AM Coming to the FM band - GREAT PROPOSAL BY FCC COMMISSIONER!

[joshzz]

As many of you have already heard, FCC Commissioner, Mignon Clyburn, has proposed that a window be made available for AM stations to apply for a translator. I personally think it's a great idea. Here's more courtesy of radioink.com>>

Acting FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn came to the NAB/RAB Radio show in Orlando with breaking news. And it was news well received by attendees, especially those who operate AM stations back home. Wednesday morning Clyburn circulated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, she says, "will represent the next major step in the commission's review of AM service." The proposal includes six points, many of them technical in nature, but one that caught the ears of many in the audience: The FCC will be opening a one-time filing window for AM licensees to apply for an FM translator in their service area. That means it's possible that every AM operator could eventually rebroadcast their programming on an FM translator.

Clyburn showed she clearly understands the challenges AM broadcasters face, reeling off most of the problems they've been dealing with for a long time. "The migration of AM listeners to newer, higher-fidelity, media services. The number of stations is decreasing, AM listenership is dwindling, and young people just are not tuning in. Many stations are unable to broadcast at night or must reduce their power due to the nighttime propagation characteristics of AM signals. Reinforced buildings and structures with steel frames or aluminum siding can block AM signals, leading to poor AM reception in many urban areas. And AM radio is particularly sensitive to interference from electronic devices of all types, including TV sets, vehicle engines, fluorescent lighting, computers, and power lines."

However, until now, it appeared only Commissioner Ajit Pai was onboard with some sort of AM revitalization. Clyburn made it clear Pai isn't the only friend AM broadcasters have. She's all in.Clyburn said the FCC needs the help of the broadcasters to make this happen, because it won't be easy. She said, "This is proposed rulemaking invites comment on additional proposals or rule modifications that could help to revitalize the AM band. I am eager to hear all of the well-thought-out ideas that you can provide, and I know that my colleagues on the commission are as well. There will be challenges ahead. But working together, we can ensure that AM radio and all radio can flourish going forward, allowing your businesses to prosper while continuing to deliver tremendous benefits to the American people."

Cromwell Group CEO Bud Walters told Radio Ink immediately after the speech that the FM translator window is a great idea. If AM broadcasters were all granted an FM translator, that would solve the problem. The big question is when this would happen. How long will it take to get through the process? Walters has been waiting for a response from the commission for nearly a year now regarding his Tell City, IN proposal to have WTCJ-AM rebroadcast on an FM translator, and he been given no explanation why it's taken so long for the commission to approve or deny his request.

Ben Downs, VP/GM of Bryan Broadcasting, also told Radio Ink he thinks the Clyburn announcement is encouraging. "That was some very good news for small- to midsize-market AM operators today," he said. The AM NPRM addressed a lot of technical issues that will help when stations need to move, but that one-translator-per-AM window will solve the problem of daytimers and low-power operators. Now, when they get their translator, they will find themselves able to operate 24 hours a day and with coverage that can cover their cities of license. For a large percentage of AM broadcasters, this will be sufficient to keep them economically viable while long-term solutions are found. I think the work that Commissioner Pai has done to get things this far deserve a lot of thanks from this industry."

 

[landtuna]

I assume this proposal might meet with success at the medium and small market level but what about the large markets that have no FM freq's left for their AM brethren?

And, if you are going to operate an FM translator what is the benefit of keeping the AM mothership on the air?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

And, if you are going to operate an FM translator what is the benefit of keeping the AM mothership on the air?

The political process is a place where evolution lives.

I'm not holding my breath that this proposal will be implemented, but if it is, then every AM that can find and available frequency for a translator will get one. Then when some people are still standing outside the dance with no ticket to get in, there would then be an effort to bend and shape rules to get a few more tickets for the dance granted, and then a few years later, someone can be the HERO and come up with a proposal to allow turning off the AMs.

The administration of the political process in like molasses on a cold day..... it flows slowly, and not always gracefully,

 

[tpt]

About 20 years ago now I was on a Mediterranean cruise, stopping at Messina. Every other channel was filled with an FM station--except around the channel used by RAI (government radio). Almost impossible to separate stations on my little portable.

