I will not comment on whether or not this headline is true.
But if it is true, what do you think it suggests about the probability that radio listeners will buy a radio – any radio – at retail?
Or are they much more likely to, as I like to say, buy something that contains a radio – like, say, a car – and get the radio for free?
Now, what does this tell you about the near-term future of HD radio, which has a very small footprint in the OEM world, and any footprint it currently does have is strictly as an option? (Satellite, for all its woes, has a comparatively strong OEM footprint – and is increasingly available as a standard item).
What does it tell you about the value of radios in Wal-Marts and Radio Shacks (satellite or HD)?
What does it tell you about the value of the HD promos your station is running every hour?
I’m not trying to obsess on this topic. I’m only trying to put out a few intelligent words to counter the hundreds of thousands of dollars iBiquity spends to convince you that myth is reality, consumers are idiots, and “hope” is something other than a four-letter word.