Amplitude Modulation (again)

[kfbkfb]

My idea is a way to deal with the increasing (AM) noise floor and extend a given AM radio stations content to a large area using other existing local AM stations.

The main AM station content would be 100% retransmitted on other local AM stations (the other local AM stations could run localized ads though).

The main AM station call letters K???/W??? would be used for the other local AM stations, taking the form K???02 to K???99/W???02 to W???99 to indicate the other stations were retransmitting the main AM station content.

Although many of the AM signals would likely overlap coveragewise, no new transmitting hardware would be needed and people who happened to be traveling from one side of a large metro area to the other could listen to the same content throughout their journey by retuning their AM radio periodically.

FCC rules would probably have to be changed to allow this type of simulcasting and to allow regular AM station call letters to include numbers (FM translator call letters currently include numbers, so that could be used to try to convince the FCC to allow numbers in regular call letters too).

This approach could keep financially weak AM stations on the air by making them retransmitters of desirable content.


Kirk Bayne

 

[davideduardo]

My idea is a way to deal with the increasing (AM) noise floor and extend a given AM radio stations content to a large area using other existing local AM stations.

The main AM station content would be 100% retransmitted on other local AM stations (the other local AM stations could run localized ads though).

The main AM station call letters K???/W??? would be used for the other local AM stations, taking the form K???02 to K???99/W???02 to W???99 to indicate the other stations were retransmitting the main AM station content.

Although many of the AM signals would likely overlap coveragewise, no new transmitting hardware would be needed and people who happened to be traveling from one side of a large metro area to the other could listen to the same content throughout their journey by retuning their AM radio periodically.

FCC rules would probably have to be changed to allow this type of simulcasting and to allow regular AM station call letters to include numbers (FM translator call letters currently include numbers, so that could be used to try to convince the FCC to allow numbers in regular call letters too).

This approach could keep financially weak AM stations on the air by making them retransmitters of desirable content.


Kirk Bayne

This idea is neither practical nor useful.

First, nobody cares what the call letters are. In fact, in years past Clear Channel used "WFLA" as the identifier of a bunch of different AMs across Florida. All they had to do was do the correct legal ID once an hour, and the rest of the time they were "WFLA". All a station that is on several frequencies needs to do is call themselves "Talk 970 and 1440" or whatever.

Did you know that call letters are so unimportant that in several countries where I have worked it is not legal to use them on the air? And in another country, we needed to know the calls for a service we were buying from the US and it took us two days for someone in the government to tell us what our call letters were?

In any case, few markets have a set of AM stations that would, together cover the whole metro. And in many cases, the current owner is happy with them and won't sell.

Further, each station counts with the FCC for the market cap. No operator is going to trade a good FM for and additional AM station when AM listening is around 5% of market listening in most places, and those listeners are mostly over 55. And listeners are not going to be tuning and re tuning weak, noisy signals as they drive around.

Most AM stations today only stay on the air to keep the "tethered" translator on FM they have. Nearly nobody wants an AM and won't spend money on them. A monkey in a silk suit is till a monkey.

 

[kevtronics]

Generally, people are doing the opposite -- acquiring neighboring AM stations, shutting down the weaker ones, and boosting the power of the one with the best coverage of the intended market. Such as Cantico Nuevo, which acquired two 1000-watt daytimers in the NYC area: one on 1520 kHz on Long Island and another on 1530 kHz in NJ. They shut down the NJ station, and are now moving the LI station to 1530 kHz and boosting its power to 10,000 watts.

 

[TheBigA]

The FCC has already dealt with this issue. They call it the AM Revitalization Plan:

AM Revitalization

In Docket 13-249, the FCC is making an effort to revitalize the AM broadcasting service through rule changes and the use of FM translator (repeater) stations by AM broadcasters. Changes already adopted include changes to AM daytime and nighttime community coverage standards, elimination of the...

www.fcc.gov

They're not going to force operators to buy additional AM stations or force current owners to give up their licenses in order for other owners to simulcast programming on other AM stations. Neither is practical.

 

[kwthom]

This approach could keep financially weak AM stations on the air by making them retransmitters of desirable content.

On AM?

Without the benefit of all-digital AM radio?

😆

Which AM Station will be Next for All-Digital?

Radio broadcasters from around the country converged on Dallas last week for the 2019 Radio Show, co-produced by NAB and the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). Kicking things off was the first-ever “Tech Tuesday,” a full-day educational conference providing today’s busy radio engineering...

nabpilot.org

 

[kfbkfb]

With my idea, it would be the same as being a radio network affiliate - the owner keeps ownership of the AM station(s) , but all of the programming (save for the possibility of local ads if the low power "rimshot" AM is a favorite for local businesses to advertise on) is just a simulcast of a local full power AM station (previously with enough power to cover the whole metro area), now, w/higher background noise, not full coverage.


