I just finished a long weekend trip. I had a rental car this time, so I had the fun of setting up the radio so it was listenable before I left the lot. (Who turns the bass all the way down and the treble all the way up?) This radio included Sirius as well. I don’t subscribe to sat radio, so it was a good chance to check it out again.

I have always liked the depth of programming on many of the channels. It’s a nice change, but I don’t drive enough to justify paying the monthly fee for the service. Plus, I can’t stand the audio encoding. All that swishing of the encoder drives me crazy.

But this is not rant about the evils of sat radio.

While I was driving, I tuned around the FM band. I was in three medium-sized markets on my trip, so I had time to sample lots of stations.

What surprised me was that the car radio had a graphic display for Sirius, but it did not have RBDS. I saw a large numeric display of the frequency, but nothing more. That disappointed me. RBDS is far from a new technology; why isn’t it in every car radio receiver?

While I missed not having RBDS, the fact that satellite radio was included made me think that it would have been nice to have HD Radio available. What great way to introduce consumers to the newest terrestrial radio technology.

This car radio had an auxiliary input jack and a USB power jack. I could have bypassed radio altogether and listened to my media player if I wanted to.

Again, terrestrial radio is missing a huge opportunity to show consumers what is available.

When ISDN was introduced, it was believed it would be the next common wired communications service. I remember looking at an office phone system and being told that POTS lines would go away and ISDN would be the norm.

20 years later, ISDN is fading away. It’s unavailable in many areas already. Funny how POTS has managed to stick around.

Or has it?

AT&T filed comments with the FCC that say for broadband deployment to continue, the legacy circuit-switched network must be phased out to make room for broadband and IP. A main argument is that as demand and usage of POTS lines decreases, the cost to maintain that network increases. The money spent on maintaining the circuit-switched network could be better applied to broadband services.

I can’t say I totally disagree with the general idea. We’re using IP connectivity for almost everything already. It’s also much more efficient than circuit-switched networks. But still, the idea of not have any tip-ring anywhere? It’s almost hard to believe.

The next Radio Show — a joint effort of the NAB and the RAB — will be held in Washington, DC, Sep 29 - Oct 1. It was recently announced at an NAB board meeting that the Grand Hyatt will be the host site.

At the 2009 NAB Radio Show, it was suggested that the 2010 event would integrate sessions and exhibits more closely. There are still no specifics being offered on this idea. It was even suggested that there would be no exhibit floor of its own, only table-top exhibits around the session rooms. That didn’t sit well with exhibitors at the 2009 show.

In the meantime, we still wait for details.

AT&T released data saying that usage at its 20,000 Wi-fi hotspots reached 85.5 million in 2009. This is more than 4 times the use in 2008. It was also noted that most of this access was via some form of smartphone. We already know the world is connected. As cell carriers compete for better coverage, Wi-fi still ranks high in usage. This is good for the wireless carriers because a Wi-fi user is not using the wireless network and stealing from the data capacity.

New devices want more bandwidth all the time. Streaming radio is no exception. How long will it be until Wi-fi and Wimax is everywhere?

I received a product release today for a stand-alone radio that includes 1GB of storage and a timer interface to record up to 70 hours of radio programming. I wasn’t sure what to make of the idea.

The idea is that the unit can be set to record favorite programs for later playback. It’s a radio Tivo. This is not a new idea. There have also been similar functions offered in HD Radio receivers.

I looked at a few syndicated show sites to see if they all offered archives of their shows. They do. Some provided an easy way to save the shows or transfer them to a media player. Others were a little more difficult to navigate.

Regardless, the tools are there, although it might not be intuitive for some listeners.

Is there a need for this radio Tivo? For certain radio listeners it makes sense. It’s a self-contained system, although I have no idea how easy it is to use.

I then turned to some local station sites to see if the morning shows were offered as archives. In most cases, they had archives of clips. A few sites did not, which surprised me. Why would a station not offer its prime content online somehow? Even if that content is behind a registration wall (which also provides some info about the listener) it’s something.

The FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking to modify the rules and establisha method for an national EAS test has been issued. Do we need a national test? If we are going to keep the EAS as it is, a national test is a good idea. Such a test has never been conducted.

The recent EAN test in Alaska showed that the system seems to work, at least in that state. If the system were ever needed across the country, would it work as well?

It seems the FCC is still focused on the daisy-chain idea behind EAS, however. I know many plans kept this idea in place from EBS, but it’s an outdated idea and should be replaced if it’s still being used. That’s another issue than what the NPRM seeks, but it is worth noting in comments that the daisy chain should not be perpetuated.

Because the FCC sees broadcast as such a major part of the EAN, it’s important for stations to express their views on how such a test should be implemented.

Now that Michael P. Skarzynski has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Arbitron, flags are being raised about the PPM. Apparently, the Skarzynski’s poor conduct issue was lying to the House Oversight Committee at a Dec. 2, 2009, hearing. He lied about personally participating in a PPM training visit in November 2009.

Oops.

The PPM has already come under fire from minority broadcast groups who question the system’s accuracy. The PPM was recently denied accreditation in 20 markets by the Media Ratings Council. Now, Sen. Robert Menendez (NJ) is calling for a full investigation of the ratings measurement system.

Not good times for Arbitron.

It’s no secret that the paper diary system is not perfect. Stations have played the weaknesses (which they should do) to their advantage. The PPM has the potential to level the playing field in ratings accuracy if it can ever get off the ground.

The holidays are over. The deep freeze is subsiding. It’s time to get back into the full swing of things.

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The EAS test in Alaska using an EAN code seems to have not brought the broadcast system to its knees. Alaska has natural isolation from other states, which is why it was chosen. The test was held some 30 minutes ago as I write this, and so far I have not heard of any problems.

Is it on your resolution list to attend a conference or convention this year? If not, why not?

I’ve said it many times before: Attending a conference or convention is an ideal way to see and learn about our industry and its technology. Conferences and conventions also provide an ideal opportunity to network professionally.

The 2010 NAB Show is three months away. While that sounds like a long time off, it’s really not. In about 100 days, the largest broadcast event will take place. Why wait until the end of March to consider attending? Start planning now. Start building the plan to present to your manager.

And if the NAB Show is too far or too expensive, there are plenty of regional conferences to consider.