John Anderson at DIYMedia reports that Cumulus Media, in a yearly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, admits that no one cares about high-definition radio. The quote:

"On March 5, 2009, we entered into an amendment to our agreement to reduce the number of planned conversions, extend the build-out schedule, and increase the license fees to be paid for each converted station. At this juncture, we cannot predict how successful our implementation of HD Radio technology within our platform will be, or how that implementation will affect our competitive position."

"To my knowledge, this is the first time that a backer of HD Radio has been so forthright in a financial document about the tenuous nature of radio's digital transition," Anderson writes. Cumulus is the second-largest broadcast company in the United States (they just bought Citadel Broadcasting). Anderson does line up some other naysayers:
• "Radio World reported in 2009 that an informal survey of executives in charge of capital expenditures at broadcast conglomerates found many planned to delay their digital conversion campaigns."
• "Beasley Broadcast Group chief technology officer Mike Cooney confirmed that his company was backing down on 'HD conversions in the small markets and...putting money more in things that have a quicker return on investment for the capital money.'"
• "In 2009, Crown Broadcast reported that inquiries about HD-compatible equipment were virtually nonexistent."
Read the full story in DIYMedia.