Someone actually did it...
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Goodbye AM & FM & HD
- Thread starter kfbkfb
- Start date
You need a cellphone with a crank on the side to call Sarah. 🤣
How many people have more than just crappy built in TV speakers.
iPhones have better resolution than most TV's PPI
You can cast your phone to a TV.
But how do I dial Pennsylvania 6-5000?
Forget Sarah... It's still all about 867-5309 / Jenny! 
Absolutely... on all counts.
In some markets, there are close to 30% of all households that still watch live OTA TV as the cost of cable or an Internet connection is too high for limited family budgets.
In fact, there seems to be a percentage of households that are cutting back on paid services due to the high inflation rate at present. Those of us who can afford cable and/or Internet plus things like Netflix and other paid alternatives or supplements often don't recognize that this is a significant monthly expense for lower income families and households.
In my community we have an extra real estate tax assessment to provide iPads to grade-school students who can't afford one. In this market of about a half-million people, a third of all students qualified, and, at the current cost of the cheapest iPad, I buy three of them for my area neighbor's kids each year per my tax bill.
I find everywhere assumptions that "everyone" has a) internet, b) smartphones, c) cable and d) subscription information or entertainment services. Those of use posting here have Internet services and likely use other paid services as well. But there are many who don't and we can't marginalize them by removing or closing options.
Answer: say clearly, "Alexa, dial Pennsylvania 6-5000".
But is Alexa capable of translating "PEnnsylvania 6" into "736?"
I probably should have reworded the sentence you quoted, although I think a lot of people use their phone for everything.
With the younger demographics, the small screen doesn't bother them.
As for the rest of your points, you're assuming that every music or radio consumer uses a TV with a sound bar, and wants the really big sound, similar to what you get from the soundsystems that 60's and 70's music aficionados loved to install in their homes.
Today, most 'radio' listeners probably use phones and earbuds or earphones of some type. 100W home stereo systems went out of fashion some time in 2010. The Great Recession, and/or adoption of the IPhone as the primary entertainment center, did them in. Yeah, some people have the big systems. Try blasting one in an apartment some time, and see how long it is before the neighbors are slamming their fists on the wall, or the floor.
And even if someone wants to hear their music on a bigger system, they bluetooth their phone into it, and listen that way (as kwthom mentions upthread).
They don't call up a music or radio channel on their TV.
RE: Audience: increasing numbers of people listen to music and radio alone. In my metro 50% of the residences have one resident. 50% of the population lives alone. Most cars have one occupant. And when we're talking radio, it's solitary listening for the most part. Because most people under age 45-50 don't listen on actual radios or boomboxes anymore. They use earbuds or computer speakers. Primarily GenX and older use actual radios.
And you can bluetooth your phone into a bigger system if you want, which is what a lot of people do. My Millennial friends and neighbors do that in their cars all the time. They also do it through their home systems, if they have one.
My main point is that no one is going to buy a TV set to listen to radio. That train left the platform in 2005.
Sure, there are older holdouts. The car shop that fixes my vehicles has a boombox blasting away in the garage 24/7. But that's increasingly a rarity.
Likely because they have better vision to begin with.
Ah yes, the 70's and early 80's where audiophiles and videophiles spent obscene amounts of cash on high end systems trying to impress their equally nerdy friends. Yeah, those days are long gone.
A handful of older folks who still have their systems from the 80's.
Absolutely correct. As someone mentioned; the days of cable systems hosting music channels, or someone trying to do radio with a channel 6 analog TV allocation days are over. If someone wanted to do radio, they could literally buy a full class station for pennies on the dollar as compared with the 70's or 80's. There's no need to try and shoehorn in some music or entertainment into the FM or AM band anymore. There's this thing called the Internet. I hear it's all the rage.
Was walking through a new home near my neighborhood just the other day. The entire place is covered by Sonos Bluetooth powered speakers, rather than Bose speakers connected by wires to some centralized amplifier(s). It sounded very impressive, and you could literally configure what sound or music goes where via an app on your smartphone.
And that trend started October 23, 2001, the year iPod's hit the market.
Only because the shop is run by someone 50+
I had to figure out who to call when my Jitterbug wouldn't turn on. I had to wait and wait and wait. Apparently if I had bothered to read the manual I would know I had to push the button for 30 seconds, but who would design a thing that way? It's supposed to be easy to use, so it should come on as soon as you push it.
I wait for KTUC's "Big Band Brunch". They usually play the same songs each week. However, now that we're back to standard time I
I'm always still in church and today I had to talk to some people and it took a while to get home. And that was after communion. So between that, eating lunch and getting my exercise, there wasn't much of the show left.
Actually, even WERT plays it on occasion.
If we're talking about the 'family TV' (40+ sq. in.) I would say "most" and mostly because you really can't enjoy movies like Top Gun without a very good sound system (and all you'd get with a smartphone is over driven speaker hash).
Yes, it's called "Squint Vision".
But the number of iPhone vs Android users in the USA is roughly half and half with iPhone users trailing by about 2%. iPhone is ranked #3 worldwide outranked by Android #1 and Windows #2.
Seems unnecessarily complicated.
I don't know an estimated number of people using their phones for everything but in my experience perhaps less than 10% do.
For short video's the answer is probably "yes". For longer video's or movies "no". For certain sports absolutely not. And I see another negative coming. My 11-year old granddaughter's eyesight 2 years ago was perfect. Then she got a cell phone and used it constantly. She just got her first pair of Rx glasses. I shudder to think what a future 40-year old's eyesight might be after using smartphone squint-o-vision for the past 30 years. Kind of like Boomers and Rock and Roll with their hearing.
According to retailers sound bars are still flying off the shelves. Why listen to stereo earbuds when, for about the same $100 you can have Dolby surround sound?
Earbuds are OK for people using mobile devices but nowhere near the perfection of a good audio system.
You must be referring to home/work radio (OTA or streaming). I still see plenty of stereo/surround sound systems in houses I visit.
I don't know whether the Great Recession or iPhone did them in or not. I would opine that the iPhone probably affected the MP3 mobile player market much more than home stereo's. Of course, iPhones were/are still horrendously expensive compared to a mobile MP3 player. My entertainment system is a very good AM/FM/amp connected to the big screen as well as a Blu-Ray player, a standard CD jukebox, a pair of standard stereo speakers (with a bass speaker to each) and the TV can play through its own internal speakers or the surround sound bar. I also have an older Apple Mini I use to input movies-on-a-stick to the Big Screen. It is most likely the only Apple product I will ever own (and was a hand-me-down back then).
As each new technology came out I attached it to my system but now it is finished. When I turn it on my neighbor's lights tend to dim.
I don't share my walls or real estate with neighbors (although I could certainly get their attention if desired) so don't have that problem. Just because you have the power doesn't mean you have to annoy your neighbors with it.
I'm not sure there is a phone with enough storage to hold my music collection. I have plenty of storage in my PC however.
Nor do I.
You sound as if you live in a 55+ area. I have my home entertainment center in one room of the house (a big room kind of like a small home theater) which I don't use much - but my wifey does and usually alone. I have a smaller TV in my man cave which I usually watch alone. She has her own car (which I virtually never drive) and I have mine (which she rarely drives) so we're both "aloners". She listens to her car radio, never in the house, and I listen mostly in my car and not at home.
We have 6 radios in the house: 2 clock radios which are used perhaps 10-15 seconds each workday, 1 big stereo and one small desktop HD radio in my man cave. Each car has its own radio and then our phones both have internal FM radios. The only one that is used is my HD radio. I prefer using it instead of streaming my PC.
I agree. My parents once lived in a very narrow and steep canyon in northern California and had to use that method because OTA radio was not listenable and their cable system didn't offer radio stations (although it did have a weather channel which had 'beautiful music') so my mom used to listen to that most of the day.
I had a decent stereo. The speakers were wrecked by a former roommate (or her kid), and I don't even know if the amp still works. So much for the years of enjoying CDs on a decent stereo. Now it's YT on the laptop through Sony earphones.I don't know whether the Great Recession or iPhone did them in or not. I would opine that the iPhone probably affected the MP3 mobile player market much more than home stereo's. Of course, iPhones were/are still horrendously expensive compared to a mobile MP3 player. My entertainment system is a very good AM/FM/amp connected to the big screen as well as a Blu-Ray player, a standard CD jukebox, a pair of standard stereo speakers (with a bass speaker to each) and the TV can play through its own internal speakers or the surround sound bar. I also have an older Apple Mini I use to input movies-on-a-stick to the Big Screen. It is most likely the only Apple product I will ever own (and was a hand-me-down back then).
As each new technology came out I attached it to my system but now it is finished. When I turn it on my neighbor's lights tend to dim.
Like probably most here, I listen to radio on actual radios, and I have a bunch of them. But I am probably an outlier, compared to most people.
I live in the Seattle metro, and there was a news article about 5 years ago that half of the people in the metro live alone, or are otherwise single (which, as we all know, doesn't mean they live alone necessarily). My own neighborhood is mixed -- single people, retirees, young couples with kids -- everything from Millennials to Boomers. Probably the majority are GenXers. Everyone except me has a big flatscreen on their wall, so TV watching still happens.
But I've noticed among my friends and acquaintances that actual network TV watching is less of a thing than it was in the 90s and 2000s. It's internet video streaming now, with maybe a network newscast being watched most nights. Of course, that's anecdotal.
Obviously, we're both going on what we observe, and what we've read. I just don't see OTA radio and TV in any form growing from here on out. Radio and TV are both being redefined. And I don't see the subject of the OP really taking off. Nice idea, but a couple decades too late. I remember when friends would turn on the rock or country channel on the cable TV system. I always wondered why, when there were country and rock radio stations you could listen to. But they liked hearing music that way. But that was in 1996. Long time ago...
Your experience isn't indicative of what's actually going on. As of October, 85% of U.S. adults use their smartphone at least 96 times per day:
20 Vital Smartphone Usage Statistics [2022]: Facts, Data, and Trends On Mobile Use In The U.S. – Zippia
Streaming of the World Cup was huge via smartphones this year. That's several hours. That kind of blows up your "For certain sports absolutely not" comment.
She probably just needed corrective lenses. Blaming screens is misplaced.
Because sound bars for TV's are cheap?
Yeah it's hard to fit 1970's vintage Speakerlab Super 7's into your ears.
I imagine most assisted living places have large TV's with loud-capable speakers.
Apple music and iPhones use AAC format.
Headphones or earbuds would solve that problem.
Modern iPhones or Android, not Cricket or Consumer Cellular have plenty of storage. You just need to pay a little more.
But those carn-sarnate radio stations don't play what you want, when you want it!
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2354 for Friday December 9th, 2022
The good news is that AM radio has a future, which means the band isn’t going to be reallocated anytime soon. Those were the words of FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, speaking recently at the 79th annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Simington said that, for one thing, AM radio is an integral part of the life of the more than 3 million farmers in the United States who rely on it daily for vital information.
He called it the
The good news is that AM radio has a future, which means the band isn’t going to be reallocated anytime soon. Those were the words of FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, speaking recently at the 79th annual convention of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Simington said that, for one thing, AM radio is an integral part of the life of the more than 3 million farmers in the United States who rely on it daily for vital information.
He called it the
Based on who their advertisers are, WERT Van Wert, Ohio has a lot of farmers listening. There is a translator.
With respect with Mr. Simington, he was speaking at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. He was delivering a speech that he thought would resonate well with that particular crowd. While AM may have a future of some sort with farmers, what happens when the older farmers who still regularly listen to those AM stations for the farm and ag reports retire, and the younger ones who've never heard of "AM Radio" take over and realize they can instantly get weather forecasts, commodity prices, reports and all other types of information almost instantly, whenever they want it, from any smart phone?
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