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Saving AM Radio

An option for the un-AM-Radio-informed:

As part of a smart phone software upgrade - if no cell signal is received after several tries in some short period of time - the smart phone screen automatically displays AM radio operating instructions (where to find an AM radio - vehicles, pocket radios etc. and how to operate AM radios [and that there will probably be static in the audio from far away/weak AM radio stations]).


Kirk Bayne
 
vchimpanzee said:
If I remember correctly, there have been one or more posts here saying there are parts of the western United States where this is not true, but the strong AMs can be heard.
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True. But my argument wasn't that FM should be substituted for AM, only that FM should be included as a requirement along with AM. So any people living in those locales would not be deprived.
 
kfbkfb said:
if no cell signal is received after several tries in some short period of time
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If no cell signal is received, the phone has no way of knowing where the user is, so therefore can't provide that information.

Remember that cell phones had FM chips that the manufacturers refused to enable. There is no reason to believe those same manufacturers are going to do anything to promote AM radio. That would require its own legislation.
 
TheBigA said:
Just because they report on something doesn't mean they're advocating legalization.


There is an assumption because they report on something that they're taking a position on it. If you read their coverage, they don't advocate anything. The people they interview take positions, not NPR. Also, in general, deregulation is not a liberal position.
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When I was a news director, one of my most persistent callers would call every time we ran a story on abortion or an abortion protest. She accused us of being pro-abortion because we reported on a protest, or legislation, etc. In other contexts, I think we would call this "working the refs".
 
TheBigA said:
If no cell signal is received, the phone has no way of knowing where the user is, so therefore can't provide that information.
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Even more pertinent, it would have no way of knowing whether the absence of cellular service was because of an ongoing disaster, or because the user was in an underground parking facility, or hiking through a rural national park.

Remember that cell phones had FM chips that the manufacturers refused to enable. There is no reason to believe those same manufacturers are going to do anything to promote AM radio.
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Wasn't that refusal based on wanting to herd their users into their proprietary music stores (iTunes, etc.)?

I believe I also remember reading elsewhere that the FM chips would have suffered poor reception without earbuds plugged in, so the cord could act as an external antenna. But borrowing from kfbkfb's idea, they simply could have had their phones show users trying to tune FM stations an on-screen message indicating earbuds were needed for proper reception. (That notice could have even offered an on-screen prompt asking the user whether the audio should come through the earbuds, the phone's regular speaker, or be cast elsewhere via bluetooth -- i.e., letting the earbuds be plugged in to act only as an antenna.)
 
TheBigA said:
If no cell signal is received, the phone has no way of knowing where the user is, so therefore can't provide that information.

Remember that cell phones had FM chips that the manufacturers refused to enable. There is no reason to believe those same manufacturers are going to do anything to promote AM radio.
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It's really a worst case scenario - the AM radio info on the smart phone screen would explain where to find an AM radio and how to operate it, I'm not advocating putting AM (or FM) radios in smart phones.

Maybe a government requirement to notify smart phones users about AM radio in specific conditions (no cell signal for some period of time), it may be that there's no weather or natural/(person made) situation, just some glitch in the cell network that will be fixed shortly.

Currently, there are a large number of AM radios around (many battery [vehicle or regular type] powered), I don't see how it could hurt to explain to (young?) smart phone users about AM radio.


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
An option for the un-AM-Radio-informed:

As part of a smart phone software upgrade - if no cell signal is received after several tries in some short period of time - the smart phone screen automatically displays AM radio operating instructions (where to find an AM radio - vehicles, pocket radios etc. and how to operate AM radios [and that there will probably be static in the audio from far away/weak AM radio stations]).


Kirk Bayne
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How about we not ad to the cost of a cell phone with the added electronics needed to suggest the life saving AM radio signals. If you live in a very rural area where you might have no other ability to hear life saving news of the destruction of western civilization, we can teach you in elementary school to have a battery powered AM radio kept in your emergency kit, next to the snake venom, fire extinguisher, heart defibrator. and vitamin enhanced water. That way those who live in the wilderness can be safe and prepared without we city folk subsidizing junk (am radio) that we simply no longer need in the 21st century. You can make excuses on why AM in necessary all day, and reality will prove that it is very rarely needed, much like a blacksmith who specializes in horse shoes. There is a reason to have them, but it is miniscule
 
TheBigA said:
Remember that cell phones had FM chips that the manufacturers refused to enable. There is no reason to believe those same manufacturers are going to do anything to promote AM radio. That would require its own legislation.
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It's easy to slip into conspiracy theories. But the real explanation for not enabling the FM radio function is probably simpler. I've had two devices where the FM function was enabled. One was a Sony tablet purchased from Japan; the other is an LG cell phone that I use as a music player because it has a really good DAC. You have to have earbuds/headphones/etc. plugged into them. Otherwise, they won't start. The quality of the reception? It's about on par with a cheap late 1980s Sony FM Walkman where they started skimping on the circuitry. In short, why bother? It doesn't perform well, and there are easier ways on a cellphone to accomplish most of what people would have wanted from FM radio.

edit: this is the 909th post on the subject? EEK!
 
kfbkfb said:
Maybe a government requirement to notify smart phones users about AM radio
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It would require legislation. As I said, the FCC was lobbied very heavily to mandate FM chip activation. The radio industry led by Jeff Smulyan even tried to pay the manufacturers to activate the FM chip to no avail. They simply won't do it and they're big and powerful enough to say no.
 