Translators will keep some AM stations alive--for a while. But my fear is the pressure will be on to up power on LPFM's, increase the power on these translators--until the FM band becomes a mess like I found back then in Sicily.

 

[Chuck]

While I'm encouraged by the idea, by the time the 2003 Translator Window is settled, and the 2013 LPFM window closes, there aren't going to be many available frequencies for many of these AM translators. It will work out for some, but not everyone. So far, nobody has mentioned the issue that translators are secondary services and can be shut down if a full power station decides to move into your territory.

I guess the good news is the problem is on the FCC's radar....

 

[ok walters]

While I'm encouraged by the idea, by the time the 2003 Translator Window is settled, and the 2013 LPFM window closes, there aren't going to be many available frequencies for many of these AM translators. It will work out for some, but not everyone. So far, nobody has mentioned the issue that translators are secondary services and can be shut down if a full power station decides to move into your territory.

I guess the good news is the problem is on the FCC's radar....

Nothing has been stated as to what order the FM frequencies will be doled out. Who knows - with all of the delays so far anything could happen. Remember, we are still waiting for the 2003 issues to be settled so ??????? The AMs may get first dibs.

 

[Chuck]

Although I like the idea, I'd be curious to know where they want to put all these new translators. Unless they open up TV channels 5 & 6, I don't see this working. In many locations, there is simply no room. It's just simple math and the laws of physics. I know that a lot of government employees think that inconvenient laws can be changed, but physics doesn't give much slack....

 

[TheBigA]

Although I like the idea, I'd be curious to know where they want to put all these new translators. Unless they open up TV channels 5 & 6, I don't see this working.

It won't work if they open channels 5 & 6 either, because it would make a billion radios obsolete.

 

[landtuna]

It won't work if they open channels 5 & 6 either, because it would make a billion radios obsolete.

Sure it would. A whole bunch of AM's, who nobody listens to now, would get an FM frequency that nobody could listen to (unless they had a radio capable of audio TV reception) then. The status remains quo.

 

[Small Market Guy]

I don't mind the idea if it doesn't clutter the FM band much. I doubt my company would take advantage since my AM signal gets out 100 miles anyway, and a translator would barely cover the city. But it could help small operators who only have an AM station. I think if this happens, we'll be surprised how few companies take advantage.

 

[dougw9wi]

I doubt this will result in a whole lot of new translators in urban areas. By the time they finish with the current batch of translator applications and the LPFM window that'll open in a few weeks, there will be no space for more translators.

We'll see some in rural areas and maybe one or two in a few cities.

In the end these proposals will help a few dozen AM stations, but it will do nothing for the hundreds of others that really don't have a future.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Those who are steeped in the teachings and traditions of Judeo-Christian dogma are familiar with the two mothers who both claimed a baby, and King Solomon, who history regards as the prototype of wisdom, came up with a plan to solve the fight.

The dilemma of how to best resolve the plight of the A.M. broadcasters needs ol' King Solomon real bad right now. We could just let the "survival-of-the-fittest version of raw, un-bridled capitalism tidy up the spectrum. Some communities and some 'social groups' would likely be trampled in the process. We could authorize some altruistic task-force handle the process with compassion. We would still have trampled communities and social groups.

There are a lot of folk-lore tales that "death panels" are buried somewhere in the Obamacare mechanism. Maybe it would be humane and productive to restrict death panels to solving the A.M. spectrum that we kick around in these discussions like a 'red-headed step child' as the old socially incorrect Southern vernacular calls them.

Killing a useless A.M. license would be more humane than killing Grandma.

 

[kenglish]

There are actually millions of radios out there that can tune TV channels 5 and 6 (and 48 others, too). They are called Digital TV sets. You could mux together a couple of hundred audio channels in each of them, and transmit them over a single transmitter....digital radio to nearly every home in America.
Rather than waste a couple of TV channels on analog FM radio, with no receivers available for the listeners (except a few mono-only, wideband scanners and communications receivers), make some changes to the copyright laws and put all the stations in a market on DTV. The same hardware that already exists for making digital TV sets can be used to make radios for cars and home, and we already have the receivers in our living rooms now. The MP/H improvements that are now available for ATSC TV can be implemented in the portable and car radios as they are brought out.
Using one or two digital TV channels in a market would allow enough bandwidth for all the existing stations, plus numerous sub-channels.
Standard ATSC TV translators could be used to carry all of a market's programming to surrounding areas, without a need for individual transmitters and towers for each station.

