Could Some Radio Stations Lose A Source Of Revenue?

[Laurence Glavin]

In the future, it's possible that cellular TOWERS will no longer be necessary. If that happens, it could have an effect on many radio stations, especially AM stations that get money from cellular providers who use their towers. With the rare exception of a WLLH-AM in Lawrence, AM stations need a tower of some considerable height to get their signals on the air. With profits for such broadcaster low if available at all, some of these outlets could go under. Here's an article that considers the possibility of the disappearance of cellular towers:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...under-Claims-Impossible-Wireless-Breakthrough

 

[LibertyNT]

I seriously doubt that.
The bases can go as far as they wish, its the phones that don't go anywhere.

 

[4CX1000A]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...under-Claims-Impossible-Wireless-Breakthrough

Towers will always be necessary for wireless communication until we move to deep space. There we'll have limitless bandwidth, and every dog will have his Gigabit/second.

Until then, we'll have to cope with living on the surface of a sphere, immersed in an atmosphere containing various radiation-absorbing bits.

 

[aaronread]

In the future, it's possible that cellular TOWERS will no longer be necessary. If that happens, it could have an effect on many radio stations, especially AM stations that get money from cellular providers who use their towers.

A: Cellular rentals are not a significant source of revenue for AM stations across the industry; too many AM stations are located too far from population centers and major highways to be ideal sites for wireless/cellphone facilities.

B: I agree that eventually we'll see wireless communications migrate more and more towards having smaller (in size and reach) facilities but a lot more of them (think one on every telephone pole). But you're talking a major change in how wireless works. Currently, the allocations scheme puts wireless telco in frequency bands that make the current cellphone tower schema the most effective way to do things. The migration will take decades...enough time that the entire AM/FM band will probably reach fiscal inviability long before decreasing tower rent is an issue. And AM will probably hit that point well before FM does.

FWIW, I know at least one cluster owner that also owns a successfully chain of local cellphone store franchises across his broadcasting area. Each venture supports the other quite nicely; it's a good strategy to pursue.