Perhaps a few sternly worded letters (on company letterhead, signed by the corporate owners of most of the 50kW day and night AMs) to the OEMs that manufacture low cost radios that AM reception is must for the USA consumer electronics market.
Except there's that one detail you don't take into account. Nobody under 60 wants to listen to AM. Are you saying a sternly worded letter would solve that?
Rather, I think Kirk is thinking about a "must-carry" rule similar to how all TV's after a certain date had to include UHF in the 60's, and all radios after the 1990's had to include the x-band. Except, this would kind of be the reverse of that. The OP was about a CD player that had just the FM radio, and despite the technical limitations described by Some Radio Guy, the OP felt like the solution would be to force the CD player to have AM. I think with proper innovation it can be done
How many of those people simply don't know what AM is? Funny story: There's someone I've known for a long time who generally doesn't leave the FM band if he doesn't have to, but if he wants a sports broadcast, he immediately tells me to flip it to AM. The radio at his workplace (okay warehouse) is always on the AM station, even though there's a perfectably listenable FM translator in the area. These folks are between 35-55 years old.
Can't remember the show, but had the TV on and heard an interesting industry statistic; that 99% of new car buyers won't purchase a car unless it comes with a "radio". That includes Gen-Z and Millennial's. There was no mention of any particular broadcast bands or modulation involved, but it's safe to assume they mean FM. Many of the new hybrid and EV vehicles can't have AM tuners because of all the electronics and speed controls. CD's are a thing of the past, so I don't see much effort going toward forcing overseas manufacturers to include radio in something no longer in production.
Of course there are exceptions to anything. Consumers will go to where the content is; especially sports. Chances of some Gen-Z actively seeking out programming for older angry white guys around the local game coverage? Slim to none.
That's an interesting point. Or, of course, an "infotainment system" so the kids can hook up Bluetooth and have their own playlists.
Sadly agreed. My take of this is that if it doesn't automatically come with the car, than 95% of people just won't go through the effort to buy a dozen possibly outdated devices. But, cars used to always come with the CD player, and before that the 8-rack or tape player. (I knew I should've kept that 2002 Subaru Outback!) And so owning CD's were convenient. Adding phones to the mix though, made CD's look like a hassle, but still manageable until the manufacturers felt like it wasn't cost effective, and now people have to go way out of their own way to do anything that's not "on screen".
Agreed.
I know it's besides the point here, but it would be fun to bring back the Model T for historical purposes.
Completely useless. That, and it's such a small chunk of spectral real estate as compared with UHF, may as well just go silent.
Being a ham myself, I think the hobby already has too much barely used spectrum. There are thousands of 2M, 220, and 440Mhz repeaters dotting the country silent for days, if not weeks. Because of atmospheric conditions, the HF band has been unusable for years, with only an occasional opening on 20 and 40M. On more than one occasion, I've driven from Seattle to Washington, D.C. and programmed in all the simplex channels, and what were reportedly the most popular repeaters in my pickup two-sided radio and let it scan. Of the two and a half days, and 2,745miles covered, I heard one contact. The way back I heard zero.
Having several classic cars myself, one could pick up a Model T for less than you would pay for a new Toyota Camry. I wouldn't want to drive it on modern roads, but would be popular in parades or car shows.I know it's besides the point here, but it would be fun to bring back the Model T for historical purposes.
I also have a Sony ICF-P26. Good emergency and around the house and yard radio during football season.
I have that Sony model as well. It does pretty well for FM, tape and CD. I can't say for AM since there's nothing I want to listen to on AM now.
To add another data point, none of the hotels I've stayed in over the past few years (which includes two or three after the pandemic) have had a radio. Instead, a subset of the local radio stations are generally available through the TV, usually after the TV stations. I presume behind the scenes, there are radios tuned to the relevant frequencies (or computers 'tuned' to internet streams) feeding a distribution system.
The departure (finally!) of WCTA made that a moot point!
Might want to ramp up that age. I am 58 now, and have little to no use for AM radio anymore.
Oh it ramps up every year. Ten years ago it used to be 50.
Perhaps a few sternly worded letters (on company letterhead, signed by the corporate owners of most of the 50kW day and night AMs) to the OEMs that manufacture low cost radios that AM reception is must for the USA consumer electronics market.
"AM Revitalization" was like being told to start training your replacement, because it would revitalize your job position. Let's be honest here, the FCC punched a deep hole in AM's revival by using FM translators (ironic). It probably saved the stations themselves, but the FCC had no plans to rescue AM any longer. They just secretly cut the oxygen, while pretending otherwise.
