However, subscribers have access to all the other niche streams on SXM via the mobile app. So what's the problem again?
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Bill to save AM Radio advances in U.S. House
- Thread starter Ed Nielson
- Start date
Kind of an aside from the topic only because I'm curious: What's with all the unusual paragraph and sentence structure, let alone disregarding use of capital letters at the beginning of a sentence? Oh, and various missing punctuation?
I'm sure there are societal outliers that are of the mind: "By gum, I won't own a cell phone, or Interwebs connection." "I don't want the government tracking me."-or whatever. I'm sure they exist somewhere, but are the tiniest of minorities. With a society as large as ours here in the U.S. you can't account for every splinter group.
im a horrific typer if i try and do it business proper, as i call it..... and if i try and type with capitals and etc itll take me too long. i type way too fast and my fingers get somewhere before my brain can tell them what to do
The equivelant of folks in the 70s "I don't need no G-D phone. If they need me they can stop by"
they do live in the boonies! lol
Aside from the fact that I don't carry a cell phone, I occasionally see signs that say for traffic information tune to 530 AM or 1610 AM. After the addition of 1610-1700 to the AM band, that may be 1710 now. I can remember being in my motel room in the mountains just miles from one of those signs and I could hear the information on 1610.
It's rather interesting that, for something that everyone is clamoring should be saved with total urgency, this is a bill that is advancing at a completely glacial pace. As Yogi Berra once said, "it gets late early out here."
(Of course, the US House is currently so dysfunctional and barely operable, it might be a miracle if this even comes up to the full floor for a vote.)
(Of course, the US House is currently so dysfunctional and barely operable, it might be a miracle if this even comes up to the full floor for a vote.)
But the late 70's solutions from any of the 5 developers could sound better in stereo than plain old analog even if you were not hearing the channel separations. But there were never enough receivers to make an impact... to to a great extent to Leonard Kahn and his objections.
So few people today understand that consolodation was a solution to the fact that half of all stations were barely breaking even or losing money in the early 90's. That was in no small part due to Docket 80-90 that upgraded, moved and allocated "tons of stations" and made competition in most medium and small metros so bad that few were making money.
And today that is due to the "need" most smaller local accounts feel to have strong presence on social media and search results findings. That takes much of their budget... much more than the Yellow Pages and secondary newspapers and city magazines did back in the day.
Yes, but if anything "destroyed" radio for the future, it was Docket 80-90.
Especially true in the winter the farther north you go.
My sense is they'll do it after the election. A lot of pet bills get passed during the lame duck session.
I remember seeing one of those on I-20 on the way to Dallas, which said to tune into 820 AM, which is WBAP. So it could be a regular station in this case.
WBAP is also the DFW station that is designated for EAS activation. They have great weather coverage. But how many people know to tune into WBAP when there is bad weather?
and the continued attitude, especially FMs.. if we can fit a frequency here, we should do it and put it on air
AM Radio Bill Clears House Hurdle By Wide Margin.
The bill that would require automakers to keep AM radio in vehicle dashboards is heading to the full House after the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the proposed AM
The bill has already made progress in the Senate...having the super-majority required to overcome any potential filibuster.
(maybe as a result of this, we'll get a newly developed AM IC that includes some tech to deal with impulse noise et al.)
Kirk Bayne
I have to plug the idea one more time of a company like Orban being the ideal candidate for any such chipset. It's a natural fit. Orban and the other major audio processing players are basically in the business of helping stations sound as good and as clean as possible in spite of loudness-hungry management and noise-prone analog transmission/reception systems. Anything that could place the same minds and engineering talent behind the reception side of the equation could only be a good thing, as that would help not only backstop the future viability of the transmission (processing) side of their own businesses, but the radio industry as a whole. When I see stories circulating about one too many modern tuners not even caring to look for pilot tones when operating in analog mode, or about them outputting audio while on FM that's almost indistinguishable from the low fidelity of their AM reception, it's obvious that the reception side of things needs some real advocates working in its midst.
