[BC] IBOC

[Scott Cason]

Indulge me if you will time to play devil's advocate with Mike.

>>We may be getting asked to make the proverbial silk purse out of a sows
ear, but it is our job as engineers
to find a way to do it.

Even if it's the worst system out there, we just have to make it work
without asking more questions?  So if it were up to you, we'd have CBS'
spinning wheel for color TVs?


>>The first thing you notice is how hampered we have been for
the last 50+ years with a 75 us pre-emphasis curve and how each detail
and nuance comes through.

Then why not mandate digital broadcasting?  Do it like television.  By 2010,
everyone is digital whether you like it or not.  Actually, I can here that
now on my XM radio.  I listen to Sean Hannity, and I can hear his chair
squeak as he shifts his weight in it.  Or I can hear the boom on his mic as
he readjusts it.



>>The voices are much more intelligible and you can almost
discern which actuality cuts were recorded on different machines!

But will the average listener notice?  I doubt it.  We notice things because
we are trained to spot problems.  My first ex wife hated watching the news
on the TV station I worked at with me.  I was always finding soft back focus
problems, edit problems, audio problems, white balance problems, etc.  She
said she never noticed those things until I came along.  And now 15 years
after we divorced, she still sees them.  I guess you can call that MY little
revenge.  ;-)



>>Stop bitching about how bad it is and find a
way to make it work.

Verses finding a better way to accomplish the same goal?  If it's bad, fix
it.  But don't "make it work" because that's what we are "stuck" with.
Also, let the record show, I'm not bitching about how bad it is.  I don't
know enough about it to know if it's bad or not, yet.  I just have questions
about why this system.  Why this system that won't allow night time AM
broadcasting and a system that forces you, for the most part, to dump 90% of
your energy into a dummy load for FM.



>>We are engineers aren't we?  We should
collectively be able to  McGuyver something together that would benefit
all and not just moan about what we are handed.

I like to question the status quo too much I suppose.  But I'm looking at
what we have been handed and asking "why this?" and getting no valid reasons
for it.  Other than it sounds good and this is what the FCC and Ibiquity
said.


>>Oh, and to those that bitch about an annual license fee, unless you are
reading a different Ibiquity license than I am, there is NO ANNUAL FEE
for the main channel.

Yet.  How long do you think it's gonna take Ibiquity to realize that the
secondary programs are not generating any revenue so "after the next up date
everyone will be required to pay a licensing fee".  That's gonna suck.  You
put all your eggs in the IBOC basket, and the chicken is coming to peck your
eyes out.

Scott Cason
President
LaGrange Communications, LLC
502-213-0024
www.lagrange-com.com