AM BROADCASTERS - CALL TO ACTION

[tomservo]

Maybe I've been missing it all this time, but I don't recall ever hearing that HD reduces coverage on AM until all this WHAT-not (ha).

On an unrelated note, maybe we'll be seeing some "move-outs" on AM, where these little stations move out to rural exurban communities to establish "hometown" roots in a bid for survival.

 

[awj223]

There is very little revenue at night. Most revenue is in daytime, and night spots are either very cheap or bonuses to match CPP goals for the daytime.

So why do the HD Radio buzzsaws need to run at night? If there's very little revenue, it shouldn't matter whether the HD is off or on, as there are very few people listening to radio in the first place, and most of that listening is on FM. Stations should just sign off to reduce the power bill for that matter if it weren't for the fact that they'd get in trouble with the FCC for dead air.

 

[LinoNYC]

Maybe I've been missing it all this time, but I don't recall ever hearing that HD reduces coverage on AM until all this WHAT-not (ha).

In terms of RF, no however I have heard instances where a station has implemented iboc and it's analog seemed weaker. From what I have read from experienced engineers this is caused by using the internal analog processor in the iboc exciter. They recomend turning that (dull sounding) processor off using an external higher quality unit ahead of it.

Lino

 

[amfmsw]

Lino: "kinds Don't listen to AM anymore".

Please don't tell the Walt Disney Company. They earn millions annualy serving 6 to "tweens" on big AM's nationwide. My youngest son came to me and asked for a Zenith radio from my collection for his bedroom. This after I hooked up a new stereo. I asked why. His reply: I like Disney Radio, and at night 640 goes away, but one of your Zenith's will pick it up on 1560. I gave him a "flower power" Zenith AM table radio form about 1970. Sure enough, that night, he was doing his homework with Disney 1560Kc flying down the coast.

 

[LinoNYC]

Lino: "kinds Don't listen to AM anymore".

Please don't tell the Walt Disney Company. They earn millions annualy serving 6 to "tweens" on big AM's nationwide. My youngest son came to me and asked for a Zenith radio from my collection for his bedroom. This after I hooked up a new stereo. I asked why. His reply: I like Disney Radio, and at night 640 goes away, but one of your Zenith's will pick it up on 1560. I gave him a "flower power" Zenith AM table radio form about 1970. Sure enough, that night, he was doing his homework with Disney 1560Kc flying down the coast.

Radio Disney is itself, "the Product" so it doesn't have to get ratings. We have two similar vanity stations here in NYC (1050, 1130).

What is unfortunate about 1560 is not only that it killed a good Pop Standards station in late 1998 but also it seems that Disney has a dislike for AM stereo and good air chains as well. Right after they took over, off went the C-quam and in came an awful mushy mess of data compressed audio. In the last 3 years things have improved markedly, it's now listenable, too bad about the music and still no stereo.

Their ad poster are strange, a couple of years ago they ran one with a young teen holding a faux boom box with only one large speaker. The current one show a single towering speaker, I guess RD just doesn't like stereo.

Every so often I'll see a young person working the checkout at a local store with just a pocket AM radio tuned to RD, kind of reminiscent of the old days when AM was king.

Lino

 

[davideduardo]

So why do the HD Radio buzzsaws need to run at night? If there's very little revenue, it shouldn't matter whether the HD is off or on, as there are very few people listening to radio in the first place, and most of that listening is on FM. Stations should just sign off to reduce the power bill for that matter if it weren't for the fact that they'd get in trouble with the FCC for dead air.

Most of the 168 hours in a week are not profitable to AM or FM. The objective in being on as many hours as possible (24/7 if you don't have a daytime) is to "always be there" for regular listeners who may tune in in the less used hours, thus creating habit of usage.

Interestingly, when many stations going back to the late 50's started broadcasting from midnight to 6 AM it was to avoid having the transmitter fail at sign-on at the beginning of the most critical time of the day for advertising. It only took a few cases of failure at 6 AM to convince many managers to run all night.

Today, most believe that being on before 6 AM allows the morning show to have a lead-in audience.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Radio Disney is itself, "the Product" so it doesn't have to get ratings. We have two similar vanity stations here in NYC (1050, 1130).

Every so often I'll see a young person working the checkout at a local store with just a pocket AM radio tuned to RD, kind of reminiscent of the old days when AM was king.

It is actually a quite listenable mix of current top-40, very good artists Disney has signed, and oldies. My main gripe with them is the corporate directive to go IBOC on the network. Our local outlet had a good powerful C-Quam stereo signal that was good for 290 miles west (or powerful enough locally to overpower most interference). Then along comes IBOC - MUCH weaker signal out west, muffled audio. I wonder what corporate idiot at RD thought tweens would go out and buy $200 HD radios? They could have stuck with C-Quam and imported radios from Japan that would cost $25 and sound great. Mickey branded in stores - they would have sold. Especially put next to Hannah Montana CD's. I can see the ads in stores "hear Hannah Montana on Radio Disney better than ever" on a cheap C-Quam radio.

 

[awj223]

Most of the 168 hours in a week are not profitable to AM or FM. The objective in being on as many hours as possible (24/7 if you don't have a daytime) is to "always be there" for regular listeners who may tune in in the less used hours, thus creating habit of usage.

Interestingly, when many stations going back to the late 50's started broadcasting from midnight to 6 AM it was to avoid having the transmitter fail at sign-on at the beginning of the most critical time of the day for advertising. It only took a few cases of failure at 6 AM to convince many managers to run all night.

Today, most believe that being on before 6 AM allows the morning show to have a lead-in audience.

Sure, that explains why stations want to be on all night, but it does not explain why they have to have the awful IBOC hybrid mode operating all night. Since all HD Radio receivers are backward compatible with analog, an analog only signal is still there, even for HD Radio listeners.

This is fun. It's like watching two unmanned trains heading toward each other at 200 mph on a single track, with no way to switch tracks and not enough distance to stop. Nobody is going to get killed, but you know there is going to be a big explosion. The only question is where all the flaming debris will land and what effects it will cause. We'll see in 9 days whether there will be enough lawsuits to cause the FCC to order hybrid IBOC off the air at night. A far more reasonable compromise would be for stations to have to pick between pure analog and pure digital at night, with hybrid mode only allowed during the day.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

pick between pure analog and pure digital at night, with hybrid mode only allowed during the day.

What broadcaster in their right mind would pick pure digital, which can only be heard by a tiny minority of their listeners? A far more intelligent option would be to go C-Quam at night, because HD radios can support it.

 

[awj223]

What broadcaster in their right mind would pick pure digital, which can only be heard by a tiny minority of their listeners? A far more intelligent option would be to go C-Quam at night, because HD radios can support it.

That's the whole point. HD would never operate at night unless it ever becomes mainstream. The hybrid hiss would be banned from the night airwaves forever, and if HD flops, it will never see the light of...err, the dark of night.

 

[Savage]

Ladies and gentlemen: if you think IBOC-AM at night is a bad idea, be sure you don't just sit and blog about the problem. Whenever you encounter a SPECIFIC IBOC-interference problem, it is VITAL that you complain to the commission. Include the callsign of the station you want to listen to, and the callsign of the interfering station(s.) Be specific and include time and date. Send your complaint, WITH A COPY TO YOUR LOCAL CONGRESSMAN, to:

Federal Communications Commission
Enforcement Bureau
Technical and Public Safety Division
445 12st St. SW
Washington, DC 20554

Let's stop bickering about IBOC-AM, and roll up our sleeves and kill this thing right now. Shouldn't be too hard. It's on life-support already anyway.

 

[Boulder Engineer]

Send your complaint, WITH A COPY TO YOUR LOCAL CONGRESSMAN, to:

Federal Communications Commission
Enforcement Bureau

The radio cops enforce the laws on the books.
You haven't stipulated which regulation(s) such radio stations would be in violation of.

This is the second time I have asked you to cite the section of the CFR that radio stations using an approved IBOC system would be in violation of, simply by using it at night.

I guess you can't.

You need to learn to aim it downwind instead of all over your own shoes.

On the CONSTRUCTIVE side, if interference *does* occur, I would suggest writing the station(s) experiencing interference to their signals. There isn't a PD or station manager out there that wouldn't get the attention of.
And copy your letter to the station causing the interference.

Frank in S. Nevada

 

[SUPERCASTER]

WDAS 1480 AM HD adjacent channel signal loudly interferes with WBCB 1490 AM analog within WBCB's 1mV/m contour.
Complaints have been filed some time ago with all parties and ignored by the offenders.
So much for Boulder Engineer's comments, "wisdom" and solutions.
Take your own advice, Boulder:

You need to learn to aim it downwind instead of all over your own shoes.

It is clear that Boulder is the one that's all wet.

 

[Savage]

A couple things about Boulder's observations. Listeners who are experiencing interference are not expected by the FCC, to have a copy of Parts 73, 74 and 22 of the CFR on their laps when they file complaints. I never alleged that all FCC complaints "must" reference a specific rule being violated. I simply said that all complaints involving IBOC stations bothering desired local stations should be reported to the FCC. The FCC does not require complainants to meet a "burden of proof" nor are members of the public expected to file complaints in the format of formal pleadings or petitions.

Naturally I encourage all stations experiencing serious IBOC interference to get together with their consulting engineer and communications attorney to prepare formal complaints, whose formats would be more likely to please Boulder than lowly letters from actual radio listeners.

SPECIAL NOTE TO ALL BROADCASTERS: If you suspect that an IBOC skywave signal is likely to start interfering with you at night starting September 14, you would be well-advised to get out there THIS WEEK and aircheck your signal at a variety of points within your NIF, your 5mv and 2mv contours. In this way you'll have a baseline for real-world receiving conditions, a "before" if you will, so your consultant can revisit those spots with an FIM and a spectrum analyzer once the IBOC skywave starts arriving. Check with your consulting engineer for the best way to do this with your station.

Boulder, thanks for reminding me. Addressing listeners once again: if you're going to complain about IBOC interference, be sure to complain emphatically to the GENERAL MANAGER and SALES MANAGER of the affected stations. Remember that the "solar plexus" of every radio station is SALES, e.g., "the revenue stream." The express-lane to shutting off the IBOC exciter leads through the front office, where interest in HD-AM will expire quickly if it starts to cost money and management preoccupation. It's probably a waste of time to complain to the Chief Engineer, who likely was told to shut up, hold still and "just install the thing" against his/her better judgment.