Hd formats you like...

[k2koq]

Here in NYC "106.7" has a good sounding second channel called "Classic Lite...the music you first heard on the AM Radio" Sounds like a lite music station from the 70's

Very well done.

[scowl]

There's a ton of potentially interesting formats on subchannels in Portland but they have a lot of work to do.

Our classic rock station has a "Live Rock" subchannel that plays (surprise) live versions of the stuff they play on their main channel. It's a great idea, a format that truly compliments the main staiton's format, but it's only been on for a few weeks and they're slow in adding songs to the format. It's not worth listening to yet unless you want to hear "Freebird" every hour.

A smooth jaZZZ station has a "Jazz Variety" subchannel that plays jazz that wasn't all recorded after 1975 although it still clearly favors modern recordings. It's also way too mellow focusing on the slowest, least threatening jazz ever recorded and completely ignores entire decades of jazz like big band swing, bebop and Dixieland. It ranks far below the college station that plays nothing but jazz and blues from all eras (and has a stunning 96 Kbps signal). I think they're wasting their bits unless they add another 40 years of tunes.

A smooth rock station has "Cosmo Lounge". This may be a national format. It's mostly upbeat dance tunes leaning heavily on the Disco era, but they do include club songs from the 80's and 90's and sometimes more recent hits. This is a fun station I've heard a lot of these songs only on AM top 40 radio as a kid.

A mainstream hit station has "The Undie Channel" which is supposed to compete with the alternative rock station in town (I guess). They don't have nearly the selection of songs as the competition (you don't listen to an "alternative" station to hear the same songs day after day!) and is not worth your time.

The best alternative station in town (with great DJ's) has a subchannel called "Deep Cuts" which sounds like nothing more than an automated subselection of songs from their main station. It's only been on the air for a week so they probably don't know what to do with it yet. It seems stupid to have an inferior version of your main station. It's better than "The Undie Channel" since there's much less repetition.

So as you would expect, there's a lot of potential but lots of redundancy. I think stations should give up using their subchannels to be a poor imitation of an alternative rock format and try something that isn't on any digital stations yet like rap, hip-hop, techo, punk/ska, swing, etc.