AM Going away?

[davideduardo]

One thing is for sure - I bet the audience is better served by having more formats available. Unlike the US where bigotry against those over 55 rules, corporations dictate the same bland lawyer approved formats over and over again, and brokered stations serve almost nobody but a very small demographic that happens to have enough money to afford air time. Yeah - I'm a little cynical about radio right now.

Actually, in the two cases cited, around 10 to 12 stations have about 95% or more of the audience.

As to your other assumptions:

1. Lawyers don't enter into format decisions except, maybe, to check the service mark on a new name.
2. Radio has abosolutely no prejudice against those over 55.
3. Blame the FCC for licensing facilities so bad that all they are good for is paid programming.

 

[ronald54321]

With Internet and satellite, AM and FM will eventually both croak.

 

[davideduardo]

With Internet and satellite, AM and FM will eventually both croak.

That's an enormously simplified conclusion.

People who operate over-the-air facilities are also pushing into new media distribution.

Radio stations are in the content business, not the transmitter business.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Actually, in the two cases cited, around 10 to 12 stations have about 95% or more of the audience.

As to your other assumptions:

1. Lawyers don't enter into format decisions except, maybe, to check the service mark on a new name.
2. Radio has abosolutely no prejudice against those over 55.
3. Blame the FCC for licensing facilities so bad that all they are good for is paid programming.

Lawyers make sure nothing is said or done that is in any way edgy (or creative or politically incorrect). The fear of litigation drives every single programming decision. Great stations like the original album rock stations like KZEW would be shut down by legal departments before they had a chance.

We all know your opinion of formats like oldies that reach listeners over 55. If some of those comments aren't age discrimination, I don't know what would be.

I totally agree that the FCC is populated by total morons who have no engineering savvy whatsoever. There are ten times the number of AM stations on the air that prudent use of the band would dictate. They let stations stay on full power after sunset and before sunrise in the name of "critical hours". Interference is tolerated if it is for the sacred cow of high school football. Now, the same morons are doing the same thing to the FM band with translators for AM stations, thousands of translators for one religious group, low power FMs, and, of course HD on both bands. We need real engineers - not lawyers interested in minority ownership and other non-issues in the FCC.

 

[purpledevil]

Your argument was going well until your last sentence, and thats where you derailed. Regardless of whether the station is owned by a minority or a corporation, enforcement of the rules and regulations is the duty of the Commission and should be enforced regardless of who owns the station. The people that ensure minority ownership has a fighting chance to air their programming for the community they wish to serve, should be applauded, not chastised. It's most of these minority owned stations that actually do what their commitment as a broadcaster is. To serve their community. Their community. It's not you, and not me, but it is somebody. So, assuming these groups are just wasting airtime is wrong. There are people out there relying on those services for their information and entertainment, and there are no corporate broadcasters serving these populations. Why deprive them of their right to use the public airwaves? It's not minority owned stations airing those high school football games at high power, my friend. That would be the little mom and pop outfits out there in Timbuktu that realize they can get away with it because, again, there is little enforcement of the rules. There are bad operators out there bending and flat out breaking the rules all over, regardless of ethnicity. God help us all if minority ownership becomes a "non issue" within the FCC.

The difference between his discrimination against older listeners and yours with minorities, is that he's paid to deliver what his advertisers want, and that's not older people which are typically a lot more frugal with their spending habits and not going to make an impulsive decision to run out and buy a product that's being hyped on a radio station. In your case, I can't explain why you have such a sour disposition towards that which is not white, but you remain in my prayer each night.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

We need real engineers - not lawyers interested in minority ownership and other non-issues in the FCC.

Who gets to decide what is a real-issue and what is a non-issue? Are real engineers trained to make social decisions, political decisions, humanity decisions? If 'real engineers' are going to make all our decisions for us, should we declare the role of real engineer to be an elected office. Are you proposing that non-elected people be in charge of programming concepts regulations? Are you proposing that non-elected people be in charge of deciding which demographic groups get to have stations, and which demographic groups go suck a sour lemon?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Who gets to decide what is a real-issue and what is a non-issue? Are real engineers trained to make social decisions, political decisions, humanity decisions? If 'real engineers' are going to make all our decisions for us, should we declare the role of real engineer to be an elected office. Are you proposing that non-elected people be in charge of programming concepts regulations? Are you proposing that non-elected people be in charge of deciding which demographic groups get to have stations, and which demographic groups go suck a sour lemon?

