Las Vegas - Jan 14, 2013 - I read Fred Jacobs blog entry of Jan. 10, 2-13, the topic of which is the presence of radio at the 2013 CES. I recommend reading the entire post; but, if you can't, here are some of the germane points:

"The good: The automakers continue to talk up and value HD Radio, its data, traffic, and information capabilities, as well as features like album art that elevate broadcast radio's look and feel on the dashboard to compete directly with the other 'radio' choices in vehicles - Pandora, SiriusXM, and Internet stations via sources like TuneIn. And as you've read in the trades, HD Radio is available in many more vehicles at CES 2013, and in a myriad of aftermarket products, too. I saw the standard HD Radio system in the new Chevy Traverse and it's a really nice piece of work.

"The bad: The radio industry's angst over HD Radio, and the inability to see this technology as the field leveler that automakers do continues to be a real dichotomy. HD Radio has many industry detractors 'inside radio,' and yet at CES, it is mostly perceived as the technology that provides a seamless look and feel as consumers move from Pandora to satellite radio to their iPod and to FM radio. This contradiction is something we recognized at CES a few years ago, and it continues to be a head scratcher today."

Those of us "inside" this industry should take a clue from these observations. We cannot expect representatives and partners from related industries (like automobile OEMs) to have any more respect for what we do than we do ourselves. The continued berating of HD Radio by some industry insiders is counterproductive, to say the least. When we look in the mirror we should endeavor to see what they are seeing in us, not just an ugly image developed by years of misinformation and (in some cases) out and out hatred of the technology. I'm not suggesting that HD radio is 'the fairest of them all' either; I'm simply saying the mirror is not cracked, and what I see looks fine.