IS THE AM RADIO BAND DOOMED? WHAT DO YOU THINK? I DON'T THINK SO!

[blackgold]

Is this the end for AM Radio? Will it be smashed on the rocks below? TO BE CONTINUED!!!!

Let's face it. AM radio is going down the tubes. I used to like to listen to WRKO, WMEX, WBZ, WHDH, WCAS, WLKW, WEZE, and WILD, among others. Now it's being destroyed by FM, satellite and internet, tablets and smartphones. Although AM radio can travel great distances at night, the programming has all but dried up. A lot of AM radio stations are extinct in Canada, having moved to the FM dial. And most of the radio stations on the AM dial are brokered time operations.
Many of these-WRCA, WLYN, WAZN, WESX AND WJDA-are doing very well, thank you , as well as the Latino stations. But the big players are turning into mush. As the general population ages and dies off, ethnic groups are taking over the turf. That's why AM radio stations in the future will be mostly ethnic radio stations. And of course, WUNR is the ethnic giant here in Boston.
As for WRKO, WEEI and WBZ, it looks like that they'll be on FM HD simulcasts or frequencies in the future.
Is AM radio doomed? I'd like to hear your response.

 

[JIBGUY]

Doomed as we know it, but not doomed. The AM band will be all (1) ethnic, (2) religious, (3) adult-standards (4) for English-speaking people who want to do their thing on radio for little money [little money compared to what is being charged by the hour, now], kind of like college stations, (5) a mixture of other specialized English-speaking music formats such as folk, pure album rock and local bands.

The latter.... especially with album- and local rock.... might catch on quite well. The fidenlity of AM radio may be a welcome sound after years of wearing ear-buds! If WFNX went to the AM band right now, it would survive.

But news and sports (in English) will be off the AM band in most markets. 1030 may be one of the few exceptions nationwide.

But all of this will give radio air-time to more people. The question is... will the decreased income for each AM station be able to pay for the large expenses of maintaining a tower site?

5 years from now.... AM will have 15% of the audience.

 

[CTListener]

Does anyone want 540-1710 for anything else? I can't see it being of any use to the telecoms. I suppose the hams would enjoy it, but I can't see that at all. A microcasting future for AM sounds interesting, but in the back of my mind lurks the fear of a govt. frequency auction -- if I could only figure out who'd be bidding.

 

[Time Traveler]

Album rock on AM again??? It was done in Boston years ago! 1550-WNTN was an awesome album rock station.....I always preferred their music and approach to that of WBCN at the time...and 740-WCAS was kind of a legend...

 

[JIBGUY]

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think that AM will have a slight to significant resurgence. The corporate behemoths will all battle each other by playing slightly different mixes of the same safe-tested songs on FM; even worse than today, and they'll be doing it with national formats. That leaves the other 98% of the music not being played. Several imaginitive AM stations in each market could clean up pretty nicely. AM will be the more progressive stations with the "FM approach" of 1970... meaning that those AM's will not have jingles, will not have deep-voice-guys with quickie sound effect zingers, etc. They'll be more laid back. What brought people to FM in the 1970 era, will bring people to AM in the future. AM will survive. So, you'll have to skip over a religious or language station on every other spot on the dial, to find what you like, but that's easy.

 

[mgpt6]

Bob, Can happen if FCC makes some technical rule changes for AM.
1) Get rid of HD-AM.
2) AM stations broad
cast frequency response of 50-7500 +/- 3db
3) Require all AM tuners to have at least frequency response 100-7500 +/- 3db and have C-QUAM stereo chip.(It has been done with TV Tuner-require all sets to have VHF/UHF in mid-60s).

 

[carmen]

love AM , almost exclusively listen to AM.. LW music from germany, france Iceland.. India/Desi sounds from Toronto on 1650 and 530, latino/french-diaspora music on 1500-1700, polish/irish on 1600. mad wizard technicians on 1885, brazilian music on 4885, 4915, a great mix on 5025 in good fidelity from Cuba, piano jazz on 49meters on old German shortwave portables with dedicated 49m. bigelow chats on 3885, guys up the street in Roxbury running power-levels FM renegade stations only dream about. (channel 20~!) , air traffic, skywave DX on 6m on Cleggs. AM is the best mode ever!!

