You are correct. Broadcasters can, and many do transmit RDS carriers along with HD sidebands. They don't come into conflict because RDS carriers are embedded within the analog audio signal whereas HD is embedded on the two adjacent channels (i.e. 102.7 HD features sidebands on 102.5 and 102.9).
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Fewer cars with AM radios...
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
It's a little more complicated than that. HD is a digital signal and analog FM is, well, analog. HD inhabits the FCC "protected" zone at the upper and lower edges of the analog signal. In fact, when a station's HD interferes with an adjacent channel station, they can reduce the HD insertion on whichever side of the assigned frequency to minimize that interference.
There are two relatively new ham bands below the AM broadcast band that I want to play with. One at 470 KHz and another at 137 KHz. Would like to experiment with the different MF propagation. Several hams have also set their backyards on fire trying match RF into electrically very short vertical antennas with the high voltage gradients with these new bands.
I occasionally flip through AM to see if anything has changed, and nothing has. There is only one AM I stop at occasionally (WTRO Oldies 1450 in Dyersburg, TN) and they have an FM translator in 101.7 so I listen to that when I can get it. And I've found out they dropped University of Tennessee football, so that will make me listen even less.
Other than occasionally scanning past WTRO, I can do without AM on my car radio completely.
Other than occasionally scanning past WTRO, I can do without AM on my car radio completely.
There is an AM station here in Cheatham County, and they, too, have an FM translator. I can only listen to them on the translator, and I am not even sure if I can pick up the AM station from here. (As I said earlier, my new home stereo system has no AM capability that I am aware of.)
I hadn't thought much about it, but I could, too.
As recently as two and a half years ago, I worked for an AM/FM simulcast and would frequently dial in my own station on AM (the FM has some dead spots in the Sierra foothills) and KCBS in San Francisco to hear what they had.
Now, the station I work for is purely FM and I don't know if Audacy has boosted the commercial limit on KCBS or if I've just gotten spoiled by public radio, but I've stopped listening to KCBS apart from when I'm in the Bay Area and need a traffic report---in which case, I'm close enough to tune in their FM signal (there's an FM at 106.9 in Reno with an antenna on top of Slide Mountain that fights with KFRC between my house east of Sacramento and Fairfield.
Next time I'm in L.A., the only station I would have listened to on AM (KNX) is now on FM.
Total AM listening in LA is well below 10% now, and nearly all of that is to KFI and KLAC now that KNX is migrating its listening to FM. KFI has about half of all AM listening, followed distantly by KLAC, KEIB, KABC and KRLA.
And almost all the AM listening is in 55 and over. There are barely 4 AM shares in 25-54, with over half of them belonging to KFI and the rest to the two sports stations.
With KNX essentially moving to FM, the circulation on AM will decrease and it will affect KFI and all the others. It's sort of like a shopping center that lost Sears and Montgomery Ward and is left with just J.C.Penney. Not dead, but agonizing
That's an apt description. Speaking of agonizing; now everyone around these parts can start reminiscing about how they used to buy their flannel shirts at Sears and bib overalls at 'Monkey Wards'.
My town lost their Sears at the mall, got the Sears back as a "Hometown store", and lost it all over again. A lot of people are grieving right now
First, you would think with all of money that these car manufacturers are raking in that they would not be so petty as to eliminate something that maybe costs them one or two cents to have integrated in their sound systems.
Second, flamethrower AM stations are still in existence and will be a source for the latest news and information and evacuation information. Meanwhile, Sirius will be conked out and the still fragile internet signals in 2022 will also be in forever buffering-buffering-buffering. With the humongous size as the North American land mass is, Congress needs to mandate that the AM band be available in all vehicles. They need to be engaged in REAL ISSUES not the ridiculous Jan. 6 dog and poney show.
Second, flamethrower AM stations are still in existence and will be a source for the latest news and information and evacuation information. Meanwhile, Sirius will be conked out and the still fragile internet signals in 2022 will also be in forever buffering-buffering-buffering. With the humongous size as the North American land mass is, Congress needs to mandate that the AM band be available in all vehicles. They need to be engaged in REAL ISSUES not the ridiculous Jan. 6 dog and poney show.
Guys still wear flannel work shirts and bib overalls...even at a nice sit down dinner...these days.
Companies that make cars bring in a lot of money before expenses. Far fewer make "lots of money" after the expenses, and some have been losers.
Some of them, like WBZ and WWL and, maybe, KFI. But others like WSM and WLS, the ones that have gone all sports like 660 in NYC and 670 in Chicago and 680 in San Francisco, won't be able to do much on their own.
A few others will have to depend on relationships with TV stations to provide news.
Then the government needs to set up an emergency system that goes on the air locally, regionally or nationally in the event of a major disaster. AM is so dead in may market that local stations don't cover news at all, and in the daytime the "big" 50kw clear channel stations don't reach much of America.
Many big AM stations have reduced power and now depend on translators to survive. That 50 kw station in Little Rock that used to make blues listenable all over the Midwest now has 80 watts at night. There are dozens and dozens of other stations that have dropped the complicated directional systems for low, low local only power.
1540 in Albany, NY... formerly a 50 kw station appears gone. At 1520, 50 kw WMEX in Boston became a low power suburban station. And those are just a couple of examples.
I heard that is considered "Formal Attire" at a Proud Boys meeting.
1510. 1520 is WKBW Buffalo, still 50kw but running a sports betting format.
Right. As a lifetime DXer I should have known better. Of course, we are in the zone of the station in Port Hueneme, CA, that at one point was 50 kw and is now 10 kw day and 1 kw night and bills about $200 a day now.
Surprised you didn't pick up on MY error. It's WWKB now, not WKBW.
That is a quid pro quo.
When it comes to integrated vehicle entertainment systems it isn't just about cost, it's about 'user experience'. Modern car buyers like Millennials and Gen-Z don't know-about, or could care less about an inferior product like AM. They're more interested in how the vehicle interacts with, or independently with their smartphone. The User Interface with the phone while driving is what manufacturers are trying to perfect, not some has been form of media.
Noise and congestion did away with the concept of "flame thrower" AM stations over the years. Many 50kW stations can't be heard in suburbs due to noisy consumer products and aging utility infrastructure. Especially true at night.
Not sure what you're talking about here. Since the merger of SXM, they now have several new satellites in geosynchronous and geostationary orbits. With the rollout of 360L, many new GM vehicles with SXM now switch seamlessly between satellite and Internet streams as the car rolls down the road. That, and SXM has added many more just-streamed channels over the years.
If you're experiencing buffering, you may want to make the switch away from that dial-up Internet connection.
Not going to happen for the reasons I already mentioned.
They're frankly more concerned about just staying in power.
Sounds like you know that first hand.
KACY! That's really where the radio bug bit me. We left there for ¡Baja Arizona! in '75, and traded that blowtorch for KTKT-AM.
Sorry, back to the topic.
How *does* someone get bit by the radio bug these days??
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