• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

AM Radio -Worldwide

kfbkfb

kfbkfb

(may be in the wrong place on this board)

Norway planned to switch off all FM broadcasting a few years ago
(some stations were granted a reprieve).

I sometimes listen to the Red Eye Radio show on 710AM, even locally,
in some parts of my suburb, the interference mostly blocks the audio
on my car radio (hence I listen on 103.7FM).

What have other countries done with AM Radio (broadcasting)?

Kirk Bayne
 
It's easy for Norway to do that, because most of the stations are owned by the government. In this country, the federal government is not allowed to own any domestic radio stations. I don't know of any other country with such a law. Even the NPR and PBS stations are owned by local broadcasting groups or state governments. No federal ownership. The idea that the federal govt would shut down the AM band is counter to the concept of free enterprise. The only thing they've done is their AM revitalization plan, which offers FM translators under certain conditions. That's it.

A phrase I hear quite often in my circles: "The US is the only country in the world that...."
 
gr8oldies said:
Unlike many if not most countries, the U.S. never formed a government-owned broadcasting network.
Click to expand...

Nor does the FCC regulate government radio in any form. IIRC, all VOA and other Federally-owned broadcast transmitters are regulated by the NTIA.
 
kfbkfb said:
(may be in the wrong place on this board)

Norway planned to switch off all FM broadcasting a few years ago
(some stations were granted a reprieve).

I sometimes listen to the Red Eye Radio show on 710AM, even locally,
in some parts of my suburb, the interference mostly blocks the audio
on my car radio (hence I listen on 103.7FM).

What have other countries done with AM Radio (broadcasting)?

Kirk Bayne
Click to expand...

Are you talking about KCMO 710 AM in Kansas City ?
 
kfbkfb said:
(may be in the wrong place on this board)

Norway planned to switch off all FM broadcasting a few years ago
(some stations were granted a reprieve).

I sometimes listen to the Red Eye Radio show on 710AM, even locally,
in some parts of my suburb, the interference mostly blocks the audio
on my car radio (hence I listen on 103.7FM).

What have other countries done with AM Radio (broadcasting)?

Kirk Bayne
Click to expand...

Countries where radio is dominated by the government have pushed the switch to DAB. Countries where there is more listening to commercial stations have kept AM alive to some extent.

Canada and Mexico have encouraged stations to move from AM to FM. Jamaican government and private radio chose to move entirely to FM. Same is true in most of the Windward Islands. But in Central and South America, AM continues, although more and more listening is to FM. Some places have seen the poorer frequencies just sign off, like Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and even Chile.

Most of Africa never had commercial radio, and when it was allowed it was nearly all on FM. AM pretty much died, except where it is the only way to reach remote parts of some nations.

Each country is different in Europe and Asia. Austria, where there was no early commercial radio, pretty much eliminated AM. In Spain, AM is quite alive with talk radio dominating now.

India is re-purposing the AM band with dozens of medium (50-100 kw) and high (250 kw to 1 mw) transmitters using DRM exclusively.

Pick up a copy of World Radio Handbook and you can see all the countries and their radio infrastructure.
 
Last edited:
KeithE4 said:
Nor does the FCC regulate government radio in any form. IIRC, all VOA and other Federally-owned broadcast transmitters are regulated by the NTIA.
Click to expand...

The bulk of the VOA transmitters are not in the United States.

In this context, this is in regards to the transmitters operated by the parent agency, US Agency for Global Media.
 
Ironically, Norway still runs a Longwave station, in the far north, for the fishing fleet and oil maritime industry. Iceland has left their Longwave station on for the same reason (in their case, it's fishing, no oil rigs / shipping).

So with both of them you have countries with FM or DAB, no MW to speak of (at least in the case of Norway -- not sure about Iceland), and Longwave. Very odd, but it works for them, and it's very cool they were willing to stick with the older technology where it served a good purpose.
 
RadioFan2J3 said:
.

I wonder who will be his replacement at USAGM.
Click to expand...

From Wikipedia:

In June 2018 President Trump announced his intention to nominate documentary film producer Michael Pack to head the agency. As of early December 2018 he has not been confirmed yet by the U.S. Senate.
 
umfan said:
AM finds some use in Central Asia, Afghanistan in particular.
Click to expand...

A lot of the Central Asian AM transmissions are aimed at neighbouring Central Asian countries, or are broadcasting to the wider region. VOA, BBC and NHK all use large facilities in Tajikistan broadcasting to Central Asia in various local languages. A religious broadcaster called Trans World Radio has recently established a new high-power AM transmitter in Uzbekistan.

There's very little local/domestic radio in Central Asia on AM - it's all just yelling at the neighbors. Stations aimed at a domestic audience tend to be on FM only.
 
Miss Tuned said:
A lot of the Central Asian AM transmissions are aimed at neighbouring Central Asian countries, or are broadcasting to the wider region. VOA, BBC and NHK all use large facilities in Tajikistan broadcasting to Central Asia in various local languages. A religious broadcaster called Trans World Radio has recently established a new high-power AM transmitter in Uzbekistan.

There's very little local/domestic radio in Central Asia on AM - it's all just yelling at the neighbors. Stations aimed at a domestic audience tend to be on FM only.
Click to expand...

Trans World Radio used to (perhaps still does) operate PJB (800 kHz. , 500kw!!) from the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles...
Here in the Northeast US it was CKLW in Windsor, ON that blasted in on 800.....with Top 40 and its ubiquitous gory "Big 8" news stories.....!
 
Oldie919 said:
Trans World Radio used to (perhaps still does) operate PJB (800 kHz. , 500kw!!) from the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles...
Here in the Northeast US it was CKLW in Windsor, ON that blasted in on 800.....with Top 40 and its ubiquitous gory "Big 8" news stories.....!
Click to expand...

The Trans World blowtorch at Bonaire is still going.

One country that does still make very heavy use of AM radio is China, although most of the AM transmissions are just simulcasts of FM stations. A cynic might suggest that the multitudes of AM transmissions aren't there for listeners who will listen on clearer FM, but as a "block" to stop potentially undesirable (to the government) signals arriving in mainland China from Taiwan and other countries at night.

Russia, despite its size, doesn't use AM radio a great deal these days. I can only think of one high-power station, Radio Vostok Rossii (Radio East Russia) in the Far East, not far from the Chinese border. There are a couple of little religious stations on AM in St. Petersburg, but that's about it. The last couple of AM stations in Moscow disappeared this year.

One exception is the very high-power Vesti FM transmission on 1413 from a transmitter site in the Moldovan breakaway region of Transnistria, which is allied with but not part of Russia. This is a Russian state-operated news station and this particular broadcast is mostly aimed at listeners in nearby Ukraine.
 
Last edited:
Miss Tuned said:
The Trans World blowtorch at Bonaire is still going.
Click to expand...

After many years of operating at highly reduced power, they installed a 400 kw Nautel last year, and are running it at its maximum rated 440 kw power level.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom