As television broadcasters lobbied the government for free use of the digital airwaves in the \'90s, they promised to offer viewers a wealth of additional content, much of it localized, some of it even customizable. The digital transition was to herald a wonderful new era of information and entertainment, they beamed. By the time long-delayed digital transition was finally completed in 2009, though, most of the extra airwaves those broadcasters fought for were left unfilled. The only extra content consumers received from privately owned stations were, for the most part, a few extra channels of Doppler radar feeds and “McHale\'s Navy” reruns.
Given the broken promise of HD TV, it\'s not too surprising that HD Radio hasn\'t taken off. Consumers, to the extent that they\'re even aware that HD Radio exists, are indifferent to it, and HD technology still isn\'t standard in most new radio receivers. Even broadcasters don\'t seem to be clamoring to adopt the technology. In Milwaukee, fewer than 10 FM stations offer additional HD channels (some of which are just simulcasts of AM stations), and most of those stations rarely, if ever, advertise those extra channels.
I\'m a radio fiend, though, so when I needed a new car stereo last month, the prospect of even just a few extra channels was enough for me to spend up for a receiver with HD capability. The price difference was modest, about $20 or $30, and it has already proved a good investment.
I\'ll temper my endorsement with a couple of caveats: HD Radio technology is a little wonky. It can take my receiver a few seconds to dial into (or even just to detect) an available HD channel, which is an eternity when you\'re station surfing. Also, very few of the extra HD channels offer true local broadcasts. Many of them just host syndicated streams offered by Clear Channel and other content providers, so they have the sterile, automated feel of satellite radio. Nonetheless, unlike the dire additional digital TV stations that Milwaukee receives, these extra radio stations actually fill in some very real gaps in Milwaukee\'s airwaves.
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Here is a quick overview of the extra FM HD channels available in Milwaukee.
WUWM FM 89.7 HD-2 (Adult Album Alternative): WUWM\'s HD-2 channel “The Deuce”—NPR apparently assumes its listeners are above giggling at that name—is like a 24-hour-a-day World Café, broadcasting pretty much exactly the music you\'d expect from a public-radio music station. The playlist is predictable—Bon Iver and Wilco abound—but fairly large.
WHAD FM 90.7 HD-2 (Classical): This welcome service from Wisconsin Public Radio is the city\'s closest replacement for WFMR, the beloved classical music station that left Milwaukee airwaves in 2007.
WRIT FM 95.7 HD-2 (Oldies): As oldies stations have gradually shifted their playlists to include music from the \'70s and even the \'80s, they have scaled back on many of the staples from the \'50s and \'60s. This syndicated companion to Oldies 95.7 highlights those older oldies, playing throwbacks from The Dave Clark Five, The Drifters and The Beach Boys.
WQBW FM 97.3 HD-2 (Dance): Probably the most surprising of the HD stations I discovered, “The Spin Cycle” plays a continuous mix of contemporary club, pop and rap hits. The station spun a megamix of Kelly Clarkson\'s “Since U Been Gone” at an unfathomably early hour yesterday morning, following it up with Ice Cube and Mack 10\'s “You Can Do It.”
WMYX FM 99.1 HD-2 (Blues): This hidden blues channel is so under-promoted that there are probably employees of WMFX who don\'t know it exists; there isn\'t as much as a mention of it on WMYX\'s website. A typical hour might include tracks from Bo Diddly, John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray and The Blues Project.
WKKV FM 100.7 HD-2 (Adult Urban Contemporary): The Clear Channel-curated “All My Jams” station skews slightly older than the modern hip-hop and R&B that airs on V100.7 proper, but it\'s seldom veers as quiet stormy as Milwaukee\'s Jammin\' 98.3. Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Sade and Maxwell are regulars during the daytime hours. At night the playlist expands to dig deeper into the vaults of \'70s and \'80s R&B and soul.
WMIL FM 106.1 HD-2 (Country): More than any other on this list, this HD channel is the clear shadow of its parent station: Both FM 106.1 and FM 106.1 HD-2 play modern country, and since FM 106.1 already compiles most of its programming from syndicated Clear Channel content, the difference between the two stations is negligible. I removed this station from my presets after it introduced me to Colt Ford.
WMIL FM 106.1 HD-3 (Fox 6): Before television\'s digital transition, the audio from Fox 6\'s TV broadcasts was available on FM 87.7, thanks to a quirk overlap between VHF TV and FM radio bands. It\'s kind of poetic, then, that digital technology has returned that audio feed back to the radio.