Speaking of FM, and returning to the proper topic of this thread (the "AM Radio For Every Vehicle Act"), aren't these people forgetting just one small thing? Like ... FM? I don't understand why they're bothering to go through all the effort and expense associated with getting federal legislation written, introduced, and passed when this bill, as is, would only technically save half of the traditional car radio receiver. Are they expecting that vehicle makers wouldn't look at the letter of this law and retain AM while eventually dumping FM to incentivize maximum subscription uptake to services like SiriusXM or whatever other streaming platforms they may get into the business of co-promoting with big tech later on down the road? This bill should be called the "AM and FM Radio For Every Vehicle Act." Especially when every AM station that's financially able is already transitioning, or has transitioned, to translators or even full power FM signals, and to promoting their new FM frequencies on-air more than, or exclusively over, their AM frequencies. If this bill doesn't mandate FM as well, aren't they risking wasting all of their effort on essentially mandating that automakers give them the equivalent of flooded real estate?
Speaking of FM, and returning to the proper topic of this thread (the "AM Radio For Every Vehicle Act"), aren't these people forgetting just one small thing? Like ... FM? I don't understand why they're bothering to go through all the effort and expense associated with getting federal legislation written, introduced, and passed when this bill, as is, would only technically save half of the traditional car radio receiver. Are they expecting that vehicle makers wouldn't look at the letter of this law and retain AM while eventually dumping FM to incentivize maximum subscription uptake to services like SiriusXM or whatever other streaming platforms they may get into the business of co-promoting with big tech later on down the road? This bill should be called the "AM and FM Radio For Every Vehicle Act." Especially when every AM station that's financially able is already transitioning, or has transitioned, to translators or even full power FM signals, and to promoting their new FM frequencies on-air more than, or exclusively over, their AM frequencies. If this bill doesn't mandate FM as well, aren't they risking wasting all of their effort on essentially mandating that automakers give them the equivalent of flooded real estate?
The bill requires a study be done within a year to determine if there’s another nationwide delivery system for emergency alerts that’s as reliable and widespread as AM stations, and then the study will be presented to Congress. The bill also doesn’t include digital AM stations, just IBOC AM stations:
Due to those pesky laws of physics, FM only goes about 70 miles out from the transmitter, AM (50kW omni day & night) can go 100s of miles (depending on if it's day or night and if the AC power is off in a large area [due to a natural or person made disaster]).
Or...maybe it's some sort of Machiavellian scheme to save AM radio - outlaw FM and, since smartphone users have become accustomed to mono sound of limited fidelity (closer to voice grade than music grade)...well...AM radio had these sound quality attributes in abundance and could be used for both music and voice, no need for FM at all, just AM radio and streaming.
Kirk Bayne
Or...maybe it's some sort of Machiavellian scheme to save AM radio - outlaw FM and, since smartphone users have become accustomed to mono sound of limited fidelity (closer to voice grade than music grade)...well...AM radio had these sound quality attributes in abundance and could be used for both music and voice, no need for FM at all, just AM radio and streaming.
Kirk Bayne
You haven't purchased a new smartphone in awhile, have you?
Most people are using Apple Carplay, Android Auto, or even good old fashioned Bluetooth to stream high quality phone audio to their vehicle's sound system in glorious stereo that actually sounds much better than FM in most cases.
This has nothing to do with the fabled emergency service that AM radio would theoretically provide to the audience, though...if only there were a news department -- or any live people at all -- at the radio station, or anyone at the region's public safety organizations that knew how to activate EAS when disaster strikes.
2023-09: a Nokia C110 "smartphone" - I watched a music video on it (using my home WiFi), used the built in speaker to listen (sound quality was about like my Sony pocket AM/FM radios).
Not to get too far off topic, driving is the priority, listening to music/talk is a distant second (I have 3 talk and 11 music radio stations on my AM/FM [20 year old] car radio presets).
I think AM radio should be part of the baseline of safety equip in vehicles.
Kirk Bayne
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