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Fuss Selling?

flytrap said:
It's even worse when an AM station has an FM sister station. The AM side is put on auto-pilot, shoved in a closet and forgotten. The transmitter etc. rots and when it eventually craps out they go silent. If an AM station has a flea power FM translator, the main AM station also goes down the tubes even though it may actually have a vastly superior coverage area. They may have 5,000 watts on AM and only 99 watts of FM, but the AM will sound like crap. And they only reason they keep the AM running is so they can keep the FM translator. People in fringe areas may not be able to even pick up the 99 watt FM, and have to listen to AM. But if it sounds like garbage, forget it. People say the reason they don't listen to AM anymore is because it sounds bad. When its properly set up, and you listen on a decent radio, AM doesn't really sound that bad at all. Its not necessarily AM radio that sounds bad, most of the time its AM STATIONS that sound bad. I think in the next several years you're going to see more and more AM station go silent. Some of these stations have ancient equipment and when they start to break down, they will not want to blow any money on them and can't afford a new tranmitter so they will be gone forever.
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Since the FCC has a history of caving in on many policies, it will be interesting to see what they do with the first AM station/FM translator test case when it comes before them, and it is just a matter of time before it will. The situation I am thinking of is when a stand alone AM station in a very small market that has a translator ends up in the situation described above when they have a very old AM transmitter plant, and something major like the transmitter fails, or maybe the tower falls, or they lose the lease for the land it is on, so they plead financial hardship and petition the Commission to allow them to permanently go silent on AM and hand in their license, but remain operating with just the FM translator as their only signal. I don't think it has happened anywhere yet, but I see it happening soon. And if the Commission caves even once, count on it becoming a weekly event for those applications to come pouring in and forever change the face of small market radio.
 
Other than hurting the "spirit of the rules" and some people with nostalgic ideals, I don't see this to be necessarly all bad. The AM band, even to date, suffers from too many stations clogging up the band. If some of the little guys did turn in their AM daytimers or 1ks or whatever and just run as an FM translator, it wouldn't hurt my feelings. At some point if enough curling-iron stations went off, people could shuffle around a bit and improve their service on AM. I have a couple of them like that. They have formats that do well on AM but night-time service sucks because they are on graveyard frequencies that get hammered at night. Cutting the other clutter on the frequency would do them a world of good. Do I want mom-and-pop in the country to go silent overall? Nope. Do I want them to "upgrade" to an FM translator or the TV 5-6 band? HELL yes!
 
I wouldn't mind if the FCC adopted a policy to allow such moves for the reasons you stated, but I don't want to see it happen as a "back door" move that would be available only to a few, but not to all who would elect to do it. The Commission would have to agree to a universal standard up front, and they would have to consider all of the future ramifications, which is something they have not always done. By that, in particular, I mean that stations that do convert from AM to low power FM translators would have to do so with the full understanding that they would have to be satisfied with that low power FM grant, and not automatically assume they are eligible to start seeking more power through a higher class upgrade.
 
You might see a proposed rulemaking in the distant future that allows existing AM/translator combos to reduce power or turn in their AM permit. Maybe, but doubtful.
 
Correct J Boyd! I am busier that I want to be and realy did not have the time but was willing to do what I could to help if they wanted it. Let's hope they wake up and fix some of the problems and have a very successful radio station.
 
Michael said:
or at least turn them off at night and quiet the AM band down some.
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That is a puzzling contribution to the conversation.

We could shut ALL radio stations down and then the AM band would quiet down some.

I assume what you are saying is: "Please turn off all the stations I don't like so I can hear the ones I like."

Who gets to decide which stations pass the "LIKE" test and which stations fail the test?
 
I knew that would be a controversial statement to make. A 250 translator would usually cover as much or more area than a graveyard station at night.

That would be entirely up to the license holder of the station and only if the FCC changed the rules to allow daytime only stations once again.

AM stations in Canada and Mexico are actually migrating to FM exclusively. I am not by any means proposing shutting down AM service. I am a proponent of it serving people better which is next to impossible with all the non part 15 compliant devices in out homes today. Not to mention the interference power company spew out also.
 
Correct Michael: Time has moved on. My AM station is kept on in the hope some sort of regulatory or engineering changes will permit survival. When I came to this market 34 years ago, all I had was a broken down AM. It provided enough income to add a 50 KW and 6 KW fm, in a short period of time. I will hold on to it until the cows come home. They say that you should not become emotionally attached to an investment...but when I consider all, I violate that rule without reservation. I look forward to seeing you again. As William Wordsworth wrote: " Tho nothing can bring back the hour of Splendor in the Grass, Glory in the Flower... I will grieve not....but rather gain strength in that which remains behind". Amen: JBI.
 
Personally I think they should open up channel 2-6 TV to Am broadcasters on a secondary basis to EXISTING TV stations (NO new ones alowed there). Also, they should allow AMs to buy any translator they can get their hands on within their coverage area (not just the primary) within, let's say, 50 miles of the transmitter site. If they want to do this, they have to turn give up the AM transmitter within a month of getting their new FM channel in the 88-108 band. The AM channel could then be sold off to one of those lovely "LPFM" people that want to play daytime radio only. Problem solved. Will this happen? Not likely at all. LOL!
 
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