The FCC, originally the FRC, was established with one purpose and one purpose only. To prevent interference by keeping stations from coming on the same frequency in the same city. They established spacing and power limitations to prevent interference. They have completely abandoned that role, allowing too many stations on the air. I am not opposed to minority ownership, neither am I in favor of it - same as foreign language. I am neither for it nor against it - I am completely indifferent. Because I don't speak foreign - ANY foreign, I never listen to foreign. It is an irrelevancy and the equivalent of a blank frequency with static to me. If it serves somebody, fine. I don't care to listen because it isn't intended to serve me. Since I seem to be answering two detractors with one post - I am not hostile to anything not white. I am merely agnostic with regard to issues affecting the culture. I am white, they are another race, their affairs are of no interest to me. When however, culturally they cross the line into illegality - such as songs encouraging rape, robbery, drug use, or some other thing society deems incorrect - then I oppose the content. As for the FCC encouraging minority ownership, I am of the strong belief that the airwaves should serve the greatest percentage of listeners possible. If that means oldies and other formats I like get shafted, so be it, that is the free market - capitalism. I dispute the methodology used to determine some of these formats wouldn't be self supporting, so be it. But to me, it is inherently racist to say that a given minority format can only be on the air if given preferential treatment by the FCC. When race is used to make any decision, favorable or unfavorable, it is racist. A lot of us would prefer a colorblind society. Race not used in making any decision whatsover, no race blank on employment applications, etc. If a minority format is in enough demand that it can support itself through advertising, fine, it is the free market. But an FCC that props up formats that would otherwise not be able to make it on the air - due to lack of financial support - then it is racist, against the free market, and the practice should be discontinued so the largest percentage of the public will be served by the limited number of frequencies available. The US has been describe as the great melting pot, so other culture should be assimilating their best attributes into our society. They shouldn't get in everybody's face and demand we adapt to their culture. Whether that is language or fashion or anything else.

 

[stevensonair]

The FCC doesn't regulate format. In fact, it routinely declines petitions for denial of license renewal or transfer that are motivated by partisans of a particular format - such as classical, urban, or religious.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

But an FCC that props up formats that would otherwise not be able to make it on the air - due to lack of financial support - then it is racist, against the free market, and the practice should be discontinued so the largest percentage of the public will be served by the limited number of frequencies available. The US has been describe as the great melting pot, so other culture should be assimilating their best attributes into our society. They shouldn't get in everybody's face and demand we adapt to their culture. Whether that is language or fashion or anything else.

Maybe we would be better served if some writer had described our nation as "The Great Soup Pot" instead of the Great Melting Pot.

If I make fondue, it may taste great, but I have asked ALL the cheeses (and any other ingredients) to give up their heritage and all become faceless, UN-identifieable fondue-beings. But when Mama made soup, it too was a great tasting blended combination, but I could take my spoon and poke around in the soup and identify some black-eyed peas, or a little tid-bit of ham here and there; there I see a piece of a carrot and over here a small chunk of celery.

If I drive to New Braunfels, TX I would expect so see a few chunks of German evident to my eyes in this soup we call America. And when I used to make sales calls in Lindsborg KS once a week I looked forward to a strong, strong cup of coffee down at the little Swedish restaurant and bakery downtown. It was part of the soup. I hope it is still there. And when I go to Grand Rapids and Holland, MI I expect to hear a few words spoken in Dutch and find some local customs to match.

And when I walk into a restaurant that has signage that indicates I might find food with a Mexican influence, I am disappointed when it turns out to be one of those places that is simply California-Chic.... it's a rip-off when it turns out to be Napa Valley with a couple of shakes of some seasoning with a Spanish sounding name.

We've done a pretty good job of homogenizing the American population. It's getting harder and harder to identify someone as being of French heritage, or Swiss, or Scotch-Irish. So what we do now that we are so proud of our selves for being COLOR BLIND. So does not mean we value one another equally? No, now we divide everybody up into liberals and conservatives as if they were racial heritages, and we hate each other fiercely over that issue and that issue alone.

