I don't know why I'm bothering but.....here we go (again.)
There's a difference between a passion, and the reality of economics which runs an industry. I collect laserdiscs for fun, but I don't expect the home video industry to bring back laserdiscs to store shelves. Even in their day, they were only for the "high dollar" collector who didn't want VHS or Beta. It's FUN to catch a great LD which was never put on DVD, but it's the rarity that makes it a fun HOBBY. It's NOT coming back. It's an extreme niche activity. So is the broadcasting of HD for listeners' benefit. HD is only used now for (desperate??) broadcasters to look bigger by "signal count" on translators in already saturated markets, or to relay a signal to another market, thus no need of a consumer having an HD radio to hear their "other" programming channels in most cases.
You really do need to realize that you're just now discovering something that is being turned OFF in many markets, not ON. We've told you the reality of the inside of the industry, and the fact that it costs broadcasters' extra licensing money. We've told you that many times HD duplicates programming on standard translators' which you can tune on any standard FM dial. We've told you it's a proprietary system feeding the "big" companies, and that you're not going to find small market stations paying Ibiquity/Clear Channel stockholders for the license (plus buying hardware.) We've told you that HD (hybrid digital) is completely different from "all digital" which hasn't even been more than tested once or twice in the nation, and is not a reality due to its endangering the REACH of broadcasting in our country.
I don't know what more we can do to tell you simply, "enjoy, but don't expect growth." If YOU owned a station and money was tight which it IS for all broadcasters, would you renew a $10k license for HD broadcasting, or sell the hardware, cancel the license for HD and put that money into, for instance; programming, salaries, or repairing your studios' roof? Maybe putting it toward a few years' worth of FCC fees to "hold" a station license? Or, maybe to pay the growing fees required for licensing of the playing of music? HD broadcasting is not on the "asset" list. It's a cost-liability, poorly promoted, with few HD radios available by comparison to standard, and it's Not heard by enough ears to recoup the cost to produce!
If you REALLY want to help broadcasters at the local level, TELL their advertisers you hear them on the radio. Encourage local businesses to ADVERTISE on your local station(s), and don't even mention HD to them. If you do, chances are they've never heard of it, which would prove ALL the points of ALL the people posting here.
We appreciate your enthusiasm for a topic, that's what builds this great site, but TRY to understand....you're listening to broadcasting's equivalent of the Titanic, with likely the same shared end result already happening in many markets. Eventually the only people left doing HD will be PUBLIC radio (where they can beg for money on the air....)