“Terrestrial radio might be hyping a technology that isn’t quite ready for prime time,” writes consultant Paul Marszalek after a frustrating experience with an HD radio. “. . . The fact is, while HD’s lack of compression does sound a lot better than satellite, it just doesn’t work as well.”

Studies forecast that more people will be listening to podcasts than HD Radio by 2010. “How much are you investing in podcasting vs. HD radio?” asks Mark Ramsey.

Improperly installed satellite radios are interfering with some listeners’ enjoyment of noncommercial radio, reports the (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call.

Lamar Marchese, g.m. of Nevada Public Radio in Las Vegas, is retiring. Marchese co-founded the station in 1979.

Today Discovery Education unveils Cosmeo, the consumers’ version of its unitedstreaming service to K-12 schools. For a monthly subscription fee of less than $10, households with school-aged kids and high-speed Internet connections can buy access to curricular material from Discovery’s library, as well as that of other “educational content providers such as Scholastic Corp. and the Public Broadcasting Service,” reports the Washington Post.

The latest Audience 2010 report (PDF) sizes up the stalling of public radio’s audience growth and its impact on fundraising. This year’s individual giving could come in at least $30 million short of what it might have been had audience growth continued. Public radio “is no longer a growth industry,” the report says.

CBS’s Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution announced plans for a Smithsonian On Demand service for cable TV and other multichannel distribution starting in December. They’ll offer a library of 40 hours of programming, refreshed monthly, including docs, children’s programming and event coverage. Other branded Smithsonian Networks projects are expected to follow.

Merlin Mann selects five more excellent public radio names.

Baltimore’s WYPR-FM aims to boost its wattage soon, a move which could drown out 10-watt WMUC-FM, the station operated by the University of Maryland in College Park. The tiny station is the only college station in the Washington, D.C., area.

Donovan Reynolds, who recently resigned as director of Michigan Public Media in Ann Arbor, says he prompted investigations of his station last fall by reporting “suspicious business practices” to the University of Michigan, which holds the station’s licenses. Reynolds tells the Detroit Free Press that he resigned “because serious things occurred on my watch and I had to accept responsibility.”

Phil Redo is leaving WNYC-AM/FM to return to commercial broadcaster Greater Media, where he will oversee five Boston stations. Redo is WNYC’s v.p. of station operations and management.

Georgia Public Broadcasting has bought an FM station in Rome, Ga., reports the Rome News-Tribune. And in other station news, WDIY-FM in Bethlehem, Pa., will manage and program WXLV-FM in Schnecksville, Pa., a station licensed to Lehigh Carbon Community College. (Coverage in the Allentown Morning Call.)

The latest Audience 2010 report (PDF) from the Radio Research Consortium finds Arbitron’s methodology to be reliable, which means it can’t be scapegoated for public radio’s audience loss. “Public radio’s national loss of audience momentum is real,” the study says. The previous Audience 2010 installment let satellite radio off the hook.

The University of Michigan is investigating its public radio and TV stations after the abrupt resignation of director Donovan Reynolds, reports the Detroit Free Press.

WFMU’s Professor checks in on the Satellite Sisters, formerly of public radio, and his words are not kind: “Some of the urgent topics recently on the Satellite Sisters show: ‘As you listen to the weather forecast this winter, think what it means for your animals’ and ‘Look a salesperson in the eye when you say goodbye’ and most importantly ‘Wipe down exercise machines and mats at the gym after using them.’ I’m NOT kidding.”