Saving AM Radio

[brettbutlerisok]

View attachment 7734

 

[yeoldeschool]

But as far as "national" vs. "local", I know of very few stations running these diginets that even bother to take the local spot avails. The only one that does (at least that I have seen) is KTLA/5, which covers those with a mix of promos for the main channel and locally-focused PSAs. I suspect most stations feel it would not be worth the trouble to cover one PI with another, especially give the relatively low rate of return.

Are almost all of these diginets paying for their carriage on the stations broadcasting them, then? I thought that some of them might be paying affiliates for carriage, but that most were simply picked up by the affiliates in barter arrangements ("you carry our diginet, we'll give you local avails").

It means that the two dozen people who might read the story probably know what AM radio is. They may even have a Crosley or Atwater Kent table model at home. Not sure if them newfangled horseless carriages fit into their lifestyle, though.

Have you ever watched Mr. Carlson on Youtube spending hours repairing and rejuvenating antique AM radios from the early 20th century? He is a certifiable electronics genius with an astonishing home laboratory and parts inventory, and can make those old receivers perform exactly as they did when new from the factory -- sometimes better. I often think what a shame it is that all those classy, antique receivers will soon have nothing to listen to.

If any engineering types reading this want a free invention idea, invent a reverse SDR with wi-fi and ethernet connections and USB ports that transmits the entire AM band simultaneously at part 15 compliant wattage levels. People will be able to locate it beside their antique AM tuners and use them to tune an entire AM band filled with listenable music, old radio shows, etc. from a locally generated source (this device). The user would be able to configure it to modulate live internet stream A on 540 kHz, live internet stream B on 560 kHz, the contents of USB folder "top40" on 590 kHz, internet stream C on 630 kHz, the contents of USB folder "OTR_shows" on 1010 kHz, the contents of USB folder "beautiful_music" on 1690 kHz, etc. All the AM carriers could be generated in software, and a single D/A could generate the entire band's spectrum (all those carriers) into an amplification circuit and small transmitting antenna. Besides people with antique radios for the home, you could probably sell a lot of these things to the much larger consumer base of classic car owners.

 

[yeoldeschool]

Proposed new radiodiscussions.com policy: green slime falls on the head of anyone who says AM STEREO.

 

[Kelly A]

Are almost all of these diginets paying for their carriage on the stations broadcasting them, then? I thought that some of them might be paying affiliates for carriage, but that most were simply picked up by the affiliates in barter arrangements ("you carry our diginet, we'll give you local avails").

It's barter. But many of the diginet local broadcasts don't see much in the way of local ad sales either. Usually, it's national ad sales via the TV group that owns the local stations.

 

[wadio]

The bill to save AM radio in cars seems to be moving forward in the House with bipartisan support:

More Voices Express Elation Over AM Act's Progress In US House - Radio Ink

Support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act continues to build as it moves toward a full House vote after leaving committee.

radioink.com

I don't get it.

1. Republicans are supposed to support free markets. If the auto-makers find that their customers don't care about AM they should not be forced to include it.
2. In an emergency, will it occur to most people to tune into AM radio? I don't personally know anyone who listens to AM radio. And that's not just people under 50. I started to stream AM stations about a decade ago and now I pay little attention to their dial position but I'd say about half have either moved to FM or added an FM simulcast.
3. I'll bet most people's portable AM radios are on a shelf in the basement with oozing batteries. A better solution would be for the Government to shut down the AM band and repurpose the 50,000 watt towers strictly for emergency use. Then make available, for free, small emergency alert devices. The cost per unit would be minimal.
4. The info systems in cars should be programmed, in an emergency, to switch to the emergency AM signal from whatever mode they're in. That would be a useful mandate in the name of safety.

 

[xmtrland]

So the Government is going to mandate the private owners of 50KW stations to shut down and give then their towers..... Would there be some type of compensation driving up the national debt? Free everything!

 

[TheBigA]

I don't get it.

1. Republicans are supposed to support free markets.

They also support free speech. They say eliminating AM is an attack on conservative talk.

However they also want to ban TikTok. So there isn't a consistent policy. They support things that benefit other things they support.

 

[wadio]

So the Government is going to mandate the private owners of 50KW stations to shut down and give then their towers..... Would there be some type of compensation driving up the national debt? Free everything!

The Government owns the frequencies, no? AM has been shut down in other countries. VHF TV is a distant memory. Things change! There are ways to make this happen and compensate station owners in the process.

