Could FCC Commissioner's AM Revitalization Proposal Work in the NYC Area?

[Barry]

F.C.C. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is offering a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to help the struggling AM band. Among other things it would allow each AM station to apply for an FM translator to rebroadcast its signal.
In a major market like New York, how could room be found on the crowded FM band for so many translators without creating interference to existing stations? It does not seem possible. Perhaps this would need to be limited to smaller markets?

Radio Ink: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2701245&spid=24698

 

[TheBigA]

Commissioner Clyburn doesn't actually "solve the AM problem." It instead gives AM owners free spectrum space. That's not in keeping with the current FCC agenda. But the fact that a Democrat and a Republican agree on something is rare. They just need one more vote.

 

[WAPA-AM/WISO-AM]

High power am synchronous boosters work perfectly. Excelent for am revitalization

In Puerto Rico, a small island 100miles x 35 miles in area, which is a territory of the U.S. the FCC licensed
three AM stations synchronously operating on 1260 KHz. and two stations operating synchronously on 680 KHz.

(1) WISO (1260khz.) 2.5 KW Ponce (main station); WI2XSO 5KW Mayaguez and WI3XSO 5KW Aguadilla, P. R.
(2) WAPA (680 KHz.) 10 KW San Juan and WA2XPA 400 watts Arecibo, P. R.

All of them have been in uninterrupted operation for many years. Take a look at them in FCC files.

The AM revitalization initiative is a good idea, but should not forget AM synchronous boosters.
Continental broadcasters are not aware of their successful implementation. You are welcome to Puerto Rico to
evaluate them for yourself.

 

[davideduardo]

The AM revitalization initiative is a good idea, but should not forget AM synchronous boosters.
Continental broadcasters are not aware of their successful implementation. You are welcome to Puerto Rico to
evaluate them for yourself.

Synchronous boosters have been tried, and a few still exist.

One of the oldest, going back to the 40's, was in Lowell / Lawrence, MA. It operated fine because in that era there was relatively sparse population between the two cities, so the mutual interference zone did not affect listening much.

Another very heritage synchronous operation was WBZ-WBZA, Boston / Springfield, MA. Again, the overlap and interference zone was not over a heavy population center, and back in the 40's and 50's this worked.

A further example was WBT / WBTA Charlotte / Shelby, NC. It helped fill in the null in WBT's pattern in the direction of Omaha. But the interference in areas normally covered by WBT became objectionable as the population in those areas increased. It is now gone.

WRNO in West Palm Beach tried a synchronous repeater in the area of Pompano, but the issues in the heavily populated zone between the two were significant and the synch was turned off.

Another one, still existing, is the synch in Santa Fe, NM, for KKOB Albuquerque. It fills in the null in the KKOB night signal only, and since there is a "population break" between the ABQ metro and the SF metro, it works nicely.

Most small AMs in the US could not use a synchronous transmitter as they are, unlike PR, not surrounded by water (with no stations for hundreds if not thousands of miles) so the addition of a synch would cause co-channel and adjacent coverage overlap.

Puerto Rico has a very stable population, and the areas where overlap will occur (and, having heard it myself, it is ugly) can be controlled by transmitter location. The very crowded band on the mainland will not permit much freedom of location selection, and NIMBY and environmental issues will likely prevent erection of AM towers and ground systems.

And... your network of synchs gets a 0.3 25-54 share against the #1 station's 8.5 share. The issue is rejection of AM more than anything.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Seems we're hearing a lot of chatter to let AM stations ratchet up the power, loosen up the directional arrays, ignore skywave issues, and blanket the local area while drowning out distant stations. Of course it would be like the current AM graveyard channels on steroids.

The power boosts would have to be massive to overcome the increased noise floor and built-up urban areas, which mean higher electric bills for station operators. And you still have the fidelity issues, unless broadcasters want to bring 80's-era AM stereo out of the mothballs.

The all-digital test that was run by WBT in Charlotte some weeks back is intriguing as it is compatible with current HD receivers. Such a transition would take years to implement...and other technologies might finish killing off AM in the meantime.

And regardless of the transmission specifics...you gotta deal with programming issues. Is there enough compelling content on AM worth saving?

