DHS will continue to work with the system it has, which is EAS. Broadcast radio will exist in some way as long as the FCC continues to license stations. The consumer side of it only really matters to the licensees.
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Ford Reconsiders, Now Keeping AM Radio
- Thread starter DavidEduardo
- Start date
DHS will continue to work with the system it has, which is EAS. Broadcast radio will exist in some way as long as the FCC continues to license stations. The consumer side of it only really matters to the licensees.
True, but to knock out all transmitters for AM signals that could possibly be received in a given damaged area is a very remote possibility (probably only an EMP [or a few] could do that).
I don't have a breakdown of what DHS is spending money on now, would a subsidy to keep a few 50kW AMs OTA during times of the day/night when it's difficult to sell ad time (and thus pay for the station) be a huge part of the DHS budget?
Kirk Bayne
One thing you may not have thought about is that a lot of AM transmitters and towers are on lower elevations for ground conductivity. One of the problems is that those areas tend to flood. So what happens when the transmitter is under ten feet of water?
That's a question for congress. They would likely see it as a government handout. The design of the broadcast public-private partnership was that radio stations use the licensed signal to make money, and they do the emergency notification as a public service. Who would staff these AMs during these times?
How are we back on the quixotic quest to save a dinosaur? Good god, mandates are bad enough. Spending tax money to prop up commercial enterprises on a platform of zero use to tens of millions is just ludicrous. Or charging mobile users to prop up AM? Bleep no.
AM is what it is - I'm not trying to save AM, it's just an existing system that (IMHO) can be used to try to help in certain situations (if a different frequency band had been selected for AM all those decades ago, AM might only ever have been regional service [like FM]).
AM can be partially repurposed for public safety use (we pay a universal service fee on our phone bills to help provide phone service to low income people).
Kirk Bayne
AM can be partially repurposed for public safety use (we pay a universal service fee on our phone bills to help provide phone service to low income people).
Kirk Bayne
But that's the difference between cellular and broadcast. There are multiple cells overlapping the geography. Broadcast uses is single, high power transmission that if knocked down in a storm or earthquake, is done.
But yet again, you're just considering a single station in a particular area, and only the carrier. What do you put on the signal when not in an emergency? What about other areas? Who will staff, let alone pay for staffing 24/7?
The government allows telecom companies to recover the costs of that service from their customers. How would AM radio stations recover those costs from their listeners?
From a public safety standpoint there are a lot of things that money is spent on that only benefits a tiny minority of people at any given time (guardrails on roadways - they cost money to install and maintain even if a particular guardrail never reduces the severity of an accident).
On the issue of 24/7 programming - the commercial content of a 50kW AM station could sign off at 7PM (for example) and then a repeating audio announcement could state that the station in OTA for public safety reasons.
Kirk Bayne
On the issue of 24/7 programming - the commercial content of a 50kW AM station could sign off at 7PM (for example) and then a repeating audio announcement could state that the station in OTA for public safety reasons.
Kirk Bayne
And when the fecal matter hits the oscillating air distribution device after sign-off? What happens then?
That's a different issue and a different budget. Highways come out of DOT. You're talking about DHS. Once again, DHS has a system in place that works fine when used properly called EAS. It's budgeted, and they test it regularly to make sure it works. They're not going to buy time on AM radio stations to run a recording on repeat. Some states tried doing that using AM years ago, and ended up shutting them down.
Swell. But if the disaster occurs between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., what happens? Are you staffing but not programming? Are people taking turns sleeping on a cot at each radio station every night?The message would repeat all night until commercial programing (or infomercials) start the next morning - 5AM, for example.
Kirk Bayne
And who, pray-tell, is listening to this endless message on repeat? Sounds like torture.
Send Kirk the bill.
As well as the bill for devices millions don’t want
There was not problem for Top 40 in the 70's. Lots of stations did very, very well in that decade, ranging from WABC, 13-Q, KLIF, KFRC, KHJ and WLS and many, any other AMs at the beginning of the decade to the new crop of FM's like WPGC (which transformed from AM in the very late 60's), Y-100, WMYQ, WDRQ, KSLQ and lots of others.
In fact, some markets were overburdened with Top 40 FMs and there was a fallout in the later 70's. But, while the monolithic AM top 40 format of the later 50's and 60's generated spin-offs into AC and Album Rock, the format was still quite solid with plenty of stations in the top 5 of their markets.
