KDLT Vs. Hudson, Round 2
It’s probably no surprise that the fine folks at KDLT were not happy with my HD complaints last week. They were angered enough to send Backyard Broadcasting a nice little note. Here’s a copy of their email, along with a response that I sent a few days later:
From: KDLT [mailto:info@kdlt.com]Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 4:47 PMTo: xxxxxxx@bybradio.comSubject: KDLT's response to Scott Hudson's comments
Mr. Hodgson,
Thank you for your time in regards to this matter we felt there were a few inaccurate points in Mr. Hudson segment on your radio station that were misleading to the general public. Some of the inaccuracies by Mr. Hudson were:
Thank you,
John Lane
Studio Supervisor
My Response:
Hello Mr. Lane, I was forwarded a copy of an email that you sent to Backyard Broadcasting concerning an editorial piece that I read on KRRO. I thought that it would be appropriate to respond as I believe that you misunderstood some of my points. As my piece stated in its intro, I am a huge fan of high-def television. I'm also a fan of your station. In an era where the quality level of network television is at an all-time low (in my opinion), your network hosts three of my favorite television shows (Scrubs, My Name Is Earl, The Office). I also occasionally enjoy the various Law and Order shows, Judge Judy, Simpsons reruns, and until recently Seinfeld. Until she left your company, I was a huge fan of Annie Chicoine. I also must commend you for broadcasting the Caribou Show; I don't always find it that entertaining but at least somebody is producing local comedy. On to my rebuttal of your rebuttal. I thought it best that I go through your note point-by-point:
* KDLT likes to just put up their "silly little logos." Those logo's are our legal identification. We have to do that every hour that is why the station drops back to standard definition format.
Of course I know that legal ID's are an FCC requirement. That's not my complaint here, particularly since the "top of the hour" logos would rarely interfere with any programming. And truth be told, this point wasn't really directed at your station. I was mainly referring to KELO. My problem isn't the existence of logos (except FX's promotional logos for other shows that take up almost a full third of the screen), or even KELO's onscreen programming info. It's the fact that every time either your station or KELO presents such material the HD broadcast is downgraded to the analog signal. Since this doesn't happen on KSFY I know that it's a fixable problem. With summer storm season approaching, I really implore you folks to address this problem so that we don't have diminished quality every time you guys have to include a crawl. * KDLT not being able to make up their mind whether to broadcast HD or SD. The episode Mr. Hudson is referring to of /"Earl"/ was messed up leaving New York not KDLT. Some times technical problems do happen that are outside of our control. For example: satellites and weather.
Certainly, problems do occasionally occur. But it does seem to happen more often than just the isolated incident I described. Funny enough, the actual incident I described was during the just-canceled "Four Kings"...doesn't this prove that it has happened more than once or twice? * KDLT does not have 2 HD channels we have 1 HD channel (KDLT) and 1 SD digital channel (Weather Plus)
Fine, but it's on the cable system as a HD channel. With so few HD channels, my point was that maybe there were better options for that slot on the cable dial.
* Our Weather Plus channel is not the "exact same thing" as the Weather Channel it has a lot more local information it is also broadcasted over air waves free of charge to anyone that has digital receiver capable of receiving it, unlike the Weather Channel or KELO's Weather Now product. The same holds true for HD digital signal of KDLT, it is also broadcasted over the air waves free of charge to anyone that has digital receiver capable of receiving it. Mr. Hudson referred to "Paying for these signals". KDLT does not get paid for any of it's digital signals of KDLT or KDLT Weather Plus.
I realize that all three stations in this town operate under the "win with weather" premise. That's fine. If you feel there's a need for a channel running a loop of current conditions with occasional updates on the forecast, so be it. I'm not the market for that sort of programming. As already stated, my complaint is that it takes up a HD channel on my cable system. My question to you, though, is how many people with a HD set use a digital receiver to pick up the local channels? I know quite many people with hi-def televisions, and every single person receives their programming from either cable or satellite providers. It wouldn't make sense not to. So technically, you are right. People can receive your weather channel for free...but few people do. I do have one question, though. With the addition of this channel, can we assume that weather alert crawls will disappear from KDLT? Will I be able to watch my favorite shows this summer without having my signal interrupted every five minutes because a dark cloud was seen ten miles from some small town I've never heard of in western South Dakota? No, you don't have to answer this question. I know the answer. I promise, though, that if you don't interrupt the HD signal with your crawls and other onscreen graphics I will never again complain about your weather coverage. After all, I have my buddies at KELO to kick around with that topic. Take care, Scott Hudson
From: KDLT [mailto:info@kdlt.com]Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 4:47 PMTo: xxxxxxx@bybradio.comSubject: KDLT's response to Scott Hudson's comments
Mr. Hodgson,
Thank you for your time in regards to this matter we felt there were a few inaccurate points in Mr. Hudson segment on your radio station that were misleading to the general public. Some of the inaccuracies by Mr. Hudson were:
- KDLT likes to just put up their "silly little logos." Those logo's are our legal identification. We have to do that every hour that is why the station drops back to standard definition format.
