening on my mono car radio, and getting NOTHING but scratchy distortion. You might want to check that...you know, when you get around to it....."

When it comes to technology, NEVER assume the other guy's as on the ball as you are (sadly, I speak from experience). If you hear a problem, tell them!

I've lost count at how many times my local Entercom HD stations have fallen back to chopping off frequency response over 15 Khz to make them sound like FM stereo stations. The last time it happened, I didn't bother to email them and they've remained that way since.

One station's HD2 channel has no bass and the stereo spectrum seems to be left, right, center and that's it. Fortunately they have the dumbest selection of music I've ever heard (a punk song by the Buzzcocks followed by a Van Morrision ballad???) that i haven't bothered to email them.

An AM station that just went HD a month or two ago has forgotten to turn off HD at sunset a few times. This station doesn't have anything to do at sunset like the other AM HD station which has to switch antennas, so apparently they just forget.

This is very much like the early years of HDTV.

This is very much like the early years of HDTV.
Yes indeed. There were all kinds of problems around 2000 that rarely happen any more.

BTW, I like stations with wide-ranging playlists. That's the great thing about 1970's Top 40 stations that I miss... I could hear Marvin Gaye followed by Led Zeppelin followed by Dolly Parton followed by the London Symphony Orchestra followed by "Disco Duck".

We have a Pax/i TV O&O that broadcasts mono on it's analog station.....sounds like they sum the two channels together about 90-degrees out of phase. Sounds like they run it thru a sewer pipe.

Another, the MyTV affiliate, runs their audio at clipping on one channel, and about half that on the other.

Then, there's the CBS O&O that runs all their audio at the point of clipping.

I watch those stations with the CC "on" and the sound "muted".

BTW, I like stations with wide-ranging playlists.
I like them when it sounds like a human is choosing the tracks to reveal some sort of relation between the songs. I've listened to this station for a while and it's obviously purely random with no human thought involved.

I kind of agree with Scowl. Yes, I long for the variety of top-40 in the 60s and 70s. But even though the same station would play Led Zeppelin, Kenny Rogers, and Marvin Gaye, it still didn't sound like a "train wreck" because it was sequenced by a human being. There was a narrative thread to it that the brain registered on some level, even with such an extreme range of music types. THAT is what's missing with today's radio!

Lately I've been discovering a bit of college radio...it's nice to hear no commericals and it's stuff you don't normally hear...like a two hour block of heavy metal :D

I just hope HD doesn't overcrowd them...

O yeah here's a odd question...when HD switches over for TV's will radios that get tv channels still receive them?

My favorite little college station is great for wild sets of music. My favorite was a classical piece, followed by a semi-classical song by Regina Spektor, then Brian Eno, then Afrika Bambaataa, and finishing off the set with the hallarious "Pimpn' All Over the World" by Ludicris. I'd like to see a computer come up with that!

O yeah here's a odd question...when HD switches over for TV's will radios that get tv channels still receive them?
No, once analog TV is gone, analog TV-audio-only receivers will also stop receiving usable signals in the USA.

O yeah here's a odd question...when HD switches over for TV's will radios that get tv channels still receive them?
Remember that TV won't be switching to HD. They'll just have to broadcast digital, not high definition. There are still a handful of network affiliates who plan to continue broadcasting in SD (480i) indefinitely for various reasons.

Lately I've been discovering a bit of college radio...it's nice to hear no commericals and it's stuff you don't normally hear...like a two hour block of heavy metal :D

I just hope HD doesn't overcrowd them...

O yeah here's a odd question...when HD switches over for TV's will radios that get tv channels still receive them?

No, NTSC sound is FM, that will disappear along with the analog video.

KTCT has fixed their audio problems, and their signal now sounds pretty good, with the digital and analog in sync properly. They are displaying some text in addition to their call sign on the HD Radio display.