DTV Emergency Recievers... Nope.

[Mike Ward]

Bill O'Neill wrote:

> About five months ago, I went to RadioShack to buy a new emergency radio 
> (AM/FM/TV/WX).  I asked the clerk what the plan was for Tandy to put out 
> a radio that would receive the digital TV audio signals, reminding him 
> that the TV band on this radio would become useless by 2/09.  The poor 
> guy scratched his head and said that he had "absolutely zero idea about 
> that" and then wandered off, muttering aloud to self with his hand on 
> his chin, shaking his head.

Not surprising.  You may have well been asking the guy how to split an atom.

In theory, the push for Mobile DTV (gaining some legs at CES) should 
eventually solve this problem.

But there are a lot of assumptions in that, among them, 1) will all 
stations add the extra "subchannel" space to have a mobile stream, 2) 
will radio manufacturers build radios to pick up audio from this stream, 
and 3) how will it work in practice? (i.e. unlike analog radio, will you 
have to scan for channels each time you turn on the radio, or move to a 
different location?)

And how does all of this fit with the horrid economy?

Just some thoughts.