[LAU] HD Radio broadcasts

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. ------ 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. ---------- 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