- KDLT not being able to make up their mind whether to broadcast HD or SD. The episode Mr. Hudson is referring to of "Earl" was messed up leaving New York not KDLT. Some times technical problems do happen that are outside of our control. For example: satellites and weather.
- KDLT does not have 2 HD channels we have 1 HD channel (KDLT) and 1 SD digital channel (Weather Plus).
- Our Weather Plus channel is not the "exact same thing" as the Weather Channel it has a lot more local information it is also broadcasted over air waves free of charge to anyone that has digital receiver capable of receiving it, unlike the Weather Channel or KELO's Weather Now product. The same holds true for HD digital signal of KDLT, it is also broadcasted over the air waves free of charge to anyone that has digital receiver capable of receiving it. Mr. Hudson referred to "Paying for these signals". KDLT does not get paid for any of it's digital signals of KDLT or KDLT Weather Plus.
Thank you,
John Lane
Studio Supervisor
My Response:
Hello Mr. Lane, I was forwarded a copy of an email that you sent to Backyard Broadcasting concerning an editorial piece that I read on KRRO. I thought that it would be appropriate to respond as I believe that you misunderstood some of my points. As my piece stated in its intro, I am a huge fan of high-def television. I'm also a fan of your station. In an era where the quality level of network television is at an all-time low (in my opinion), your network hosts three of my favorite television shows (Scrubs, My Name Is Earl, The Office). I also occasionally enjoy the various Law and Order shows, Judge Judy, Simpsons reruns, and until recently Seinfeld. Until she left your company, I was a huge fan of Annie Chicoine. I also must commend you for broadcasting the Caribou Show; I don't always find it that entertaining but at least somebody is producing local comedy. On to my rebuttal of your rebuttal. I thought it best that I go through your note point-by-point:
* KDLT likes to just put up their "silly little logos." Those logo's are our legal identification. We have to do that every hour that is why the station drops back to standard definition format.
Of course I know that legal ID's are an FCC requirement. That's not my complaint here, particularly since the "top of the hour" logos would rarely interfere with any programming. And truth be told, this point wasn't really directed at your station. I was mainly referring to KELO. My problem isn't the existence of logos (except FX's promotional logos for other shows that take up almost a full third of the screen), or even KELO's onscreen programming info. It's the fact that every time either your station or KELO presents such material the HD broadcast is downgraded to the analog signal. Since this doesn't happen on KSFY I know that it's a fixable problem. With summer storm season approaching, I really implore you folks to address this problem so that we don't have diminished quality every time you guys have to include a crawl. * KDLT not being able to make up their mind whether to broadcast HD or SD. The episode Mr. Hudson is referring to of /"Earl"/ was messed up leaving New York not KDLT. Some times technical problems do happen that are outside of our control. For example: satellites and weather.
Certainly, problems do occasionally occur. But it does seem to happen more often than just the isolated incident I described. Funny enough, the actual incident I described was during the just-canceled "Four Kings"...doesn't this prove that it has happened more than once or twice? * KDLT does not have 2 HD channels we have 1 HD channel (KDLT) and 1 SD digital channel (Weather Plus)
Fine, but it's on the cable system as a HD channel. With so few HD channels, my point was that maybe there were better options for that slot on the cable dial.
* Our Weather Plus channel is not the "exact same thing" as the Weather Channel it has a lot more local information it is also broadcasted over air waves free of charge to anyone that has digital receiver capable of receiving it, unlike the Weather Channel or KELO's Weather Now product. The same holds true for HD digital signal of KDLT, it is also broadcasted over the air waves free of charge to anyone that has digital receiver capable of receiving it. Mr. Hudson referred to "Paying for these signals". KDLT does not get paid for any of it's digital signals of KDLT or KDLT Weather Plus.
I realize that all three stations in this town operate under the "win with weather" premise. That's fine. If you feel there's a need for a channel running a loop of current conditions with occasional updates on the forecast, so be it. I'm not the market for that sort of programming. As already stated, my complaint is that it takes up a HD channel on my cable system. My question to you, though, is how many people with a HD set use a digital receiver to pick up the local channels? I know quite many people with hi-def televisions, and every single person receives their programming from either cable or satellite providers. It wouldn't make sense not to. So technically, you are right. People can receive your weather channel for free...but few people do. I do have one question, though. With the addition of this channel, can we assume that weather alert crawls will disappear from KDLT? Will I be able to watch my favorite shows this summer without having my signal interrupted every five minutes because a dark cloud was seen ten miles from some small town I've never heard of in western South Dakota? No, you don't have to answer this question. I know the answer. I promise, though, that if you don't interrupt the HD signal with your crawls and other onscreen graphics I will never again complain about your weather coverage. After all, I have my buddies at KELO to kick around with that topic. Take care, Scott Hudson
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