 

[Ai4i]

love AM...the best mode ever!!

But (and I wish you no harm) you will eventually die, and the kids might feel differently

 

[Early Byrd]

AM has the basic and very serious problem of non-stop interference from all sorts of new sources that it didn't have in it's heyday. You can be within a few miles of a strong 50,000 watt
transmitter and the signal can still be overwhelmed with electrical and mechanical interference. We've all experienced it when we listen to AM...you can't dispute it...it's bad...very bad!

That's what has made AM nearly obsolete, more so than even demographic changes.

 

[johnster]

Well I know you don't want to hear it as you all hate HD Radio but I have to say as one who never listens to AM and always hated the sound even a young child I constantly find myself listening to WBZ-AM in HD. No Static whatsoever and sound almost as good as FM. Mia 1430 doesn't even sound half bad when coming in okay. No static on AM is a pretty amazing thing in the car. No I'm not trying to say I agree with in-band digital radio or the interference it creates but I'm just saying it sounds pretty sweet on my cars HD radio and if your ready to write off AM anyways you might want to give it a try. Made me discover a whole new band AM.

 

[pqgeorge]

AM has the basic and very serious problem of non-stop interference from all sorts of new sources that it didn't have in it's heyday. You can be within a few miles of a strong 50,000 watt
transmitter and the signal can still be overwhelmed with electrical and mechanical interference. We've all experienced it when we listen to AM...you can't dispute it...it's bad...very bad!

That's what has made AM nearly obsolete, more so than even demographic changes.

A major problem is the lack FCC enforcement over the years with RF interference from computers, man made interference and what not. It seems that the Commission pretty much dropped the ball in that court by taking a blind eye attitude with manufacturers creating a mess of noisy interference makers. As a result of this, the AM band has been rendered almost useless in this day and age. Not to mention the deregulation, a late decision for AM Stereo standards, and the breakup of the clear channels and more. The NRSC mandate, IBOC and brick wall filtering were the last straw. As a result, this is what we've got today. Not a pretty picture. AM can do so much better, if only they gave it a chance.

 

[w9wi]

Bob, Can happen if FCC makes some technical rule changes for AM.
1) Get rid of HD-AM.
2) AM stations broad
cast frequency response of 50-7500 +/- 3db
3) Require all AM tuners to have at least frequency response 100-7500 +/- 3db and have C-QUAM stereo chip.(It has been done with TV Tuner-require all sets to have VHF/UHF in mid-60s).

4) Write down the call letters of each AM station on little slips of paper. Stuff them in a hat. Have the Chief Justice come by, blindfold him, and ask him to pick slips out of the hat until he's picked 1,000 slips.

The 4,000-something whose calls are still in the hat get revoked.

The stations Justice Roberts picks get to keep their licenses. Refarm them across the band, allow them to increase power & let out their patterns as the lower congestion permits.

5) Call out the Army, under command of the head of the Signal Corps, to aggressively enforce Part 15.

---

Yeah, a bit dramatic.

Seriously, in the end IMHO AM's problems trace back to one thing: interference. There are far too many stations -- interfering with each other, and limiting each other's power and ability to override other sources of interference. And there are far too many electrical devices radiating crap in the AM band, interfering with everything on the dial.

There are technical fixes for both problems, but they are politically impossible to implement. Revoking 80% of existing AM licenses would certainly be an effective stimulus program for the legal profession. Try telling Best Buy/Wal-Mart/Radio Shack/etc. they have to stop selling those computers/laptops/tablets/cellphones* that radiate crap on the radio spectrum. Try ordering ComEd/WeEnergies/etc. to fix every leaky insulator on their electrical distribution systems. Try telling every consumer in the country they have to give up their improperly-shielded equipment. 200 million angry consumers is probably the only enemy the U.S. Army couldn't defeat.