Kirk Bayne

 

[TheBigA]

With my idea, it would be the same as being a radio network affiliate - the owner keeps ownership of the AM station(s) , but all of the programming (save for the possibility of local ads if the low power "rimshot" AM is a favorite for local businesses to advertise on) is just a simulcast of a local full power AM station (previously with enough power to cover the whole metro area), now, w/higher background noise, not full coverage.

So you think an owner will willingly give up his signal to someone else in the market, who he would normally consider a competitor?

 

[kfbkfb]

I don't know - it's really similar to why affiliate with a radio network (well know brand, desirable content), but the station gives up some of its uniqueness being an affiliate.


Here, ~30 years ago, 1340 AM in Kansas City bought another 1340 AM in southern KS and set up a synchronous AM broadcast to extend the reach of the content on the (KC) 1340 AM station (this is much more complex than my idea).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDTD#Synchronous_operation_as_KNHN

Even if the "rimshot" 'AM station is a daytimer, IMHO, this concept would still be viable.


Kirk Bayne

 

[Kelly A]

I don't know

Clearly

- it's really similar to why affiliate with a radio network (well know brand, desirable content), but the station gives up some of its uniqueness being an affiliate.

But a station's uniqueness is what they sell to advertisers.

Here, ~30 years ago, 1340 AM in Kansas City bought another 1340 AM in southern KS and set up a synchronous AM broadcast to extend the reach of the content on the (KC) 1340 AM station (this is much more complex than my idea).

A very smart consulting engineer in Tacoma WA. Ken Williams, played with synchronous AM 'booster' stations years ago. Ken talked me out of trying it. There are three major barriers: 1. The FCC won't license these boosters. Only temporary experimental stations were allowed. 2. Doppler shift of listening while in a moving vehicle created a severe flang-ing sound to the audio as you pass between the two carriers. At some points the audio cancels-out. 3. Similar to FM boosters; one can synchronize the carrier, but there's always a "point of interference" between the two stations. At that point, neither station is listenable.

Even if the "rimshot" 'AM station is a daytimer, IMHO, this concept would still be viable.

No, it wouldn't.
None of your ideas address, let alone would ever improve on the basic quality problems of AM: Frequency response, signal to noise, distortion, and Faraday signal loss under bridges/overpasses/parking garages/.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't know - it's really similar to why affiliate with a radio network (well know brand, desirable content), but the station gives up some of its uniqueness being an affiliate.

There's no law that prevents it. Or I'm not aware of one. In fact there are some FM stations that also simulcast their signal to other nearby markets. If an owner wants to rebroadcast another station's signal, he needs to contact the other station and make a deal. Yu can't just rebroadcast another station in a market without permission. But typically a weak station is weak for a reason, and is therefore undesirable.

 

[kfbkfb]

I was just thinking about new ways to use the existing AM broadcasting infrastructure of some 50kW stations and a large number of much lower power AM stations in an environment of ever increasing background noise that increasingly limits the useful range of all AM signals.

(I did listen to 1340 AM quite a lot in the early 1990s [the synchronous AM enhancement made no difference to listeners in the KC area], their local morning talk show was very good and then they would broadcast the audio of CNN Headline News the rest of the day and night)

The KC newspaper had an article about the synchronous AM setup and did mention an interference prone zone about 1/2 way between the 2 1340 AM transmitters.

https://missouri.sec12.com/mizzou-football-radio-online/

(this is a case of desirable content [for many MO residents] that is similar in concept to my idea)


Kirk Bayne

 

[kwthom]

I was just thinking about new ways to use the existing AM broadcasting infrastructure of some 50kW stations and a large number of much lower power AM stations in an environment of ever increasing background noise that increasingly limits the useful range of all AM signals.

You're at least 20 years late to the party.

 

[kfbkfb]

I visited eastern IA late last week, (KC) 710 AM and 980 AM became too noisy way before the MO/IA border and 1040 AM WHO was too noisy until I was about 75 miles from Des Moines.

As it was a big news time, I was interested to listen to the various national talk radio shows, it would have been helpful if the WHO AM content had been rebroadcast on some of the local AM stations along I-35 (and I-80).


Kirk Bayne

 

[davideduardo]

I visited eastern IA late last week, (KC) 710 AM and 980 AM became too noisy way before the MO/IA border and 1040 AM WHO was too noisy until I was about 75 miles from Des Moines.

As it was a big news time, I was interested to listen to the various national talk radio shows, it would have been helpful if the WHO AM content had been rebroadcast on some of the local AM stations along I-35 (and I-80).

A number of companies have tried to create regional or state-wide networks or sales groups. It does not work.

In this case, local accounts in Des Moines have not interest in reaching listeners who are at a two hour drive away. And they certainly have no interest in being on additional frequencies or stations even farther away.

National accounts buy by the rated market, not by "the state" or "the region". They won't pay extra for extended coverage outside of each station's "home" market. Just look at the big bunch of LA stations that show up in the top 10 and top 20 ratings in Riverside / San Bernardino yet get zero additional revenue from that added audience.

This is about sales, not coverage or signals. And when it's about AM in general, it's a dead or dying issue that can not be resuscitated.