[LAU] HD Radio broadcasts

[The Other]

Hello All,

What is HD radio?  A local radio station is advertising they are the
first HD radio station in my listening area.  Is HD supposed to mean
High Definition?

How can radio waves be normal for other stations, and HD for this
station?  Doesn't make sense to me.  I suspected HD means the
recordings have not been so compressed as other 'normal' radio station
recordings, and you can actually hear some dynamic range.

Then I saw Fons' comments in another post.
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Next question then was why all these HR recordings sounded so
much better than the average CD recording of the same music -
most listeners and the also the authors of the report did agree
on that.

The answer suggested by the authors is quite sobering: because
these recordings have been made for a niche market of audiophiles,
and the sound engineers who made them were therefore not subject
to the usual pressure to produce a type of sound that record
companies think sells best (reduced dynamic range, a balance
that emphasizes solo parts, added reverb, EQ, etc.). In other
words because they were allowed to do the recording in the way
they believed was right, usually employing very simple recording
techniques.
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Now this make sense to me.  Rather than having a radio broadcasted
recording go for "LOUD", the powers-that-be in radio broadcasting have
finally discovered that the radio audience actually prefers to hear
the subtlety in the music.

Took the powers-that-be long enough.  Now if they would just use the
same techniques for television commercials.  I *hate* it when the
commercial is louder than the television program.

Regards,
The Other