• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Anybody know when/if WXKS (AM), WRCA,and/or WUNR plan to switch on AM IBOC?

D

DanStrassberg

I have it on reliable authority that when all three stations were
built at 750 Sawmill Brook Parkway, they all had everything necessary
at the transmitter end to run IBOC. Except for WXKS, the studio end
may be a different story, however. I had speculated that the stations
might be waiting for a year to elapse after they received their
licenses to cover before they switched on IBOC, because, if IBOC
operation did not commence until after the year was up, the stations
might not have to rectify any new complaints of interference that
might result from IBOC operation. The FCC rules appear to state that,
after a new AM station is built or a significant change is made to an
existing station, the station(s) must, at their own expense, satisfy
all complaints of interference received within the ensuing year from
listeners within the 1V/m "blanketing" contour. I don't think that
turning on IBOC is considered to be a significant change.

Well, I may be mistaken but I think that all three stations were
licensed no later than May 31, 2009.

So did CCU, Beasley, and Champion lose interest in IBOC? The first two
have been very vocal advocates. Or are studio mods holding them up? Or
is there another explanation? As I said, the cost of transmitter-site
mods should not be an issue because everything necessary at the Tx end
is supposedly in place and ready to be switched on. But, of course,
May 31 is still a few days away--and I could have the date wrong.
 
Well CCU has certainly demonstrated that they have plenty of money for attorneys and IBOC, as opposed to air talent, but I can't even imagine why they would bother to pursue this losing agenda at this point...
 
Please, no. These three frequencies are riddled with interference as it is, especially under nighttime conditions. Why make it worse?
 
I could be wrong, but the only one that sounds to me like it has the extremely abrupt high-frequency roll-off of their analog audio required for AM IBOC in effect is WXKS. The other two, WRCA and WUNR, sound to me like they're running full standard allowed AM audio bandwidth, which can not work with IBOC. If I'm correct, WRCA and WUNR would have to curtail their high-end analog frequency response in order to add IBOC.

WXKS is also the only one of the three that I've seen erroneously, or perhaps prematurely, already listed as having IBOC on HD Radio and other websites, though it's definitely not currently in HD yet.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
WXKS is also the only one of the three that I've seen erroneously, or perhaps prematurely, already listed as having IBOC on HD Radio and other websites, though it's definitely not currently in HD yet.
Click to expand...

I apparently failed to click "post" after I had written my reply earlier this morning, so what I wrote has been lost. I speculated that maybe the listing of 1200 WXKS (AM) as running IBOC might have been a leftover from when the WXKS (AM) calls were on 1430, which had run IBOC for (I think) more than a year before the call-sign swap with 1200. I also remarked that I thought 1430 was still running IBOC (as WKOX), but I had not tuned in 1430 for quite a while so I could not be sure. Well, as of this morning, Thursday, 5/27/2010, IBOC was not running on 1430. I have no idea whether IBOC on 1430 has been switched off for good or whether it's a temporary situation. I suppose it's even possible that only one of the AM studios at the CCU facility in Medford is equipped for stereo, and 1200, being the more important station, is using the stereo studio. If that's the case, maybe 1200 will be running IBOC within a few days :-[
 
DanStrassberg said:
Eli Polonsky said:
WXKS is also the only one of the three that I've seen erroneously, or perhaps prematurely, already listed as having IBOC on HD Radio and other websites, though it's definitely not currently in HD yet.
Click to expand...

I speculated that maybe the listing of 1200 WXKS (AM) as running IBOC might have been a leftover from when the WXKS (AM) calls were on 1430, which had run IBOC for (I think) more than a year before the call-sign swap with 1200.
Click to expand...

No, I saw those erroneous listings many months before the call letter swap, claiming that then-WKOX 1200 was in HD. 1200 has not been in HD yet.

DanStrassberg said:
...as of this morning, Thursday, 5/27/2010, IBOC was not running on 1430. I have no idea whether IBOC on 1430 has been switched off for good or whether it's a temporary situation. I suppose it's even possible that only one of the AM studios at the CCU facility in Medford is equipped for stereo, and 1200, being the more important station, is using the stereo studio. If that's the case, maybe 1200 will be running IBOC within a few days :-[
Click to expand...

The 1430 IBOC was on last week until just a few days ago. I suspect it's just a temporary shutoff for a repair or something. It would make more sense (to me anyway) to run stereo IBOC on the station that's playing music rather than talk. If it's actually true that they only have one stereo AM studio (though I have no idea if that's really the case), they could also run IBOC on 1200 with mono hi-fi audio, and the mono studio would make very little difference because, besides perhaps the background audio on some sweepers and commercials, most of the programming content is mono talk, and it would still have higher fidelity than the analog and the "HD" indicators coming on, enabling them to promote 1200 as being in "HD".
 
We have enough 30+ kHz wide am stations on the dial around here already, besides why would an AM station use IBOC at this point?
 
KB1OKL said:
We have enough 30+ kHz wide am stations on the dial around here already, besides why would an AM station use IBOC at this point?
Click to expand...

Because its owner spent a fortune on installing it and promoting it (nationally) and management doesn't want to admit that it made a mistake. Of all the large group owners, CBS seems deepest into not admitting its error with AM IBOC, but both CCU and Beasley have also spent large sums on it, presumably including spending a lot on equipment that was installed at 750 Sawmill Brook Parkway.
 
