What a great surprise! We had a dramatic response to the Albany event. The local NBC affiliate had us out a the local Circuit City (not an Antennas Direct reseller) and spent the prior weeks promoting the event with a media blitz. They gave the event top coverage on all their newscasts, a couple of live remotes and even gave us a great profile on the founding of Antennas Direct and extolling the virtues of the Clearstream technology. The local FOX station even sent a reporter and camera crew to cover the occasion.
Albany is a challenging market since the stations are not broadcasting from a central point, but rather spread in a ring abound the area. The wider Clearstream beamwidths will normally work well for most viewers and not require a rotator.
During a lull, we had a chance to check out the antenna “offerings” of the Circuit City, which consisted of two motley looking rabbit ears; (one with a 55dB gain!) Why some retailers continue to carry antennas that are completely inappropriate for the post -2009 frequencies is representitive of the cluelessness in the retail market today. Maybe if they would sell antennas that actually worked, over 700 frustrated people wouldn’t have had to take time off of work for a chance to win an antenna that actually does work! This lack of understanding of the needs of DTV market is a good indicator of why Circuit City is in the middle of bankruptcy today.