 

[Small Market Guy]

There are a lot of folk-lore tales that "death panels" are buried somewhere in the Obamacare mechanism.

Seriously? Can we have just one thread without this crap? Your point is well made without even going there.

 

[landtuna]

The same hardware that already exists for making digital TV sets can be used to make radios for cars and home, and we already have the receivers in our living rooms now.

You have just given the primary reason your "solution" is unworkable. How many radio listeners sit in their living rooms? This isn't the 1940's any longer. Today's listeners are located in offices, automobiles and on foot. They are not going to sit in their living rooms and listen to their TV's pumping out radio programming.

 

[KeithE4]

There are actually millions of radios out there that can tune TV channels 5 and 6 (and 48 others, too). They are called Digital TV sets. You could mux together a couple of hundred audio channels in each of them, and transmit them over a single transmitter....digital radio to nearly every home in America.

And even if the FCC decided this was a good idea (it is not, and for the last time, they are NOT going to take 76-88 MHz away from TV!!! They have said so repeatedly), who would listen? Such receivers do not exist, and even if they did and there were stations on the air, people don't buy standalone radios anymore. They would have to wait for such radios to be installed in cars. It would take 10-15 years for them to penetrate the market sufficiently, since that's not something that will make everybody rush out to buy a new car as soon as they are available.

Like FM, it would take decades for such a service to take off even if people bought radios for it. The owners of electronic companies in 2013 won't wait that long for a return on such a big investment.

 

[joshzz]

Like FM, it would take decades for such a service to take off even if people bought radios for it. The owners of electronic companies in 2013 won't wait that long for a return on such a big investment.

I certainly concur with that statement. Like many radio owners, and we can't wait that long. Well, maybe we could but a good number of us worn't be around or will be retired in 10 -15 years.

 

[dougw9wi]

You have just given the primary reason your "solution" is unworkable. How many radio listeners sit in their living rooms? This isn't the 1940's any longer. Today's listeners are located in offices, automobiles and on foot. They are not going to sit in their living rooms and listen to their TV's pumping out radio programming.

I think his point is that you would install the same ATSC technology to make car radios & desktop sets.

The bandwidth certainly exists, At 128Kb/s per station you could fit more than 130 radio stations into a single ATSC bitstream. Maybe more like half that if you use the M/H extensions that make the stuff more or less work in a vehicle.

A few downsides also exist:

- I'm not entirely sure the M/H extensions have really licked the battery life issue. My M/H portable TV certainly does not make economical use of AA cells. Then again, it has a screen whose backlight eats a LOT of power. It's possible a radio, whose screen could be dark most of the time, would work better. Then again, it might not.

- The FCC is not going to reallocate any VHF-Low TV spectrum. They want to be able to stuff TV stations there.

- Suddenly, every little pipsqueak AM daytimer would have a fully competitive signal. (after all, every station would be broadcast over the same transmitter) The big stations would never allow it. They were willing to design IBOC from scratch to ensure a Eureka scheme that delivered coverage equality wouldn't take hold in the U.S., don't think they're going to allow some kind of ATSC radio scheme to launch..

 

[semoochie]

The original intent was to use Eureka 147 but the government refused to allow L-Band because it was tied up by the military and S-Band required too many repeaters. They were forced to seek an in-band solution and after merger after merger, between all of the contending systems, what is now Ibiquity was formed, taking the best elements of each system and combining them, to make a workable system. Most of the problems with IBOC are brought about by the need to be compatible with the analog system. The S-Band was later given to what is now XM/Sirius.

 

[dougw9wi]

Eureka doesn't *have* to go in S-band or L-band. In the UK it operates in former high-VHF TV spectrum. I think it would be workable just about anywhere between the current FM band and 2500MHz.

To be honest, I don't buy the "government wouldn't give it up" argument. Broadcasters didn't fight very hard to get room for DAB. (because, again, I really don't think they *wanted* it)