And the "play whatever you want and light up a joint" formats died with Lee Abrams technified Superstars variant starting to roll out in the '73-'74 period
No, it was not.
The first decade or so of FM growth was the 1967-1977 period following the requirement by the FCC to cease most simulcasts. But all those "new" stations competing for the same quantity of dollars meant that the FMs had more limited revenue. So many made a point of doing just 8 minutes of ads an hour to try to pull AM dollars.
The biggest FM format in the 70's was Beautiful Music. It was based on four 2-minute stopsets an hour or a total of 8 minutes. Nearly all FMs in that period did the same in some form or another.
If you go back and look at ratings, while rock stations that were well done did well, the format was neither dominant nor a majority choice.
The AM flips to talk were not part of a mad rush away from music. Ones like KABC and WGN were generally progressions from the death of MOR. It was not, somewhat, until the 80's that talk grew, enhanced later by the removal or relxation of the equal time / fairness FCC restrictions.
In many cases, AMs that "went talk" were former MOR or Top 40 stations that saw their formats either fade away or move to lower commercial load FMs.
And 13-Q had Cecil Heftel and Bill Tanner and an incredible air staff and a much better signal. Heck, even that upstart Top 40 FM with Bob Pittman as PD could not deal with 13-Q.
Signals made all the difference in Pittsburgh, which really only has one full AM signal. Normbob tried a Wixy clone on 1360, and due to signal it failed. In fact, they original WIXY in Cleveland, also "blessed" with a horrible signal, pretty much died by the early 70s when Top 40 FM hit the Mistake on the Lake.
You are giving vastly too much importance to rock.
On FM, album rock began in the late 60's as combo owners had to create separate programming but did not want to eat the audience of their AM stations. Rock and Beautiful Music were the easy answers, but not the only ones. Top 40 migrated to FM, as did country and R&B (Urban) and by the later years of the decade several Spanish language formats appeared as did transitory ones like disco.
And, except in a few markets, those free-form rockers were replaced or marginalized by Superstars (or imitations) tight playlist rock hits formats.
The issue is that two generations of Americans simply don't use AM... if they even know it exists. And in about a third of all homes there is no radio of any kind. They stream a variety of audio sources on everything from their phones to telling Alexa what to play.
It's been 60 years since I built my first owned radio station, yet I do not have a single working radio in my house except for an "emergency radio" in a box with sets of batteries as part of my quake preparedness. I used the radio once to make sure it worked, and now it is there, like the fire extinguisher, for emergencies.
You see, I know what happens in the most horrible disasters: all local services and utilities will be dead. No local radio, TV, Internet, streams, cell phones, electricity. I know I can get KSL or KOA or maybe KNX and KFI. But the average person today has no battery radio, nor a supply of batteries nor knowledge of where to look for information on AM if they did.
I’m 31 and I try to keep a pulse on how others around my age treat and use radio. Trust me. People my age, and even 10 years older than me, even, have never listened to AM and they are NOT thinking to go to good ‘ol AM radio if some kind of catastrophe happened. Not to mention those younger that have no idea what it is. They’re worried about having power banks and generators to keep their smartphones and other devices powered in case of a power outage so they can stay up to date on things. And if there was a catastrophe that is mentioned regularly in this argument, they’re going to their phones. Not an AM radio. Most under a certain age don’t think of that information being available on AM. Not even FM!
We’ve had hurricanes come through in the southeast and what did AM radio do? Nothing. They were playing syndicated content. Same for even FM. Radio is no longer a “go to” source if something major happens and has not been for a while. Perhaps in large markets it’s different, but if so, probably only slightly.
AM has served its purpose. Outside of some broadcast enthusiasts, to millennials and younger, it’s a foreign concept. Hell, probably even to Gen X. I’ve asked my mom and several others in their 60s that are boomers that grew up with it don’t even think it’s around anymore and quit listening decades ago. “AM?! I thought that went away in the 80s!”
We’ve had hurricanes come through in the southeast and what did AM radio do? Nothing. They were playing syndicated content. Same for even FM. Radio is no longer a “go to” source if something major happens and has not been for a while. Perhaps in large markets it’s different, but if so, probably only slightly.
AM has served its purpose. Outside of some broadcast enthusiasts, to millennials and younger, it’s a foreign concept. Hell, probably even to Gen X. I’ve asked my mom and several others in their 60s that are boomers that grew up with it don’t even think it’s around anymore and quit listening decades ago. “AM?! I thought that went away in the 80s!”