More like when competition from TV, especially in programming in which being able to see what's happening is a decided advantage, such as scripted dramas, comedies and serials, forced radio to pull back from that sort of programming and focus on playing recorded music. The transition was successful, but the days of the family gathering around the radio for "The Lone Ranger" or "The Shadow" were over. Radio became background rather than foreground entertainment.
If AM is mandated in new vehicles, it doesn't mean the buyer is required to use it.
When I was in high school, I was not aware of anyone listening to FM. There was 61 Big WAYS and WAAK. Those are the only stations I am aware of that kids liked. I listened to WSOC until it went all news and WBT after that.
Was Charlotte a decade behind the curve? I started listening to FM in 1968!
This sort of thing depended on the individual market, but I think the real turning point for FM in many areas came around 1970-73. In St. Louis, it was 1972 when KSLQ came on the air with a "Super Q" format, eating away almost immediately at KXOK's formerly unassailable position. It took a little longer outstate. And, yes, KRES featured country music.
Apparently. There was nothing on FM in Charlotte in 1968 except beautiful music.
Actually, RV never "overtook" radio. The weekly usage of radio has been as much as or greater than that of broadcast television since TV began.
It just shifted its primetime away from evenings.
Same LED bulbs that have nearly killed AM radio? My Arkansas AM radio works great until the neighbor turns on their LED lights at about 7AM. It must travel through the power lines, or is it through the air? A new neighbor at my San Antonio house has now given me a problem, but only for fringe stations. I hate those damn things.
I've come across some higher quality LED bulbs (GE Reveal) that don't put off any meaningful amount of RFI. When I stick my radio right next to one of those (like, touching), all I hear is a soft hash; I back off a couple inches and it's practically inaudible.
KQWB? (KDWB is, of course, Mpls-St Paul)
But what's more important, REDUCING GLOBAL POWER USAGE FOR LIGHTING BY TEN TIMES, or preserving hundred-year-old, outdated and unnecessary technology in the US?
All of the bulbs in my home have been LED for the last ten years and they don't cause any interference, even the ones that cost less than a dollar. All the streetlights are also LED and AM works fine in the car driving past them. The only LED that does cause problems is the one that is attached to a dimmer, when it's on, there's a buzz across the AM band. The interference may be caused by a dimmer and/or a noisy power supply.
Same here. All of my light bulbs have been LED, with a few remaining CFLs, for over a decade. No dimmers and no noise issues at 2 feet or more away.
It would be interesting if you could somehow tap into the wire embedded in the stucco and use that as an antenna.
That mandate did not take away the existing vhf channels. Converter boxes were also available. Apparently, there was enough interest in uhf for both the broadcast stations and viewers that the tv receiver mandate was put in place for uhf. Neither the consumers or the broadcasters were forced to do anything.
