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Is AM Already Doomed? Or Can It Be Saved?

Here's another 4,000-word essay on the original topic. Typical of news reports about radio this one contains a number of errors but there's also a trove of AM radio trivia contained within it:

https://archive.ph/2023.08.24-12102...radio-bruce-morrow-electric-vehicles-qdu5bus7

[^This site is currently having issues resolving via Cloudflare's DNS servers (1.1.1.1). If you get stuck in an infinite Captcha loop try changing the DNS server in your home router to anything but Cloudflare, turn on VPN, or access it via your phone using 5G/4G/LTE, instead of your home WiFi.]
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Here's another 4,000-word essay on the original topic. Typical of news reports about radio this one contains a number of errors but there's also a trove of AM radio trivia contained within it:

https://archive.ph/2023.08.24-12102...radio-bruce-morrow-electric-vehicles-qdu5bus7

[^This site is currently having issues resolving via Cloudflare's DNS servers (1.1.1.1). If you get stuck in an infinite Captcha loop try changing the DNS server in your home router to anything but Cloudflare, turn on VPN, or access it via your phone using 5G/4G/LTE, instead of your home WiFi.]
Click to expand...

Or simpler yet, just cut everything from the link above prior to the www address of the actual newsday article and you'll be taken right to it. Here it is in the clear:
www.newsday.com

AM radio's future: After more than a century, is it doomed?

AM radio is now grappling with the single greatest challenge in its history.
www.newsday.com
 
Kelly A said:
It's official. Doomed.
But when you think about it; aren't we all?
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Many people who grew up during the Cold War years, with the specter of a Soviet-launched nuclear attack, I'm sure felt doomed pretty much from the beginning, much as nowadays, where people are feeling doomed by the seemingly endless series of crises over the past 15 years or so.

So, that said: yes, we are all doomed!

I don't think AM radio will ever die just because car makers stop producing radios with AM tuners (much in the same way audio tapes never died, despite the fact that no new cars have had tape players for more than a decade), it will just become more niche, and perhaps fade from being a commercial band to something more open and perhaps re-allocated for hobby use by expanding or extending the Part 15 limitations (perhaps abolishing limits on antenna lengths and raising the maximum wattage to maybe 1 or 10 watts? Hasn't the Netherlands done something like this? Is it successful at all?)

c
 
cc333 said:
(Hasn't the Netherlands done something like this? Is it successful at all?)
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Yes, they've done low-power AM, with a maximum of 100 watts and with many stations running only 10. They are allowed to run commercials.

Is it a success? I guess it depends on how you define success. Several operations have shut down because they can't sustain themselves financially. Coverage also seems quite limited. Radio Brainport on 747 from the Eindhoven High-Tech City had a noisy, though steady, signal a few miles away in my in-law's village, just to give one example. For another, when I was in the Zuidas business district south of Amsterdam last year, I couldn't pick up any local AM operations, even though a few were listed in radiomap.eu.
 
AM as it exists now is doomed. As soon as somebody convinces the FCC to separate the AM side from the FM translator the final nail will be in the coffin. But AM will die a slow lingering death. That is unless something radical is done. I would propose, mandatory AM HD in cars, a sunset date for analog AM, and at the same time power increases to get above the noise floor. Is that radical enough?
 
Mark Roberts said:
Yes, they've done low-power AM, with a maximum of 100 watts and with many stations running only 10. They are allowed to run commercials.

Is it a success? I guess it depends on how you define success. Several operations have shut down because they can't sustain themselves financially.
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Gee, where have we seen that sort of thing before? Hmmm.,. Oh yes, LPFM!
 
Re- low power AM

From a technical viewpoint-

If several frequencies (with adjacent channel protection to full-power stations provided) are allocated to low power AM service, that would be fine. The outcome may not be as hoped for by the proponents because of interference.

Unlike FM or digital (within reason), receiver detection of amplitude modulation does not reduce on-channel interference. In this context, defining interference as undesired signal with less signal strength than the desired signal, at the receiver location. AM receivers do not benefit from the cocktail party effect.

en.wikipedia.org

Cocktail party effect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Because of skywave propagation on lower frequencies used by AM radio, at night just 20 watts of power from one station can significantly reduce interference-free coverage of a co-channel station that is protected to its 0.1 mV/meter contour.

It may seem crazy a mere 15 watts could cause interference, but that power can exceed prescribed desired to undesired signal ratio at locations within the protected contour of another station hundreds of miles away.

Ignoring marketplace aspects, from the technical viewpoint, engineers can determine most efficient use of radio spectrum for a given definition of service. On AM this could be 2 mV/meter ground wave daytime, and 0.5 mV/meter nighttime. Or whatever is decided. Remember skywave propagation coverage area is defined by probability. And skywave coverage at a given probability may not be a contour, but an area with a beginning and end.

Thus there is plenty to deliberate.

My opinion-

At a given receiver location, AM analog needs sufficient signal level to override incoming interference from other stations. Increasing station power with no corresponding reduction in number of stations is mutually assured destruction.

I don't think any AM licensee that is on the air and making a go of it should have their license rescinded for the "greater good".
I do think the FCC should continue to permit the marketplace to do things that reduce interference, provided a community continues to receive signal level defined as local service.

btw- Important to distinguish between distant skywave service area, and incoming skywave reducing local nighttime interference-free area. Advantage of the current rules is Class A stations are relatively free from background interference in their audio at lower ground wave service contours.

A current proposal is a bit disingenuous because it is more than "nighttime only coverage hundreds of miles away", it is also how clean a station sounds at night in the outer areas of the local community.
 
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Kelly A - My job is helping my employer achieve their goals within my specialty (engineering).
My comment was mostly about the technical aspects and regulatory policy, rather than choices made by consumers.
 
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Well, if that's true, then why doesn't somebody try to bring in new consumers?

Part of the problem is that there are probably at least some younger people out there that get everything through their phones because they think that's the only place they can still get it from, and they don't realize that older technologies such as AM radio still exist, partly because nobody advertises it to anyone anymore (except older conservative white men, Christian zealots and ethnic minorities, I guess?). I've been hearing more music on AM lately (albeit with difficulty, since none of it is local), which is refreshing. I mean, they're pushing their FM translators, and music as a format makes sense for those, and that it can also be heard on AM is simply a side effect, but maybe it could be an opportunity to revitalize the band somewhat?

I'm sure there have been many studies that suggest that most people simply don't care about radio and prefer the "convenience" and "infinite variety" of online streams, and that may be, but why doesn't someone do something that makes them care?

I guess if it were possible, someone would've tried it and succeeded by now, so I'm probably a bit ignorant here....

Where does that "mandatory AM radios in cars" bill stand in Congress? I think that passage of that bill is the radio industry's best chance at gaining at least a few more years of life support until someone can come up with a better plan....

c
 
cc333 said:
I'm sure there have been many studies that suggest that most people simply don't care about radio and prefer the "convenience" and "infinite variety" of online streams, and that may be, but why doesn't someone do something that makes them care?
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I've used this analogy before, but it's been a decade or so...

A radio station is like a garden hose. Only one thing comes out of it at a time. To get to the thing that you like, you may have to sit through a thing you like less or a thing you don't like at all. You may have to sit through many of those things.

There is nothing linear radio and television can do about that. There is no way to accommodate "on demand" service on those bands.

Young people (and by this, I don't just mean kids, I mean people under 30---maybe even 35 or 40) are spending less time with FM because of that limitation. There is nothing that would drag them over to AM, which has the same limitation, plus those of lower fidelity, static and noise.

cc333 said:
Where does that "mandatory AM radios in cars" bill stand in Congress? I think that passage of that bill is the radio industry's best chance at gaining at least a few more years of life support until someone can come up with a better plan....

c
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It passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on July 27, the second to the last day in regular session. Congress has been only meeting two days a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) all this month. Most Senators and Congressmen are absent, on vacation or in their home districts, and won't be back until after Labor Day.

That said, I think the bill passes. Democrats want the emergency capability of AM. Republicans want that and don't want to injure the reach of the vast majority of conservative radio programming. President Biden signs it because, in the aftermath of Maui, and with bipartisan support, how does he not?

That said, if a tree falls in the forest, and it's broadcast on AM radio, but no one is tuned in, does it make a sound?
 
cc333 said:
Well, if that's true, then why doesn't somebody try to bring in new consumers?
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Because there are other technologies out there that have better quality audio, easier to use, customizable, more convenient, have better content, etc.. It's like saying "why don't we have more people using horses and buggies? We can save the horses and buggies if we just introduce more people to it."
 
AM radio's future isn't a done deal – it's facing challenges. Tech changes and how people listen have shaken things up, but there's still a shot at a comeback. Better signals, cool content, going digital, and connecting with the community could breathe new life into AM radio. It's about rolling with the times and finding fresh ways to grab folks' attention.
 
James Paul said:
AM radio's future isn't a done deal – it's facing challenges. Tech changes and how people listen have shaken things up, but there's still a shot at a comeback. Better signals, cool content, going digital, and connecting with the community could breathe new life into AM radio. It's about rolling with the times and finding fresh ways to grab folks' attention.
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Unless most existing AMs go off the air, there is no way to improve signals.

Digital is a resounding "no" as nobody will buy a new AM radio no matter what.

Low quality audio, noise and static, limited signals and so many better options make a comeback as close to impossible as can be imagined. (I used to own 10 AM stations, so I have a sentimental attachment).
 
Thank you for sharing your insights. I understand your concerns about signal quality and digital challenges. While it's a tough road, some stations are exploring solutions. The sentiment attached to AM radio's history could also play a role. Let's hope for creative solutions to keep AM radio relevant. Thanks again!
 
DavidEduardo said:
I used to own 10 AM stations, so I have a sentimental attachment).
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I feel the same way. Many of my fondest memories were being Chief-of, building, or even owning AM stations. I haven't forgotten how to work-on AM stations, nor am I rooting for their ultimate demise. That said; we all started to see the downhill slide as listeners ran in droves to FM for music starting back in the later 70's, so it's not like any of the continuing losses is something new.
 
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