So tell me again how wonderful it is that we grow up not knowing a second language, we grow up pretending no one is black or white.

So explain to me again why it would be a perfect world where the FCC never considers setting aside a frequency for foreign language broadcasts, never takes into account whether the applicant for a station license can be identified as celery or okra in the soup we call America.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

So tell me again how wonderful it is that we grow up not knowing a second language, we grow up pretending no one is black or white.

So explain to me again why it would be a perfect world where the FCC never considers setting aside a frequency for foreign language broadcasts, never takes into account whether the applicant for a station license can be identified as celery or okra in the soup we call America.

I freely admit - diversity is not a priority for me. That said, I enjoy wandering around a neighborhood or city with a little local flavor. The essence of the melting pot is we take the BEST of immigrant culture and incorporate it or celebrate it. We don't have to accept the whole culture, or accept cultures that are actually contrary to our own. A good example is Sharia law, which pretty much is the antithesis of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It also would erase 125 years of women's rights. So I think everybody but radicals would agree, there are some cultures we do NOT want to incorporate into our own.

I know this is going to be controversial, and I'll be labelled all sorts of unpleasant things. But it is a fact of life that, particularly in the US, anybody without a good command of the English language is at a big disadvantage. English is the international language of business, science, and commerce. That is a fact, not a racial statement. So, to me, foreign language broadcasts only make it easy for somebody to not assimilate into US society. Therefore it is not a good thing. If I moved to another country, I would expect I would have to learn the language. I wouldn't expect the whole country to learn my language to accommodate me. That would be rather arrogant of me. I choose to live in a foreign country, I'd be quickly adapting and fitting in with my selected country. Not vice versa.

I like to say "I don't speak foreign" Its actually a line coined by my friend Dan Schneider to put in his TV shows - it avoids offending any specific culture. I admit I am not very motivated to learn other language. A background in Latin gives me just enough to get by understanding Spanish, which is actually pretty close. But I am not interested in learning the language - it has been my experience that Spanish speaking people I need to conduct business with know enough English to perform their job. I don't need to learn Spanish to talk to my yard man, my maid, the clerk at Walmart, or the girl in the drive through line. In fact, it disturbs me that I have just described 4 low paying jobs. Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact that they refused to learn enough English to get a better job? Disturbing to me that this could be the case.

No, I don't think foreign language radio does its listeners a service if it prevents them from getting better employment or fitting in better, or being able to gossip about people around them in private - as I have documented before. I don't listen to foreign radio preferentially. No, it doesn't entertain me for more than a few minutes. Yes, it makes those frequencies dead zones. Yes, I resent the heck out of Mega taking over 101.1 which was a darn good rock station. I don't resent Spanish speaking people, I just don't have anything in common with them if I can't communicate with them. Especially if it is their choice. And lest anybody think I am picking on Spanish - I've been to Montreal. If people like me in the US are guilty of a bit of national pride in the English language - the French speaking people up there take language bigotry and elevate it to a national passion - systematically oppressing all non French speaking people. That makes me feel the frustration of people here that don't know English. I only wish it would motivate them to immerse themselves in English instead of relying on crutches like foreign language radio.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

There are changes going on all around us, some of which we ignore, some of which we refuse to participate in, some of which we don't recognize. Some times we have to get 20 years older, and then look back over our shoulder to even become aware of the changes. Leave a community or a city and go back 20 or 40 years later and drive around. Read the local paper. Attend that one big annual festival that used to be the 'crown jewel' of the identity of that community. It can make you feel old right quick, also.

But this thread is about unique cultural-ness, maybe unique religious attachment. Come to a point in your life where you make a break from the religious participation of past years and make a new start. It may be because you married someone and agree to adopt their Christian denomination... or adopt their completely different religion. Then go back 20 or 40 years later and drive by the place of worship where you used to go. Maybe attend a wedding or funeral. It's like taking the lid off your brain, and going back to my illustration in the previous post.... taking the soup ladel and just stir you brain up... mix different parts of your brain like stirring a soup. It can make you cry... or it can give you a great feeling and you remember the pleasant times.