 

[davideduardo]

And regardless of the transmission specifics...you gotta deal with programming issues. Is there enough compelling content on AM worth saving?

I don't thing the programming is the issue... it is the fact that most AMs don't cover their markets any too well.

In the top 100 markets, there are fewer than 175 AMs that cover even 80% of the market day and night.

When good programming happens on AM, if the signal is not good it dies or moves to FM... such as WXYT in Detroit, which had a good sports format but deficient coverage. It moved to FM and is often #1 in the total market and beats everyone in men.

In larger metros, you can't fix a deficient AM by giving it an even more deficient FM.

 

[WAPA-AM/WISO-AM]

Am synchronous boosters adequately synchronized work excellent

Have you come to Puerto Rico???? Puerto Rico is a highly populated island all around. I assure you that our boosters precisely synchronized in frequency, phase and audio delay don't have objectionable interference areas. ( Be awarel those are not the only things to look at when synchronizing.)

Imagine three stations in a small island as Puerto Rico having two 5KW stations and one 2.5 KW station overlapping at 2 to 5 mv/m signals and with virtually no listener detectable interference on 1260 Khz..

A 10 KW station WAPA 680 Khz. on the north coast overlapping at the 5mv/m contour with its synchronous booster 400 watts also along the coast, virtually no listener detectable interference.

It's true that some broadcasters are still using synchronous boosters not well synchronized, others decided to quit. It's not really difficult to achieve perfect synchronization.... you only need to know how to do it.. On file at the FCC we have
explained in detail the how to do it.

We don't pay for radio surveys, we've never done it. We operate a family owned news-network were my father and I are both electrical engineers and have experimented with am synchronous boosters for more than 25 years.

We never gave up. Since the FCC granted the boosters we increased power to each and everyone of the facilities so all of them overlap between themselves and the result is excellent.

It is true that in the Continental US possibly you won't have many places where you can use this boosters to extend the signal of a station as we have done, but you could use it to improve drastically inside the licensed contours.

A competitor that accepted our success with boosters, WIAC installed its own synchronous booster WI2XAC. However they have not been able to make precise synchronization and indeed has some areas where interference can be listened. So when you come to Puerto Rico remember theirs is not the best example.

When AM stations have a very good signal people listen to them... But you can't make people tune to 5mv/m in a city because noises around won't make it a pleasant experience to the listener.. Remember you can have 5mv/m outside but inside a building the signal drastically goes down..

Fill-in AM synchronous boosters or synchronous boosters that would indeed extend the 2 or 5mv/m contours permit
having over 25mv/m over crowded cities. If you have 25 mv/m or more you can look up for listeners in the downtown.

DON'T JUDGE AM synchronous boosters by unsuccesful attempts in the Continental US... come down to Puerto Rico..
The Shining Star of the Caribbean.

 

[davideduardo]

Have you come to Puerto Rico????

I actually have visited Puerto Rico and spent a few years... about 30... there doing things like managing WUNO, then WQII and creating WZNT as well as being with Arso / UnoRadio for 22 years and with Univision for the last 10 years.

So I have a vague idea of what radio is about.

Puerto Rico is a highly populated island all around. I assure you that our boosters precisely synchronized in frequency, phase and audio delay don't have objectionable interference areas. ( Be awarel those are not the only things to look at when synchronizing.)

I have heard many synchs, both domestically and the classic European synchronous networks on AM and FM and all have zones of discomfort. I built a synchronized FM network using vacuum tube technology up and down a piece of the Andes in the late 60's and recognize that some of the issues are more related to terrain than technology.

Imagine three stations in a small island as Puerto Rico having two 5KW stations and one 2.5 KW station overlapping at 2 to 5 mv/m signals and with virtually no listener detectable interference on 1260 Khz..

You have limited the interference zones to what are basically unusable signal areas. In today's world, less than a 5 mV/m is not going to get audience as the man made noise levels will overcome those weak signals and make listening tedious.

It's true that some broadcasters are still using synchronous boosters not well synchronized, others decided to quit. It's not really difficult to achieve perfect synchronization.... you only need to know how to do it.. On file at the FCC we have explained in detail the how to do it.

Westinghouse and Jefferson Pilot decided, for a variety of reasons, to end synchronous repeaters. For such major, heritage companies to do that was likely a well thought out process. And likely it had to do with the fact that their markets were surrounded by land, not water, and there was no way to make the repeaters work in a desirable fashion.

We don't pay for radio surveys, we've never done it. We operate a family owned news-network were my father and I are both electrical engineers and have experimented with am synchronous boosters for more than 25 years.

Radio ratings show stations whether they "pay" or not. What they show is whether a station has enough listeners to make advertisers want to use the station to reach consumers. A 0.3 share on the Island is not going to be of a interest to any but the smallest and cheapest of advertisers.

It is true that in the Continental US possibly you won't have many places where you can use this boosters to extend the signal of a station as we have done, but you could use it to improve drastically inside the licensed contours.

So many stations are at the limit of where their contours already have near overlaps with other stations that any change would likely be worthless. But most places now have such strict zoning that it is very hard to put in any kind of vertical radiator; many jurisdictions are not as relaxed as places on the Island where you can build a ranchón on top of a house and nobody bothers with permits...

When AM stations have a very good signal people listen to them... But you can't make people tune to 5mv/m in a city because noises around won't make it a pleasant experience to the listener.. Remember you can have 5mv/m outside but inside a building the signal drastically goes down..

In the larger urban areas, including Caguas, the San Juan Metro, Ponce, Mayagüez, Arecibo, Aguadilla, it takes between 10 and 15 mV/m to get any listening as diary returns have shown.

come down to Puerto Rico..
The Shining Star of the Caribbean.

Yeah, una sola cruz bajo la Palma and maybe Forbes and Barrons won't be writing on the impending default on PR bonds.

 

[WAPA-AM/WISO-AM]

Am synchronous boosters (perfectly synchronized) work excellent

Yeah, una sola cruz bajo la Palma and maybe Forbes and Barrons won't be writing on the impending default on PR bonds.[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Do you think one of the two main political parties in Puerto Rico (the New Progressive Party) would use exclusively our 5 stations network (main stations and boosters) to transmit all of their activities if our signal wouldn't reach adequately the almost 4 million listeners in the island??? Obviously not.

The last two lines of your reply are not easily understood by people outside Puerto Rico but lets us know
you are trying to discredit my comments just because the station is a supporter of statehood for Puerto Rico.

"Una sola cruz bajo la palma" is a campaign motto for the New Progressive Party in Puerto Rico.

AM synchronous boosters work far better than FM boosters: AM boosters can be synchronized, FM boosters can not be synchronized...

At the overlap area FM boosters wipe out the stations and merely noise is what you can listen while AM synchronous boosters (adequately synchronized) maintain the integrity of the audio with no annoying noises. The interference created by the overlapping transmitters are more slight and bearable than the cancellations of some AM directional systems.

 

[davideduardo]

The last two lines of your reply are not easily understood by people outside Puerto Rico but lets us know
you are trying to discredit my comments just because the station is a supporter of statehood for Puerto Rico.

Touchy much?

The comment was not as you state. It was a response to your "shining star" remark in light of the strong possibility that Puerto Rico, via its debt instruments, may become the largest municipal bond default in U.S. history, endangering several mutual fund companies as well as all of the investors.

AM synchronous boosters work far better than FM boosters: AM boosters can be synchronized, FM boosters can not be synchronized...

Yes, neither are perfect. As a solution for the problems of Mainland US AM stations, they offer few benefits. First, AM synchs are on AM, where audience loss continues, year after year, as newer generations that did not grow up with the band refuse to use it for any reason and believe it is deficient for many reasons. Second, AM synchs require land, permits, zoning variances, which are enormously hard to get. Third, geographic proximity of protected AMs is much different on the mainland where "filling in coverage" generally means putting a transmitter at some lesser distance towards a protected station, which is hard to achieve in most cases.

In some cases, a synch can be backfill in a deep null at night and can do so without increasing radiation towards the protected facility. But night AM radio is not generally profitable and also not worth spending money on because so few people use AM at night.

My point is that synchronous repeaters generally can not solve AM problems on the mainland, even if they might help in some cases on an island way out in the ocean.

