Yeah, sorry, Z -- I shouldn't have oversimplified, I know there are many other barriers to folks listening to these HD2/HD3 stations, but I do wonder if the signal issues are a big part of it, too.

The relatively small number of cars with HD radios is certainly a much bigger problem (I read it was up to half of new cars, but still only about 20% of cars on the road as of 2019). But if the people that do have HD radios try it out and it's glitchy with poor programming, it's not like there's going to be a lot of good buzz to get others to check it out.

I'm late to the party, finally got my first car with HD radio just a couple years ago and recently a second car with HD radio. Both are Toyotas with the little shark fin antennas and both have the same issues with HD dropouts, but analog reception is fine. It's fairly clear what's happening since the dropouts regularly happen in the same spots (on roads where there are spots shadowed by taller buildings or overpasses between my car and the transmitter), but the analog signal is still there. The terrain issues are fairly predictable, but other times, tropospheric openings can wreck HD reception, too, as distant stations on adjacent frequencies blot out the weak power HD signals.

But, as I say, I'm late to the party. Consumer Reports wrote the following way back in 2014, putting HD Radio in the category of "don't bother" car features: "HD radio. It's advertised as having better fidelity than conventional AM/FM signals, but we've seen little benefit on the road. ... We've found that the signals tend to come and go, resulting in annoying changes in sound quality."

I think ilgrant mentioned further down that they were suprised I had issues with WKQX-HD2 since they have a relatively powerful HD2 signal. I'm surprised the Loop never shows up in the ratings! Before it was sold out from under Cumulus, it was around a 2 share 12+, I think? Certainly a lot of that listening must have been in cars (some of which have HD radios), but I don't think I've ever seen WKQX-HD2 even show up in the ratings.

It's interesting to me that stations that had substantial audiences while on analog FM, like the Loop or to a lesser extent, Audacy's alternative and country stations in NYC, saw their audiences basically vanish when they moved these formats to HD2 signals (country is at a 0.3 on WXBK-HD2, alternative on WINS-HD2 is putting up Blutarsky numbers).

Mostly, it just makes me sad. I know I'm a radio dork, but I was genuinely excited to finally have a car with HD radio. Sad to say, the technology just isn't very good. Between the glitchy HD radio listening experience and the spiral that radio in general is in right now, there's not a lot to recommend listening to HD radio over streaming music on your phone.