You have indicated that for your own life, you are not driven to stray too far from your comfort zone, things and thoughts that are as comfortable as putting on your favorite pair of slippers when you get home in the evening. (That's my verbalization of what I read from you, and you may rightfully quarrel with my choice of words.)

What is the transition route for people who find themselves living in the strange (to them) land that we love. How long do we give them to transform from being French or Somolian or Mexican or Vietnamese to being and unidentifiable ingredient in our soup? 6 months? 6 years? 3 decades? Should that be our choice or their choice?

Is it o.k. if once every 10 years I load up and figure out some way to stop off in one of those Texas hill-country German 'smelling' towns and just soak up something they still cling-to on a daily basis, and then wander back home for another 10 years?

So much for the preface, so much for the lead-in. Here are the GUTS of this post: I don't like rock-n-roll music and it's current-day offspring! If I follow your approach to how the FCC should and should not allocate channels of radio, I find having one, two or six radio stations in a town playing rock and rock-kinfolk music just so much noise, so much static. A dead place on the dial. Is that any different than your dislike for a radio channel actually being set aside for Spanish language broadcasting or maybe Korean language broadcasting.

You indicated some kind of distaste for Sharia Law (which seems to be a political dog-whistle these days) to roll people out for political causes. And yet I tune across the dial and I find extreme versions of Fundamentalist Christianity 'noising' up some channels and I mutter something about "Oh, the American version of Sharia Law" and I tune on. I may find that for the FCC to allocate a channel to someone who is going to ONLY broadcast Fundamentalist Christianity is as big a waste of space on the radio dial... just like you find a Spanish or French channel a big waste of precious spectrum space.

This 'melting pot' or in my preference, this 'soup pot' just gets plain darn messy to stir now and then doesn't it. But it still smells great when you walk into the kitchen.

And we turn on our radio, we close our eyes, and radio brings our favorite smells right out of the kitchen into our minds. Savor the blended American odor. It is something precious.

 

[bturner]

This is an interesting string of posts. I feel compelled to make a few random comments.

If I had two Dads, that second one would be a station owner that treated me much like an adopted son. He last name is an Italian surname and his grandparents came by ship to America. If you think of that concept you can be pretty impressed with how drastic that was: to come to a country where you don't know the language and are relying on bits of information you have gleaned about the country that may be correct or not. You have the guts to risk everything you know to give it a shot, knowing it is a win at any cost because turning tail and running back isn't possible.

His grandfather constantly harped "We're Americans now, act like it." On the other hand, he believed there were some parts of Italian culture and social norms that were superior to American ways. His objective was to take the good from his heritage and blend it with the best of America. Things like big Sunday dinners with the whole family and other traditions survived.

My boss could speak some Italian, enough to make himself understood and he could understand what an Italian speaker was saying but he was far from fluent, more functional. His English was flawless but then again it was his Grandparents that cried when they saw the Statue of Liberty.

I've worked radio in a 97% Hispanic market. I realized I was the only non-Hispanic in the mall one day when my ex-wife pointed it out. Before that, I never gave it a thought. I was sort of like a cat we had who used to hang out with the dogs that lived either side of us. The cat hung out with the dogs all the time never figuring out he wasn't a dog and the dogs seeming not to realize that our cat was a cat. It didn't matter, they were pals and did everything together.

Minority ownership is something I have a love/hate relationship with. To give any group an advantage means everyone else is at a disadvantage. In other words you discriminate against everyone else in order to give a disadvantaged group a chance. I feel the place where the hopeful minority owner is. I'm part of the majority but I'll never have that shot at owning that station because radio has become such an expensive venture. I noted in the FCC Rules on LPFM that the Native American Tribal applicants can have 2 stations and government entities can have as many as they want but everyone else can only have one. Am I, not being a Native American Tribal organization but just a plain non-profit being denied this based on race/heritage? With that said, I get the concept of helping those who might not be able to complete on the field at an equal level have a shot. I'm just saying there's a whole bunch out there that don't qualify in the same boat.

I still contend radio, just like McDonalds, Walmart, your favorite TV station, the grocery store you visit and any other business is all about money. If they're not making it, they are not around any more. They all need a plan to attract a customer base and have that customer base spend their dollars there. If I was starting a business I'd want the largest customer base I could get because only a percentage, likely a small one, is going to be my customer. That brings me to the 50+ age group. It's pretty big and under served by radio. Why? The money is not there. The agencies buy younger demographics. The percentage of businesses that advertise on radio is small at best. The long and short of it is when your dollars are at risk, investors go for the best or safest option at seeing a return on their money or at least getting their investment back. The 50+ group is a long shot, rather costly and not much chance of success. If you're going to take the equity from your home and invest it in radio right now, where will you risk it, on a 50+ format or a demo the agencies want to buy and a format that has proven itself successful in many markets similar to yours?

There was a point made about English language. The fact is English is the language the USA utilizes in government, business and the heritage language of the citizens. It is the International language as well. Every effort to be capable of functioning in the English language should be made. To not do so puts you at a great disadvantage. To be bi-lingual or multilingual is a great thing and since I'm just wired to make picking up a second language extremely difficult for me, I really admire someone who can communicate in two or more languages. I wish I could.

As for stations running foreign language formats, I'll say it's about money. For many stations it is the only viable option to pay the bills or the easiest of the slim pickings available. The alternative is silence in many circumstances. As the owner of a station, put yourself in these shoes: you are doing a format but you lose a little money every month and you can't last too much longer. A Spanish language Church pastor wants to lease your station for enough money to pay the bills and keep it maintained. You run a credit check and they look qualified and financially solid. Do you keep writing a check each month until you can no longer do so or do you sign a contract with that Church? What would you do if it was your business? Will the Church's programming attract a big audience? That answer is no but is a small audience better than no station and nobody served?

And if you disagree, what are you doing to change this? Are you trying to obtain a frequency to serve the group you think is under served? Are you lining up lines of credit and investors? Are you developing a plan? If you feel so strongly, where's the action. You should do it. If my station doesn't want to take the gamble, you should find a station and see if it will fly. It might. You could be the one that shows current thinking is wrong. You might be the one that changes it all. After all, it's not being tried because there are less risky options in their eyes. Your gut feel might be right. There is so much out there that started as a gut feel but research never proved it out because the thing does not exist. I'd love to be wrong on this one since I'm in that 50+

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Minority ownership is something I have a love/hate relationship with. To give any group an advantage means everyone else is at a disadvantage. In other words you discriminate against everyone else in order to give a disadvantaged group a chance. I feel the place where the hopeful minority owner is. I'm part of the majority but I'll never have that shot at owning that station because radio has become such an expensive venture.

Excellent analysis, my friend. Job well done. In my book a good writer of a good essay leaves you understanding that there are valid bit of logic that remain in tension with one another. Everybody who chooses to engage in religion needs a minister like mine: When two ideologues serving on a committee that had the duty of "examining his worthiness" tried to put him in the jaws of a pair of giant pliers and make his take a stand with either the conservatives of the liberals, he paused, put on that big "aw shucks" smile and replied: "In Scripture... we find places where there isn 'tension' and after 2,000 years, we still are struggling over tension."

So here is the one tension in your post that I want to put on display so all can wrestle with it. If we give a group an advantage, that does not have to make the rest of us losers. If we give a group an advantage (a radio frequency, an admission to the university, a job on the police department) to meet a "quota" and they succeed in the venture, then we all become winners. We get richness of broadcasting we would never have heard without the minority voice. We could get an outstanding Supreme Court justice some day because a GIRL who was not of ANGLO SAXON heritage was given a slot in a university and a slot in a law school. We could get an outstanding Police Commmissioner or Police Chief some day because someone "who didn't look like the rest of us" was allowed to become a rookie cop.

Of course, those who know no other way to measure any person or any society by any other yardstick than the dollar will find my logic significantly silly. But sometimes even THEY benefit financially when a minority does well.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

There are changes going on all around us, some of which we ignore, some of which we refuse to participate in, some of which we don't recognize.

Yeah, appreciate your concern. I'm fine. I am at peace with myself, the way I am. Don't want or need any help, to get "saved" or anything like that. Been a Christian since 13, I'm 59.

Too bad you don't like rock - I find it among the most creative genres out there, probably the most logical extension of the romantic era of classical music. The experimentation with rhythms, notes, instruments, keys is amazing and exhilerating - the entire field of music has benefitted from the creativity.

I know all too well about Christian zealots. I am a Christian, but if all I had to look at was the behavior of Christians, I would not be one. I can truthfully say - the worst treatment I have ever received at the hands of other human beings has been from Christians. I had an ancestor who died in a Salem jail waiting her trial for witchcraft. Fortunately, I don't look at people, I look at Jesus Christ, who is definitely not a fake like so many of his supposed followers. In my time as a Christian broadcaster, I had to deal with the worst types of harassment and hatred, because I dared to play Christian rock music instead of towing the praise and worship line. I have had to contend with King James only nuts, creationist nuts, anti-Harry Potter nuts (HP is an allegory of Christ dying for the world - a type of Christ by the way), Holy Spirit baptised nuts who smoked so badly you could smell them 100 yards away, a station manager who didn't care that the preaching show almost burned down his studio (didn't turn off the coffee maker). Twice. Because they preached and we played that Christian rock. I've had "Christian" opponents curse at a 14 year old phone volunteer, I've had threats, I've had studio invastions (after which we locked the door for the first time in the station's history). So - yeah - there are some real bad people out there wearing the Christian name. That is the ONLY thing that makes me tolerant of Islam, for every bad one there is a good one like Malala.

Point of all this - we all like what we grew up with. I speak English, I don't speak foreign. So I'm not likely to get excited about the prospect of KLOL being Spanish language now, or any other frequency going Spanish language, Asian, or whatever. I wouldn't shed a tear at all if they all went back English. Same with any other format I LOATHE like talk (left wing right wing sports or whatever). Since that is probably 90% of the AM dial, I wouldn't really care if the whole band went blank. But what I hope is that this stuff migrates over to FM or HD-2 or streaming or satellite or something - leaves AM open for more music formats and dare I say C-Quam. I'm not holding my breath. It will be more of the same, and if AM listenership is declining, could it possibly be that I am not in the minority? Maybe there are a lot of people not excited by talk and foreign, so the dial is increasing irrelevant to everybody. When the last AM station signs off - will anybody even be there to notice?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Point of all this - we all like what we grew up with. I speak English, I don't speak foreign. So I'm not likely to get excited about the prospect of KLOL being Spanish language now, or any other frequency going Spanish language, Asian, or whatever.

This conversation reminds me of one in a doctor's waiting room a couple of days ago. A very gregarious man held the outside door for us as my wife made her way into the building with much physical difficulty. When the nurse came through the door and called my wife's name, I corrected the pronunciation of the Texas hill-country German name, gave my wife a bit of an elbow-nudge and told her the nurse was calling her.

Here comes the gregarious dude across the room, wanting to know about the name. And what I found was a guy who made no apologies about the fact that his entire universe consisted of a circle about 60 miles across in northern Georgia. Somehow or another he ended up married to a lady from New York City and I guess he has endured one trip up there and his description of life in NYC would make good copy for a Jeff Foxworthy comedy routine.

He was what Shelby Foote once referred to as "an Unreconstructed Southerner". He wrapped up his comments about all geography to the north and east of Georgia by saying: "We could fix this country if we could just come up with a way where 'all those people' couldn't vote anymore'. I was thinking my way through my zinger of a reply when the nurse appeared at the door and call his name. What was I going to say? "Well, I've broken bread with a few of those folks, and I suspect the feeling is mutual. I'm sure they feel that if they could figure out a way to take the vote away from the people in Georgia, Texas and the Carolinas, they too would say: We could fix this country!"

If you have children and/or grandchildren and you want them to inherit a nation that works, then maybe you want Latino communities that function well, and have the same kinds of mass communications that the rest of us have.

... then maybe you want people who have come here with their Muslim and Buddhist and Sikh backgrounds to have the same kinds of mass communications that the rest of us have.

When we force them to go underground for communications, we leave the door much more open for the "mafia types" and the terrorists to reach their young people.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

When we force them to go underground for communications, we leave the door much more open for the "mafia types" and the terrorists to reach their young people.

Hey - if the French people in Quebec can advocate and pass French only laws without being accused of being racist or bigoted, I suppose I can advocate English only laws for the United States without being accused of being racist or bigoted.

