Reactions and afterthoughts.

The radio guys, several of them, have been talking back to me. Not very many. A few. Mostly, they say the following:

1. Antitrust? Huh? Just because eight of the biggest, richest owners of radio stations are going to be having meetings to discuss which of them will do which locally produced formats on their new digital subchannels and which will not, doesn't mean they'll be violating U.S. antitrust law. First, they say, it's all voluntary. Second, they say the first of these agreed-upon formats will be non-commercial and free to the public, so there can be no restraint of trade.

2. They say it isn't about programming, this HD Digital Radio Alliance; it's about promoting digital radio's rollout. Because the last few times new radio tech has been "rolled out" the radio business hasn't delivered the conversion programming, after manufacturers laid out the money for the new radios needed to benefit from them. AM Stereo and digital text readouts on radios are mentioned as examples of U.S. radio's ball-dropping episodes. So, this alliance is a move to assure the automakers and set makers that if they actually make and install new HD radios, American radio stations will actually provide a reason for American consumers to buy them.

And, after a few hours' thought, I must say they're right. How silly of me to worry about antitrust trouble at such a time as this--when deregulation is the rule and even Microsoft gets, effectively, a free pass and almost a full pardon for its, shall we say, zealous promotion of its more or less naturally acquired monopoly. Heck, even Apple is allowed to accumulate a high-90-percent market share in online music sales and keep their system exclusive, and nobody at the Justice Department is the least bit interested, as far as I know.

Besides, unlike cable TV, satellite radio got FCC approval to add two closed distribution systems to the media mix, and steel-tower radio isn't being protected against these exclusionary moves.

It's a new world. And I guess I'm going to have to learn to live in it. Of course, digital broadcast radio in the U.S. is still so far out on the horizon, it'll be a wonder if, by the time an under-400-dollar HD radio comes to market, there'll be any space left in the dashboard for it. It's already, maybe, too late. Besides, Marconi radio stations are going to have to improve their main channel programming, which is overcommercial and undercreative, if they expect to survive the satellite and Web radio explosion. And, so far, radio companies haven't displayed a lot of out of the box thinking. Stay tuned.