 

[KeithE4]

1. I'll bet most people's portable AM radios are on a shelf in the basement with oozing batteries. A better solution would be for the Government to shut down the AM band and repurpose the 50,000 watt towers strictly for emergency use.

Since when does the Federal Government have the right to seize private property? Even if they compensated the station owners, the cost to the taxpayers to buy the land the towers sit on would be prohibitive, as well as a waste of money.

The AM band is a worldwide allocation. It may lose 90% of its stations over the next couple of decades, but it cannot go away until the ITU allows it. Besides, what other service could use it (besides hams, of course).

1. Then make available, for free, small emergency alert devices. The cost per unit would be minimal.

Small emergency alert devices? We already have those. They're called cellphones. As far as such devices in the Ancient Modulation band go... remember, the pocket radios of ye olden dayes never worked all that well when compared with larger radios.

1. The info systems in cars should be programmed, in an emergency, to switch to the emergency AM signal from whatever mode they're in. That would be a useful mandate in the name of safety.

Is there some useful purpose for this? Again, we have cellphones with this function right now. No need for a separate device using obsolete technology.

 

[TheBigA]

The Government owns the frequencies, no? AM has been shut down in other countries. VHF TV is a distant memory. Things change! There are ways to make this happen and compensate station owners in the process.

AM has been shut down in countries where the stations are owned by the government, not private companies.

There is no cost to the government to allow those private companies to lose money operating their stations. All the cost is on the owners.

The digital conversion of TV was done to repurpose spectrum. No such use for AM.

 

[wadio]

All of the above are good reasons for the government to stay out of it entirely. NO MANDATED AM IN CARS!!

 

[TheBigA]

All of the above are good reasons for the government to stay out of it entirely. NO MANDATED AM IN CARS!!

It's not a matter where the public votes on it.

 

[Don CT]

AM has been shut down in countries where the stations are owned by the government, not private companies.

There is no cost to the government to allow those private companies to lose money operating their stations. All the cost is on the owners.

The digital conversion of TV was done to repurpose spectrum. No such use for AM.

They own the content that goes over the airwaves. Not the airwaves themselves.

 

[TheBigA]

They own the content that goes over the airwaves. Not the airwaves themselves.

The content and the facilities. They own the towers, the land those towers are on, the studios, and everything else involved in transmission.

The spectrum is managed by the government as a public resource.

 

[CTListener]

The AM band is a worldwide allocation. It may lose 90% of its stations over the next couple of decades, but it cannot go away until the ITU allows it. Besides, what other service could use it (besides hams, of course).

Can you imagine having a ham band from 540 to 1710 KHz? If AM radios are still mandated in cars by then, will the manufacturers be told to enable single-sideband reception in them? Or will the calls for the band's elimination grow louder as drivers begin to die off after falling asleep at the wheel while listening to Joe in New London and Elmer in Scranton discuss each other's antennas, weather conditions and prostate disorders for too long?

 

[KeithE4]

Can you imagine having a ham band from 540 to 1710 KHz? If AM radios are still mandated in cars by then, will the manufacturers be told to enable single-sideband reception in them? Or will the calls for the band's elimination grow louder as drivers begin to die off after falling asleep at the wheel while listening to Joe in New London and Elmer in Scranton discuss each other's antennas, weather conditions and prostate disorders for too long?

SSB? Naaaahhhhh. Good ol' Ancient Modulation or CW would have to be required, just like Grandpappy used to use. Or maybe start up a low-bandwidth TV service using Nipkow Disks.

 

[Don CT]

The content and the facilities. They own the towers, the land those towers are on, the studios, and everything else involved in transmission.

The spectrum is managed by the government as a public resource.

They can transmit to anything though. The internet is the same as airwaves. The content doesn’t change.

 

[TheBigA]

They can transmit to anything though. The internet is the same as airwaves. The content doesn’t change.

Then they shouldn't have bought the license in the first place. If they want to just run an internet station, anyone can do that.

 

[K.M. Richards]

So the Government is going to mandate the private owners of 50KW stations to shut down and give then their towers..... Would there be some type of compensation driving up the national debt? Free everything!

This is a good point, because even in the transition from analog to digital television, the stations were able to (with very few exceptions) continue using their existing towers. The government didn't take them over.

There is also the matter of those rural AMs, which often are the only widely-receivable signals in an area, who probably have their towers on real estate that would not attract any buyers if they were to be forced off the air.

There are indeed financial consequences to the proposal that xmtrland replied to, and I hope this comment amplifies his objection to same.

 

[wadio]

It's not a matter where the public votes on it.

No, but they vote with their feet.