 

[bturner]

excellent point rbrucecarter5. Racism, as defined by modern standards is only racism when in the right context. Negro College Fund is fine but if one were to turn that around, it would be racist. If someone of another ethnic background does something it is racist because in the mind of the offended party it is. In my mind, it amazes me people will accept responsibility for what another person chooses to think when your actions and thoughts were never intended as interpreted by someone not entirely informed of the facts pertaining to a specific action. It seems too many are too easily offended and obsess on things or it is a conspiracy to keep racism alive and well. Certainly if it is an effort to keep racism alive and well, I shall be pointing the finger at the accusing party. I prefer find the commonality among those I meet and establish a respect by honoring any personal differences. After all, when you know someone as a friend, race or ethnic background is never acknowledged because it simply doesn't matter.

 

[willdav713]

It will and so will FM. Remember the DTV transition? That was Phase 1. For Phase 2, AM will serve police, fire, weather, and emergency radios. The police band will go silent or expand via AM. The FM stations will be just for Low Power Community Radio, and the rest will be used for Broadband, and Mobile Broadband. It's a matter of time this will happen. You will have to have a converter of some sort to pick up the Digital Radio stations, just as you do with Over the Air TV. My guess by 06-09-2019.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Hey - if the French people in Quebec can advocate and pass French only laws without being accused of being racist or bigoted, I suppose I can advocate English only laws for the United States without being accused of being racist or bigoted.

The U.S. has some traditions, and the U.S. has some goals, and the U.S. has some sense of direction where we want to go. We don't always agree with each other. We work our way along.

I don't know what logic you find in: If the Canadians do thus-and-so, then we are justified in doing this-and-that. Because the North Koreans have some peculiar law or tradition, does that signal that we should do something bizarre and surprising? Because the Egyptians have a group that goes against their grain, does that create some American need to "trample the wheat with the tares" to use a thought from our sacred writings?

We not only get to work out what WE find acceptable in our country, we have to work out what our own standards will be... or we cease to be American. We do seem (as usual) to be having some difficulty in gathering around some concepts long enough for them to be our standards.

I believe some Canadians are pretty dismissive of French Separatists. So following your logic, I guess that is why Americans are pretty dismissive of one another these days.

 

[davideduardo]

So, to me, foreign language broadcasts only make it easy for somebody to not assimilate into US society. Therefore it is not a good thing.

You apparently are not familiar with the history of the foreign language media in the areas of the country where immigration "deposited" most people from the time of the Gaelic speaking Irish before the Civil War. At first there was print media, which wrote in the language immigrants were comfortable in, of what was going on in peoples new homes as well as their old ones.

By the 40's, there was a growing number of stations broadcasting in Italian, German, Polish and many other European tongues. As the numbers of stations in the US expanded, stations began serving listeners in Yiddish, Hungarian, Greek. By the 60's, some Northeastern markets had FMs with multi-ethnic programming.

But the early stations, like WOV and WHOM, changed to other formats entering the 60's... because the Italian population had become largely assimilated. You see, the big migration from Italy ended in the 1920's with the Depression. But it took four or five decades for the assimilation process to obviate the need for papers and stations in Italian. But up till then, that media served a need in that they made life in the US more understandable for immigrants who often worked multiple low paying jobs and had not opportunity to spend time taking English classes.

(This is without entering into a discussion of how learning a language after childhood or early adolescence becomes exponentially more difficuilt.)

Foreign language media helps with assimilation. It helped Italians, Germans, Poles and Greeks. It's helping Hispanics and various Asian groups today. It is a key ingredient in the melting pot.

And in many cases, their music is much better, too.

If I moved to another country, I would expect I would have to learn the language. I wouldn't expect the whole country to learn my language to accommodate me. That would be rather arrogant of me. I choose to live in a foreign country, I'd be quickly adapting and fitting in with my selected country. Not vice versa.

That would make you quite unusual as an American.

A well-worn joke in much of the world is:

Q. What do you call a person who speaks three or more languages?
A: A polyglot

Q. What do you call a person who speaks two languages?
A: A bilingual

Q. What do you call a person who speaks only one language?
A: An American.

The example given by the immense majority of expats does not give us as a nation much credibility when criticizing others for not learning additional languages.