Digital AM — Revitalization or Annihilation?

[rbc]

After 11 months the FCC is to decide if, at the behest of the National Association of Broadcasters, it should allow AM radio stations to go all-digital with the in-band on-channel (IBOC) HD Radio. The hybrid (analog-digital HD) option never delivered, and interference was often seen as the main issue. To address this and other concerns a new all-digital HD Radio mode in medium-wave was developed and is not the subject of the impending FCC decision.
[...]
https://www.radioworld.com/columns-...ies/digital-am-revitalization-or-annihilation

 

[davideduardo]

After 11 months the FCC is to decide if, at the behest of the National Association of Broadcasters, it should allow AM radio stations to go all-digital with the in-band on-channel (IBOC) HD Radio. The hybrid (analog-digital HD) option never delivered, and interference was often seen as the main issue. To address this and other concerns a new all-digital HD Radio mode in medium-wave was developed and is not the subject of the impending FCC decision.
[...]
https://www.radioworld.com/columns-...ies/digital-am-revitalization-or-annihilation

What the article fails to note is that the nations adopting DRM are all ones where the government controls and generally dominates radio and can do whatever they want with government money: India, China and Russia. In fact, that fact makes me rather scared of the thought process of the person who wrote the article.

In India, DRM is an option where they can build a reduced group of a few dozen 300 kw, 500 kw and 1 megawatt facilities instead of hundreds if not a thousand or more FM facilities. A single megawatt AM can cover a whole region... lets say the size of New England and a bit more while we know how many big towers and high powers would be needed on FM to do the same.

The other nations have, similarly, state run radio in a very controlling position and they can play the game by their own rules. You can't compare US radio with Russia, China and Pakistan... hardly centers of highly competitive commercial radio on AM. And hardly free economies.

And since AM in those nations is pretty limited (mostly no commercial stations an only other government ones, they have a whole band to deal with.

 

[CTListener]

Yet another thread on this topic, and the same questions being asked. If this proposal is approved, are we to assume that both the NAB and FCC are unaware of the factors working against digital AM in this country, details which are obvious even to people who are just ardent fans of radio or technology buffs as well as radio professionals like you? Do they know something that we don't? Is there some deep secret, "deep state" scheme ready to be deployed to get digital-capable AM radios made, distributed and purchased? Microchips in the COVID vaccine to program the public to want them, perhaps? (Just kidding here, but you see my point. The whole thing just seems illogical and approval would boggle the mind.)

 

[TheBigA]

The hybrid (analog-digital HD) option never delivered, and interference was often seen as the main issue.

Interference was only the issue for a handful of AM DXers. The issue was the need for consumers to buy new radios, and that would also be the issue for digital AM.