The HD in HD Radio

[tfofurn]

I keep hearing ads for HD Radio. They promise the moon: CD-quality sound from FM stations, FM-quality sound from AM stations, and "stations between the stations". The HD doesn't stand for "high definition", but they want you to think it does. It stands for "hybrid digital", a reference to the automatic switchover between analog and digital as a

Comments

[jeremyb]

I've heard ads where they referred to it as High Definition.

[tfofurn]

Do you recall if they were generic HD Radio spots or something claimed by a particular station?

[jeremyb]

I don't. It may have even been in print.

From Crutchfield:

Q: What does "HD" stand for?
A: Originally, the initials stood for "hybrid-digital," because the digital signals were carried with the analog wave. According to iBiquity Digital Corporation, that's been changed, and the letters "HD" now don't stand for anything. Some articles and news stories have erroneously assumed that "HD" stands for "high definition," which has contributed to the confusion between HD Radio technology and High-definition TV.

[alynch]

As jsbrown notes, it doesn't stand for anything...

However, the argument could be made that it could be "High Definition," since the codec used on the digital stream is the proprietary "High Definition Coding."

Of course, its all a nasty, closed, and proprietary system, so best to avoid it like the plague.