As an avid Phillies fan, I can’t seem to find enough content about the team that keeps my fanatical interest piqued for as long as my insatiable appetite exists. I want to know who’s hitting well against what pitcher, what pitcher is pitching well against what hitters and who the long reliever on a Tuesday during a rain shortened game after a 14 inning marathon the night before would be. Phew, I am fanatic.
Enter 98.1 WOGL HD-4. For anyone in the Philadelphia area, WOGL is a very familiar set of call letters for the local Oldies format station. So what does that have to do with Major League Baseball? Well, you have to do a bit of research. HD Radio, a sub-channel carrier of additional content, offers broadcasters the ability to offer even more content on the same frequency as their primary station. In this case, 98.1 offers Oldies as their standard FM broadcast and for anyone with an HD receiver, 98.1 HD-2 is 70’s hits, HD-3 is Talk and HD-4 is the Phillies Network.
So, why did it take a coworker who works with the Phillies local broadcasting telling me in passing to find out about this hidden treasure of listening gold? Why didn’t the people in control of this station or the people who are trying to push HD Radio as a legitimate broadcasting tool find some way of marketing this to me? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, but I can say it might have something to do with the fact that nobody outside of radio circles seems to know anything about HD Radio. At least the people I’ve talked to. Sure, you’ve heard about it, but where do you actually get any information about what is out there? Sometimes I will hear a commercial for HD Radio, boasting so much extra content and how amazing it is, but for a casual radio listener such as myself, why do I care? ………….The Phillies, Duh!
After a quick Google search, I found that in the broadcast region I live there are HD channels ranging from an arts channel that provides information about local cultural happenings to a station that airs salsa music. These aren’t typical formats you will find up and down the traditional radio dial, but through HD technology the radio horizon broadens. For a marketer looking to a mass medium like radio and the ability to accountably target an audience using niche programming, these channels can be gold. But first thing’s first – and the HD Radio Alliance needs to kick the vague messages they’re sending and explain the value of content they provide. We’ve all heard about HD Radio, now it’s time to actually hear about what radio can do.
Scott Fisher is an Account Manager at The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com