KB1OKL said:
We have enough 30+ kHz wide am stations on the dial around here already, besides why would an AM station use IBOC at this point?
Click to expand...

Same reason stations did FM when there were few FM receivers. The same reason stations did stereo, when few listened in stereo.
 
Don Juan said:
JIBGUY said:
IBOC has been, still is, and always will be a dud.
Click to expand...

Gee, I recall people saying the same thing about FM & Stereo.
Click to expand...

True, but FM & Stereo were actually IMPROVEMENTS, and it took them a couple decades to catch on. IBOC is not a clear improvement; certainly not on AM. And on FM, while it's nice to find HD-2's and 3's hiding in there, I for one don't find the audio improvement on HD1 to be that dramatic over analog.(Admittedly I'm not an audiophile and my set up isn't state of the art.)

HD on FM also makes reception dicier, in my experience. I'd rather have a steady analog signal with a small amount of white noise than a pristine digital signal that keeps dropping out.

I'm with Jibguy: it's a dud!
 
Schuyler said:
Don Juan said:
JIBGUY said:
IBOC has been, still is, and always will be a dud.
Click to expand...

Gee, I recall people saying the same thing about FM & Stereo.
Click to expand...

True, but FM & Stereo were actually IMPROVEMENTS, and it took them a couple decades to catch on. IBOC is not a clear improvement; certainly not on AM. And on FM, while it's nice to find HD-2's and 3's hiding in there, I for one don't find the audio improvement on HD1 to be that dramatic over analog.(Admittedly I'm not an audiophile and my set up isn't state of the art.)
Click to expand...

The thing that drove FM was not the "improvement"...it was the programming.

If the programming is compelling, (and people know about it) then it will add some value to the listener.



HD on FM also makes reception dicier, in my experience. I'd rather have a steady analog signal with a small amount of white noise than a pristine digital signal that keeps dropping out.

I'm with Jibguy: it's a dud!
[/quote]
 
More and more these days, FM's are using their HD-2's and HD-3's to simulcast co-owned AM's and other FM's, just to improve (unlistened-to via IBOC) coverage areas. Even the stations with IBOC don't think HD-2/HD-3 is worth the minimal effort of just placing an unattended computer on their HD-2/-3's playing music of a different format not heard in the market.

Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus, but he is smart enough to not plan to put any IBOC tuners in his sack this December.

Fast-forward to 2040: One flea market patron to another: "What's this contraption?" Response: "It looks like some sort of radio... maybe a 42kHz or 67kHz home-use sub-carrier receiver, or maybe one of those IBOC thingies".
 
More and more these days, FM's are using their HD-2's and HD-3's to simulcast co-owned AM's and other FM's, just to improve (unlistened-to via IBOC) coverage areas.

I dont think there are ANY stations using their HD2 for a simulcast (are there?)

They are using the HD3...which is a good idea....as it improves coverage and fidelity of the AM signal...which might be lacking.

Even the stations with IBOC don't think HD-2/HD-3 is worth the minimal effort of just placing an unattended computer on their HD-2/-3's playing music of a different format not heard in the market.

Most major stations, the major companies and virtually all of the major market FM's are doing this.

Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus, but he is smart enough to not plan to put any IBOC tuners in his sack this December.

It took a long time for FM to comae around...and like I said, it is programming that will bring people to IBOC....right now no one knows about the additional formats....

The same thing that makes people struggle to pick up 250 watter WJIB....programming.

Fast-forward to 2040: One flea market patron to another: "What's this contraption?" Response: "It looks like some sort of radio... maybe a 42kHz or 67kHz home-use sub-carrier receiver, or maybe one of those IBOC thingies".

Or....maybe that's the answer when they see a big stick near fresh pond "That's a broadcasting station with ancient modulation! It had no nighttime signal...and ran by automation!" People actually thought you could play music on it before they were all turned into military beacons, TIS and utility stations!"
 
Don Juan said:
I dont think there are ANY stations using their HD2 for a simulcast (are there?)
Click to expand...

WGBH 89.7 HD2 simulcasts their co-owned WCRB 99.5 which, from it's Andover transmitter, has very spotty reception in Boston and to the south.

Since WCRB is now Boston's only full-time classical outlet, WGBH HD2 transmitting from Blue Hill provides a good alternative for reception for classical fans in Boston and the metro-south willing to invest in an HD radio.

My 80-year-old mom is a lifelong classical fan, and she lives on the side of a hill that blocks clear reception of WCRB from Andover. I bought her an HD radio, and she now gets perfectly steady reception of WCRB on WGBH HD2. She loves it.
 
I may have to try my HD portable at work again to attempt to pick up WEEI for Sox games. Thanks to some new lighting, etc., my "FM mini transmitter" method doesn't seem to work any more, and even WBOQ is a tougher get. (Some at work, myself included, are also saying that Sports Hub is tougher to pick up.) How such an installation can screw up not just AM but FM too is weird, but I still wish the Sox games were on 93.7 so I
could hear them without this trouble. The stick is one town away.

Or hey, I could put my mini boom box/cass recorder in one part of bldg where WEEI does come in with little
interference, record part of game, and hear back later, but it's not the same as live. (Needless to say this
also means I pretty much won't be able to get Celts playoff game Thu., too). So maybe the "WEEI on
HD3" thing will work, but again, on the workroom floor it keeps going out...
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom