HD2 & New Programming

83° - partly cloudy at 12noon

The week just flying by; a great morning as my two boys talked me into a bicycle ride to Starbucks. School here for them resumes right after Labor Day. Its been my first summer ever as a "stay home Dad".

I've written here before about active rocker WRIF/Detroit and their HD2 effort Riff2.

Station management and ownership deserve lots of credit for allocating the resources they have for this sidechannel. It appears to be a tremendous committment.

The programming boasts a full airstaff; and I recently found a revamped and totally cool website that just screams "community". Radio meets MySpace. Peruse the site - you might get some inspiration.

Listen to the stream too - its so much more than an automated jukebox; been listening most of the morning. A real jock - plus concert updates; sports updates. A real radio station. A local Detroit station.

Riff2 came to mind after reading Fred Jacobs' blog this morning:

"We have heard many stations and broadcasters say they will sink more into programming when there are more radios in the overall population."

"But the chicken-and-egg-of-it is that selling more radios isn't going to happen on faith. It is great content that will drive purchases. It is word-of-mouth that will convince people to try HD Radio. It is the ability to be able to walk into a store, hear HD Radio, and tune in cool and interesting programming that will move these units off the shelves."

Riff2 is a great example of developing a great sidechannel product; and adopting various forms of new media with their website.

Clear Channel has also been very active in development with their Format Lab. Inside Radio's Mike Kinosian profiles some of those efforts here.

HD - and radio in general - regardless of the delivery method needs more efforts like this. HD Radio's alleged "lack of interest" appears to more of an issue of awareness. This awareness really won't happen without an investment in programming.

Increased choices for consumers through technology like HD Radio. WiFi and WiMax open many opportunties for today's broadcasters; but those efforts have to expand beyond various flavors of iPod-type formats. Whats in it for you and me? I'm hoping for more job opportunities for programmers and airstaff alike.

Jobs are a good thing.