What If AM Radio Was Discontinued?

[landtuna]

Just because the service is available doesn't mean the people use it.

Here's a link to the national map. I was surprised how bad the coverage was in West Virginia

ArcGIS Web Application

fcc.maps.arcgis.com

I'm not. Ever traveled through WVA? I doubt there is more than 10 miles of straight and level road in the entire state.

 

[K6JHU]

Not even counting the Radio Quiet Area.

 

[CTListener]

I'm not. Ever traveled through WVA? I doubt there is more than 10 miles of straight and level road in the entire state.

In the far Eastern Panhandle, the Harper's Ferry area, the terrain is more like that of Maryland, directly to the north.

 

[Oldbones]

Keep in mind he's talking to farmers in rural areas. Out there, high speed internet isn't common. The only choice is either broadcast or satellite. AM travels further than FM so there are uses for it that people don't have in more populated areas.

Rural areas are taking it on the chin with a lot of these technological "advances". We lost OTA tv with the digital conversion, cell coverage can be spotty, even in this age of 5G and high speed internet is expensive and not always available either.

 

[b-turner]

I can attest to this. In some small towns I know. In one, you have the satellite TV (Dish for example) or nothing. You can get high speed internet (supposedly but not really compared to well populated area) for around $100 a month. Cell coverage is like a checker board in the community and within a couple of miles from town. As for radio here, there's an FM 40 miles away that gets in on a good day and 2 even more distant AMs over 100 miles away in a major city. At least this town still has a newspaper...two nearby towns of equal size, both being the county seat, saw Covid take down their newspapers. AM might not say much about the town but in bad weather, they do announce warnings on one of the stations, realizing they actually cover this town.