 

[TheBigA]

I just feel it's disingenuous for someone at the FCC to call this an AM "revitalization plan." It's instead an abdication plan. It's like solving urban blight by giving merchants free retail space in a suburban mall. Rather than rebuild Newark, we'll give you free space in Essex Green or Short Hills Mall. That seems insulting to me, because there ARE so many ideas being thrown around that COULD revitalize AM.

 

[semoochie]

I don't thing the programming is the issue... it is the fact that most AMs don't cover their markets any too well.

In the top 100 markets, there are fewer than 175 AMs that cover even 80% of the market day and night.

When good programming happens on AM, if the signal is not good it dies or moves to FM... such as WXYT in Detroit, which had a good sports format but deficient coverage. It moved to FM and is often #1 in the total market and beats everyone in men.

In larger metros, you can't fix a deficient AM by giving it an even more deficient FM.

Is there a figure for stations that cover 100% of their markets?

 

[landtuna]

That seems insulting to me, because there ARE so many ideas being thrown around that COULD revitalize AM.

I agree with your assessment of the FCC's statement but everything I have read on the subject of "saving AM radio" is either technically, financially or practically impossible. While there have been many suggestions it seems virtually all of them get shot down immediately once published.

Do you have some ideas that have passed that first barrier?

 

[davideduardo]

Is there a figure for stations that cover 100% of their markets?

The difference between near-total and total coverage is seen in cases like KTRH in Houston. Total daytime coverage, but missing pieces at night.

My guess, without looking at every single station, is that 100% coverage would reduce the number to about 125.

There are many stations like KTRH or KIRO or KCBS or WIOD and such that miss small geographic areas in their metro. In most cases, these are in semi-urban areas that don't matter too much. In some other cases, the night signal misses larger chunks of the market.

 

[davideduardo]

Do you think one of the two main political parties in Puerto Rico (the New Progressive Party) would use exclusively our 5 stations network (main stations and boosters) to transmit all of their activities if our signal wouldn't reach adequately the almost 4 million listeners in the island??? Obviously not.

Actually, I was suggesting that the fiscally more conservative PNP might have a remote chance at pulling the Island out of fiscal disaster. You may recall that it was Luis A Ferré who straightened out much of the mess that traced itself back to Muñoz Marín and the early years of Commonwealth.

As to a party usage of a station, I'd have to say that highly rated stations don't allow their facilities to be used by any political party...they have format integrity and gain listenership by maintaining it.

 

[TheBigA]

While there have been many suggestions it seems virtually all of them get shot down immediately once published.

Exactly, and usually I'm the one shooting them down, but my reason is that the FCC has been hands-off on this issue until now.

So IF the FCC is really interested in addressing the issue of AM revitalization, there are several options available, some that involve reversal of previous FCC rulemaking. Since this appears to be now on their front burner, I'd suggest reversing 40 years of terrible regulations might be easier than granting all AM licensees an FM translator.

 

[landtuna]

...I'd suggest reversing 40 years of terrible regulations might be easier than granting all AM licensees an FM translator.

Which "terrible regulations" do you see, if reversed, would provide significant relief?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Which "terrible regulations" do you see, if reversed, would provide significant relief?

I look forward to reading his response, but the answer to which are the "terrible regulations" depends on whether you are a station owner, a radio listener, a non-owner but career radio person, or a broadcast-investor who is not "invested" in day-to-day operational issues such a sales and programming.

 

[TheBigA]

Which "terrible regulations" do you see, if reversed, would provide significant relief?

Certainly limiting AM bandwidth, cutting power of clear channels, and basically the over-licensing of the spectrum with pea-shooter stations that were guaranteed to lose money. I'd also like to see some serious re-assessment of AM IBOC, and an acknowledgement that it is adding to interference problems.

The problem here is the FCC has conflicting agendas. On the one hand, they'd like to see AM succeed, but on the other, they want to increase the diversity of ownership and programming options. Those two agendas can't co-exist, and moving those conflicts over to FM will simply destroy the FM band.

 

[davideduardo]

Certainly limiting AM bandwidth, cutting power of clear channels, and basically the over-licensing of the spectrum with pea-shooter stations that were guaranteed to lose money.

Ever since clear channels were established, they were limited to 50 kw. That limit has never been reduced.

There was one, brief, experimental operation in excess of 50 kw but higher power was never available to any other station.