NonStop Radio - San Diego

NonStop Radio
has three core purposes:

To discover and assist grassroots movements in keeping threatened Progressive Talk stations on the air for their communities,
To assist grassroots efforts in re-establishing Progressive Talk stations where they have been canceled, or set up new Progressive Talk stations for markets not yet exposed to it, and
To act as a clearinghouse of information so that activists everywhere can come to the aid of threatened and canceled stations, and to also distribute tips and tricks so that any non-threatened station can be made less vulnerable by its supporters.

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SAN DIEGO

NSR ARTICLE:

Clear Channel's Hybrid Theory for
Progressive Radio in San Diego Debunked

Air America, Ed Schultz and Mike Malloy are "movin' on up" in San Diego, according to Clear Channel - but don't you believe it. These Progressive Talk providers will stop being carried on KLSD 1360-AM at the end of October, to make way for the arrival of the third sports station in the market.

The outpouring of listener and advertiser anger over the planned cancellation of Progressive Talk over San Diego's airwaves caught Clear Channel by surprise. The station has been repeatedly slated to flip format since the news of it was leaked in late August, only to be pushed back time and again, always with the official word that "no final decision has been made" regarding the fate of Progressive Talk in San Diego.

That line was last given at a rally the morning of Friday, October 12. By that afternoon, it had been confirmed to a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter that Progressive Talk would be pushed off of the AM airwaves. Instead, the nationally-provided lineup of KLSD would be aired on HD Radio, at 105.3-3 on the dial. According to Cliff Albert of Clear Channel San Diego, "HD is what everyone will be listening to in a few years," so this move is being sold as a step-up for the Progressive Talk format in San Diego.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

Let's start by de-mystifying HD Radio: "HD" does not stand for "High Definition", the way it does in many other forms of media. Instead, it stands for "Hybrid Digital", as it allows an analog (ordinary) AM or FM signal to also broadcast a digital signal, piggy-backing it on the same frequency. Unlike AM/FM (also called terrestrial) radio, existing receivers cannot pick up HD signals. In order to hear an HD Radio channel, you need to spend a low-end average of $200 for an HD Radio receiver. Thanks to this, less than one American in 600 owns one. When compared to how every American, on average, owns two ordinary AM/FM receivers, you can see that an HD signal is 1200 times less likely to be available to a potential listener.

That's a step up?

It doesn't even end there. 105.3-3 is a rather unusual HD Radio frequency for Clear Channel San Diego to offer. In researching the stations that are being carried on HD Radio digital signals around America, one finds that over 98% of them are on the HD-2 band (which for 105.3 FM is 105.3-2). Even those rare few people who have an HD receiver won't likely think to check and see if there is an HD-3 signal on a frequency - there is virtually never one to bother looking for. In a conversation with Air America's management, it was clearly said that they consider this move the same as being cancelled in San Diego.

But, really, isn't there a chance that this is better than being on a weaker AM signal like 1360 is in San Diego? No. When an HD Radio receiver is tapping an HD signal, if there's any interference, it reverts to the analog signal on that frequency. Put plainly, a listener of Progressive Talk 105.3-3 could be listening to Ed Schultz, hit a tiny bit of static and suddenly find themselves bombarded by the hard rock programming carried by ordinary 105.3 FM. A least now if 1360's signal gets weak for a moment, all you get is a little static and can likely follow the conversation through it. Also, a Hybrid Digital signal is 1/100th the power of a frequency's ordinary signal. This means that this phenomenon of going from Mike Malloy to Godsmack or Thom Hartmann to Korn is likely to be a real problem.

Also, there is no such thing on the market, just yet, as the HD Radio Walkman. This is due to the fact that HD Radio chipsets need too much power for portable models to be feasible.

But isn't this the wave of the future? Can't we just hold on until it catches on?

According to a recent Bridge Ratings study, there's no good reason to hold your breath for HD Radio to become relevant to public broadcasting. While an average of 73% of folks have heard of HD Radio, only 13% can tell you what it is, and only 11% express interest in owning an HD receiver.

If that's not bleak enough, less than 1% in the study has ever visited a store to look at or try an HD Radio receiver. Estimation of total HD Radio listeners in the country is half a million in 2008, and is expected to rise to just under 5 million by 2015 (please note that listener data isn't projected beyond 2015 for HD Radio).

If those sound like large numbers, Internet Radio already has 75 million listeners and is projected to rise to 180 million by 2020. Analog AM/FM will decline in that time, but not much - it currently boasts 270 million, and is only projected to go as low as 250 million listeners by 2020.

So, what does all this mean?

Put plainly, Clear Channel San Diego isn't facing reality. The shuffling off of Progressive Talk onto HD Radio is being painted as a compromise to having it shut off entirely. The audience and sponsors of KLSD have clearly said that they will not tolerate having their source of news and information taken from them. Presenting this Hybrid Digital Radio theory as if it meets that demand is like saying incarcerating someone for life is the same as setting them free, because at least you aren't killing them.

It's time to find a new home for Progressive Talk - one that will allow it the freedom to be heard by those who need it. Clear Channel San Diego's Hybrid (Digital) theory has been de-bunked.

–Aldous Tyler

At Monday, August 27th's rally, Program Director Cliff Albert confirmed that AM 1360 KLSD was being scheduled to flip from Progressive Talk. Progressives and Liberals of San Diego aren't taking this lying down.

The rally was attended by hundreds of loyal listeners as well as Bree Walker and Jon Elliot, with Stacy Taylor broadcasting live from within the rally itself! (See the Multimedia section at the bottom of this page for video and audio from the rally)

GET INVOLVED!

Make the fight more effective by printing out listener pledge sheets and sponsor pledge sheets for KLSD. Get everyone you know who cares about the fate of San Diego's only Progressive Talk station to sign on, either as a devoted listener or as a loyal sponsor.

Join the SaveKLSD Yahoo Group:

Subscribe to SaveKLSD

Powered by groups.yahoo.com

Also, Sign their petition!

Download the PDF flier for the Save KLSD Movement
and pass it out EVERYWHERE!

Fight back against this letter to the editor that the San Diego Union Tribune published (scroll to the bottom to read the original letter, entitled, "Station needs to air some original ideas") by writing to the editor in rebuttal!

For more information, visit saveklsd.com and see what the local effort has in store.

MULTIMEDIA OF THE KLSD RALLY:
Hear the audio from hour 1, hour 2 and hour 3 by right-clicking on each link and selecting "Save Target As" or "Save Link As", and downloading them to your computer.

Check out this nine-and-a-half mini-documentary on the rally: