Is AM dead?

[w9wi]

I finally saw the slightest glimmer of hope for AM radio today. It's an extreme long shot for numerous reasons which I'll get into below, but here's the page that turned me (a little) around:
...
A strong signal, targeted at an audience over 45, giving away broadband AM radios constantly... a long shot, yes... but I have to wonder if it MIGHT be enough to make an AM (music?) station not just survive, but possibly thrive.

...OK, feel free to start shooting holes in my theory. ;D

OK

Problem is, that with the exception of a VERY few stations, there is no such thing as a "clean and broadband" AM signal and no prospect of achieving one.

The band is FAR too crowded. The vast majority of stations suffer from nighttime interference in areas surprisingly close to their towers. (and often, in areas that were unpopulated when the station was built but today contain wealthy (desirable) suburban audiences) The signal *is* going to be "unclean" in much of the market unless you can buy up & shut down enough interfering signals.

The few stations that *do* have a clean signal in most of the market are generally the big ones that have been successful for decades. In other words, they're the ones you probably can't afford to buy :0

 

[secondchoice]

NightAire: The only "turn around" station (if the rumored 25KW night time signal is true) I can think of is WGUN Atlanta. It has suffered from extended ownership issues and still survived. It will never be a top 10 station, but somebody could make a few bucks running this station corectly.

 

[joebob]

Thanks for the feedback folks. To answer some of the replys. The station does come along with the property and transmitter and tower. And no I will not be selling the farm, we will have minimal down with current owner carrying paper. And do I expect to be rich with this...no. But I think we can accomplish some great things which will be worth it to me and the community!

 

[TimeIsTight]

Does anybody see any potential in switching parts of the medium wave broadcast band to full power digital, as is being tried in other parts of the world?

Check out: http://www.drm.org/

Trials could be done in this country in markets, or on frequencies, where AM has gone dark. In those places there wouldn't be much to lose, and everything to gain.

Digital would offer full fidelity, and not be bothered by the noise problems that are hurting AM. It might also offer other enhancements, and allow current AM stations to offer new formats and programming, rather than gradually fading away.

Any thoughts???

 

[TheBigA]

Any thoughts???

Great idea, except the FCC won't do it. And it would require people to buy new radios, which they won't do.

Otherwise, great idea.

 

[TimeIsTight]

Great idea, except the FCC won't do it. And it would require people to buy new radios, which they won't do.

Certainly, people have not rushed out to buy HD radios, but they did ultimately go for FM once different and worthwhile programming was added to the band after simulcasting was halted.

Possibly, a digital radio chip could easily be added to a next generation of smart phones leading to a quick critical mass of potential listeners. Also, under-served groups like foreign language speakers might be the first ones enticed into buying the new digital radios. Also, as an example, in the NYC radio market there are now unserved fans of radio music formats like Country, Alternative, Smooth Jazz, Standards, Beautiful Music, pre-70s Oldies etc. who might be interested enough to try medium wave digital if the new programming was as attractive as new FM programming was in the late 60s and 70s.

The FCC would be forced to go along by market forces. If faced with the ultimate demise of most AM radio stations, and license holders facing economic ruin, saying no to new technology, and instead leaving the band fallow wouldn't make sense. This could also be tried first in selected markets, and if it didn't work not much would be lost.

 

[KeithE4]

Great idea, except the FCC won't do it. And it would require people to buy new radios, which they won't do.

Certainly, people have not rushed out to buy HD radios, but they did ultimately go for FM once different and worthwhile programming was added to the band after simulcasting was halted.

FM receivers had been available for over 20 years before the band became mainstream.

Possibly, a digital radio chip could easily be added to a next generation of smart phones leading to a quick critical mass of potential listeners. Also, under-served groups like foreign language speakers might be the first ones enticed into buying the new digital radios. Also, as an example, in the NYC radio market there are now unserved fans of radio music formats like Country, Alternative, Smooth Jazz, Standards, Beautiful Music, pre-70s Oldies etc. who might be interested enough to try medium wave digital if the new programming was as attractive as new FM programming was in the late 60s and 70s.

Like MP3 players, the only way for an FM chip to function in a cellphone is by using the earbud leads as an antenna. Performance is iffy at best.

It's not possible to put an AM tuner in that small a device. The tuner chip can be done, but an functional loopstick antenna that will fit in a 1/8"-thick enclosure is physically impossible.

The FCC would be forced to go along by market forces. If faced with the ultimate demise of most AM radio stations, and license holders facing economic ruin, saying no to new technology, and instead leaving the band fallow wouldn't make sense. This could also be tried first in selected markets, and if it didn't work not much would be lost.

The market has made its decision - AM is just about dead. The only exceptions are the Class A blowtorches and a relatively few other stations that can cover their entire market. And their shelf-life is measured in years, not decades. Almost nobody younger than 50 listens to AM other than for sports - and sports-radio is moving to FM as fast as they can (ESPN New York moved this week; the simulcast with 1050 is only temporary).

Digital modes more complex than QPSK cannot work well on medium- or short-wave frequencies because of phasing issues like a carrier disappearing in the area between ground- and sky-wave reception, with the station sounding like an SSB signal. The ionosphere also causes changes in signal phase. Not good for complex digital modes. AM is the only practical full-carrier voice mode below VHF.

 

[TheBigA]

Certainly, people have not rushed out to buy HD radios, but they did ultimately go for FM once different and worthwhile programming was added to the band after simulcasting was halted.

It's not the 1970s any more. Today, people have lots of choices besides radio. That's why HD is DOA, and satellite is struggling. They simply don't want to buy new radios. Period. Content isn't the issue.

The FCC would be forced to go along by market forces. If faced with the ultimate demise of most AM radio stations, and license holders facing economic ruin, saying no to new technology, and instead leaving the band fallow wouldn't make sense.

Really? What government are we talking about? The people at the FCC get paid the same regardless of "market forces." They don't care. They have telcom companies offering them billions for spectrum space. Broadcasters are dead weight.

 

[w9wi]

Does anybody see any potential in switching parts of the medium wave broadcast band to full power digital, as is being tried in other parts of the world?

Check out: http://www.drm.org/

Trials could be done in this country in markets, or on frequencies, where AM has gone dark. In those places there wouldn't be much to lose, and everything to gain.

Digital would offer full fidelity, and not be bothered by the noise problems that are hurting AM. It might also offer other enhancements, and allow current AM stations to offer new formats and programming, rather than gradually fading away.

Any thoughts???

I'm afraid it won't help.

The thing is, no digital scheme can fix the problem posed by the *frequencies* used by AM. DRM is still going to have to be transmitted in the 530-1710KHz band. In this band, signals span great distances -- hundreds, if not thousands of miles -- at night. It doesn't matter whether those signals are analog or digital, they're still going to travel -- and interfere with other stations on the same frequency.

To prevent it, the FCC requires most AM stations to reduce power, switch to a (more) directional antenna, and/or go off the air entirely at sunset. Since the signals travel regardless of transmission mode, the FCC will need to continue to require nighttime power reductions regardless of whether the station is analog or digital.

It's true, you won't hear the noisy, interference-laden audio of a typical analog signal today. What you will hear instead, I'm afraid, is absolutely nothing. A station that would be noisy and/or bothered by interference in analog won't decode at all in digital.

For any form of digital to truly make AM stations viable, it's going to have to be transmitted in a different frequency band.

Heck, AM would probably work a lot better if we just reallocated all the stations into the 40.53-41.71MHz band. (without changing the emission mode at all)

 

[kenglish]

Does anybody see any potential in switching parts of the medium wave broadcast band to full power digital, as is being tried in other parts of the world?

Check out: http://www.drm.org/

You could do it with shortwave, but not MW, in the USA (according to the FCC). I've thought about using it experimentally on a Broadcast Auxiliary frequency, just to see how it would work.
Trouble is, it's getting hard to find a DRM receiver in the US. And, if Radio Canada kills off it's shortwave transmitters entirely (they quit broadcasting RCI programming next month), there may be very little DRM available in North America.

No programming=No market for receivers .

 

[semoochie]

Isn't the full digital form of AM IBOC already authorized by the FCC?

 

[TimeIsTight]

No programming=No market for receivers

No doubt, it is a classic chicken and egg problem. Speaking hypothetically, the best shot would be for the development of a digital Medium Wave decoding chip to be included in cell phones, i-pod like devices and new radios adding only minimal cost. While touting the MW digital as a backup emergency communication system should the cell phone infrastructure become overloaded or unusable in a disaster. (remember Manhattan cell phones on 9/11, when we lost some FM and TV stations too)

Without getting too technical, the satellite radio scheme of using two digital feeds to the receiver, and a buffering system may help to prevent drop outs.

Obviously, this system is being used elsewhere in the world, so they may already found answers to some of the skywave interference and other problems that crop up when using digital feeds. (I was a very early adopter of satellite TV and remember the frozen digital pictures, as opposed to analog's snow)

Unfortunately, the alternative to trying something like this will be the continued loss of AM radio audience, an escalating deprecation of AM station values, and within a couple of decades the absence of most stations from the AM dial. The exceptions might be a few high power utility or public information stations mostly for use in emergencies, when the cell phone and Internet feeding infrastructure isn't working. It might also be argued that AM worked well for almost a century, and like the telegraph, coal fired steam engines, and even vinyl records, its time for everybody to move on to newer and better technologies.

 

[TheBigA]

It might also be argued that AM worked well for almost a century, and like the telegraph, coal fired steam engines, and even vinyl records, its time for everybody to move on to newer and better technologies.

I think that's what most broadcasters think. Most of the radio companies are transitioning to other forms of transmission. The FCC has other things on its agenda. And I see a future where AM will be used by local emergency officials, expanding on what they're already doing now for traffic, weather, and airport information. The public airwaves will be owned by the government, not private profit-making companies.

 

[Tom Wells]

Airwaves are treated as though they can be owned, when in fact they can only be shared.

An attitude that permits the construct of ownership is what's killing radio, and it's not just about AM.

Radio companies transistioning to other media?

Much like being assimilated by the Borg. You won't even notice you're dead, but that's OK.

And dirt is the new clean.

Let's pollute and/or ignore that which works well for free, and replace it with something that
works in terms of little markets. The smaller the better to track demos.
In fact we NEED you to keep clicking on the box to keep the audio stream going.
This is supposed to be some kind of replacement for radio?

I still can't make a phone call on the north side of Chicago on Interstate 94, because AT&T thinks they're doing
just fine there. How in the heck wold this new method for "radio" going to work?
Because what we have now for cell data throughput is doing an utterly unacceptable job of providing
the connectivity that the MW does for free.

Even if *people* abandon MW AM mode, Radio will always exist within this dimension,
as it has long before humans discovered this particular slice of vibrational spectrum.

 

[TheBigA]

Airwaves are treated as though they can be owned, when in fact they can only be shared.

An attitude that permits the construct of ownership is what's killing radio, and it's not just about AM.

Nope...other way around. What's killing AM is that no one wants to own it. It's the ghetto, and no amount of urban renewal can help. If there was interest and demand, AM wouldn't be in the shape it's in. But the market is gone, and no one cares.

 

[Tom Wells]

Sorry, you simply cannot own radio waves or spectrum.
A license may be granted, but this does not imply "ownership".

A license is permission to be a trustee, curator, friend, and protector, but never grants ownership.

When you think you own something, anything, you have created an immense stumbling block for yourself and others.

When you realize you can only share, you can progress with integrity.

Business is not about sharing, so perhaps if the important thing is communications for business advertising,,
then we really don't need radio anymore.

Radio is about sharing with as many as possible.
Pay modes are just that.

If you are uncomfortable with the concept of sharing, or service to others for uncertain or no monetary reward,
then it might be better to restrict content by transitioning immediately to controlled access modes immediately.

Let radio die, then, if it can only exist in service to debt.

It is unfortunate such a powerful and useful medium has been prostituted into debt slavery so completely.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Sorry, you simply cannot own radio waves or spectrum.
A license may be granted, but this does not imply "ownership".

That was something close to the original regulations for broadcasting in the U.S. Many of us worked in radio when that was the accepted theory.

I think BigA is expressing what is reality today in the U.S. They may use the word "license" but in the political mood of our nation today, they just as well put "deed" on the certificate.

It took me a long time to come to that understanding... and it has done good things to my blood pressure to come to that understanding.

 

[TheBigA]

It is unfortunate such a powerful and useful medium has been prostituted into debt slavery so completely.

It's air. That's what ether and spectrum is. Air.

Today, the government is selling spectrum to telecom companies. Those telecom companies will OWN this spectrum. Regardless of what you say. The spectrum is a public resource, and resources are bought and sold every day. I can buy beachfront property, I can buy oil rights, I can buy diamonds and minerals, and I can buy forrests. It's all the same thing. You have placed personal emotional value on spectrum. But in the real world, it's just air.

 

[Tom Wells]

Neither can you own physical resources or things, you are given the use of them for but a short time.

"Ownership" concepts lead eventually to the situation we currently enjoy, where debt slavery is all that matters anymore.

There are many wrangling steps of competition, profit and market control that led radio into the mess.

But 50,000 watts is only 47 horsepower.
Most grocery stores have more refrigerating capacity than that.
If radio (and the rest of the world) weren't "at gunpoint" to serve the debt note, there could be whole different world.

Did I get around to sayiing bad things about the bankers yet?
I guess I won't. K?

 

[TheBigA]

"Ownership" concepts lead eventually to the situation we currently enjoy, where debt slavery is all that matters anymore.

No, ownership is a concept that man has had since Biblical days. Ownership doesn't lead to debt unless that's something an owner chooses to do. But there are a lot of people in this country who own things free and clear without any debt.

At this point, the value of AM radio stations has fallen to a point where anyone can own one free and clear without any debt, if that's what you choose to do. Then again, if your AM tower falls on someone's car while they're driving on a public road, they can sue you for everything you own, and put you into debt. Unless you have insurance. That's a whole 'nother discussion.