M Code - Like the avatar. Brings back memories. But I don't agree this would be a costly feature, or that it would be rarely used - You don't have to pay a nickel for the service where as with a few of the streaming services you do. You certainly could be right though.
lovinthehd - I listen to classic rock and the wife listens to country. In my area (Minneapolis suburb) all of the stations we listen to are HD stations - so maybe 8-10 different stations between us. I'm sure there are other music genres around here that are HD also. So there's no lack of HD stations to listen to around here anyway. I'm surprised to hear you don't have any in your area.
It depends where you live. iBiquity HD radio has had poor market penetration. In our area MPR has covered the state with an HD signal and provided channels only accessible on HD and not standard FM.
A lot of the problems are of iBiquity's making. Initially there were a lot of quality issues. License fees are high which I suspect is a reason for receiver manufacturers dropping them.
On the other end the capital cost of the equipment and license is very high. On the transmitter end technical problems were a big issue and too slowly solved. Even now in Minnesota you can get periods when HD service is down.
So my three older pre/pros had HD radio, my new one, not yet in service does not. It is not a big problem as all the HD channels and then some, are streamed at as good, and in fact slightly better quality than HD. So I just have "fast buttons" on my audio workstation that connect me right away. This is actually better and more reliable.
The biggest benefit if HD is in cars. None of our cars have it though. Market penetration is extending among auto makers, but I suspect too late to save HD.