Hyrum said:
How about we not ad to the cost of a cell phone with the added electronics needed to suggest the life saving AM radio signals.
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Smart phones already have an indication that no cell signal is available, just replace that indication with AM radio info (wouldn't add to the cost at all, it would be a one time software change to display an AM radio info screen instead of a "no signal" 'screen).

The only reason I continue to advocate keeping (some) AM radio stations on the air is because AM signals can travel 100s of miles, no other reason.


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
Smart phones already have an indication that no cell signal is available, just replace that indication with AM radio info
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Keep in mind that phones aren't made in US. They're made in China for an international market. AM radio doesn't exist in many other countries. The only reason they had an FM chip was for Asian use. Not in the US. But you're expecting Chinese manufacturers to do something it doesn't have to do.
 
kfbkfb said:
Smart phones already have an indication that no cell signal is available, just replace that indication with AM radio info (wouldn't add to the cost at all, it would be a one time software change to display an AM radio info screen instead of a "no signal" 'screen).

The only reason I continue to advocate keeping (some) AM radio stations on the air is because AM signals can travel 100s of miles, no other reason.


Kirk Bayne
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Why are we concerned about this at all? If you live in a place where you need an AM radio, just get one. Teach the cell owner that when no signal is available, to tun to AM on their transistor. There is no need to change the cell phones to provide a service no one really wants or needs To keep AM radio alive because its noisy signal travels 100s of miles to thousands of people who don't listen to it, seems like a waste of electricity. There are a million other ways to communicate in an emergency. AM ain't one. Assuming the radio station owner can get a good land deal, they'll turn it off the second the real estate deal is signed, so it's not something to depend upon in the future. Satellite radio covers all those hundreds of miles and more and with a listenable signal. If you are afraid of not being in communication with the world use that. When you object to the cost of satellite, I'll counter with "you're not really all that concerned about the mythical emergency you pretend AM radio will save you from". Then there is the cost of keeping AM on the air. It's not getting any cheaper and when the owners have enough they turn them off. Are you going to ask the tax payers to pay for an AM service, "just in case"? I vote not to pay for it and about every person in every radio market voted the same when they stopped listening to it.
 
yeoldeschool said:
Could the solution be augmenting EAS with a live audio feeding capability? Imagine automated stations (and only automated stations) setting their EAS decoders to not only receive and replay the usual short, pre-recorded EAS alerts, but to remain in "interrupt" mode at the ends of those alerts, where, after those alerts' end-of-message tones, the units would switch to an external source of live audio coming from a central switching point like a county OES office?
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That's the way EAS already works. Local stations EAS decoders are set up to automatically forward alerts from local authorities, FEMA, NWS, or iPAWS.
That includes live alerts.
The problem is that local municipalities typically don't train, let alone drill on activating EAS. When the you know what hits the fan, local emergency services usually are spending time trying to save lives on the ground, not worrying about who might be listening to radio. The wildfires in Hawaii are a great example. Emergency services were overwhelmed having never seen nor prepared for the combination of hurricane winds of hot air with no rain and wildfires. Radio stations were on the air, but had nothing from EMS to report. Cell service was working, because many trapped people were calling 911, being told to head to the water and jump into the Pacific.
 
BruceB said:
All that a college Diploma means is that you paid your tuition and spent the required number of hours in the classroom. That's it. This college graduate who lives at my apartment complex came home one night. Stopped the car in the middle of the parking lot with the engine running and the headlights on to run into her apartment and then forgot about the car and it sat there all night, engine running lights on Doors unlocked. According
To some people here she's smarter than me because she has a college diploma
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Tell your ignorant BS to my wife who recently graduated after three years of very hard work with a masters from MIT. She is officially now smarter than me, and certainly smarter than you too.
 
Having recently left my 33-year career as a broadcast journalist, I'd like to offer a couple of observations:

Have any of the commenters here actually DEALT with local and state emergency management on a regular basis? While a few agencies have outstanding communications skills (usually because they've hired former broadcasters), the vast majority just don't.

Briefings aren't frequent enough, they're full of institution-speak instead of clear writing, and very few have any sense of how to deliver quality video and audio to broadcasters.

They're in no position to deliver the kind of clear and constant messaging that would be needed if you're going to expect them to take over the airwaves of local broadcasters for an extended chunk of time.

You're basically asking them to spin up an all-news radio station in real time along with all the other urgent tasks that are actually part of their primary jobs. Who's going to pay to staff that 24/7 on the off chance it will be needed a few hours a year?

There are a few great counter examples. Right now in Florida, the FPREN weather network is on the air delivering live content over all of Florida's public broadcasters as Helene hits. But it's not there by accident - it takes a lot of state funding and additional support from all the public broadcasters in the state, and especially its home base at UF in Gainesville.

You can do that if you're the entire state of Florida and you know you're going to be dealing with these storms a few times a year. You can't do that if you're a makeshift EMA in a county of 35,000.
 


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