---

I think the AM band itself will live for years to come. At least ten years, probably 20 or 30. We'll lose a lot of stations by attrition. The little ones, without adequate coverage, will drop off when lack of maintenance leaves them in a condition where they can't find anyone dumb enough to buy the facility. They'll suspend operation thinking they can get back on before the one-year deadline expires, and end up being wrong.* They'll learn the station is more valuable as an apartment complex, strip mall, or doctor's office. The few that actually have enough business to break even will upgrade as larger stations fail economically and their facilities become available.

Eventually, an AM station with FM translator is going to suffer a major failure of the AM. They're going to leave the translator on & not bother to fix the AM. If they get away with it.. we'll see further attrition of AM stations.

---

As has already been said, nobody else, except hams, is interested in AM spectrum. It would certainly be neat, for historic purposes, if hams could get back the 300-200m spectrum (1000-1500KHz) that was taken from them 90+ years ago! (I'm not planning my antennas)

Some have floated the idea of allowing legal unlicensed broadcasting in a post-commercial AM band. ("legal pirates") I certainly like the idea.

* IMHO the requirement a license be revoked if the station remains off for over a year is one of the most intelligent things Congress has done in years.

 

[kewgardens]

The short answer is yes.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

To answer Time Traveler, the old WCAS-740 was mostly a folk format with some rock.

 

[Time Traveler]

To answer Time Traveler, the old WCAS-740 was mostly a folk format with some rock.

You are correct about that...particularly during their peak years which I would say were probably 1973-1978. During their final years...1979-1981....they definitely became more of a rock based station though....

 

[Ai4i]

If we are all in agreement that the band is of diminishing value, why not stop licensing individual stations, increase the part fifteen levels to about one kilowatt into any antenna, and make them "licensed by use"?

 

[JIBGUY]

If we are all in agreement that the band is of diminishing value, why not stop licensing individual stations, increase the part fifteen levels to about one kilowatt into any antenna, and make them "licensed by use"?

That's like Archie Bunker on one of the episodes of "All In The Family"; when he was interviewed by an NYC TV station in "man on the street" style... he was asked "How would you combat airplane hijackings?" (in the days of guys getting on board with guns). Archie replied: "All ya gotta do is have the airline issue loaded guns to each passenger on the plane as they walk onto the plane, and then the bad guy who wants to hijack the plane would be outnumbered."

My point. ---let the unlicensed broadcasters fight it out amongst themselves???
- There's a reason the FCC exists, and there's a reason for (most of) its rules.

 

[Ai4i]

Spoken like a true statist!

 

[iyiyi]

I don't see any AM stations giving themselves away. I'm not seeing any AMs with realistic patterns and powers going dark. I DO see where AM is poised to quickly capitalize on IBOC as soon as reasonably priced MW HD receivers and converters proliferate. Although FM already has its foot (and leg) in the door of IBOC's digital realm, I believe that the MW band will be the first to embrace and cash in on digital radio. My feelings are that the analog/digital debates over FM IBOC will go on and on as stalwarts for both sides dig in for the long haul. That is: Until the digital "Channel 54" through "Channel 170" stations start grabbing ratings and billings!

-

 

[N1WVQ]

Right now the numbers of A.M. stations running HD & HD @ night are 216 & 71, respectively. Those numbers represent a downward trend. With the interference problems & inherent problems of digital on MF, combined with the fact that ibiquity requires a license fee, I don't see many more A.M.s converting TO HD. I know Tom Ray of WOR said several months or a year ago that when WOR's HD software or hardware fails he may not replace it. He also said there hasn't been any return on investment and further states that: A. buying a (then) new Ford (2010-11 model years) with HD met with blank stares, confusion over Sirius/XM & the revelation that his was their 1st HD call ever; B. His news director had bought a foreign car with HD & told him it sucks because of the drop-out problems. Other have complained of the interference HD causes to adjacent stations. I agree with that. I dislike it too. When trying to hear WSM in New England & I can't because of WFAN, that's annoying to say the least.

I have an HD radio. I was given it. I've heard HD stations. When I was living in East Providence, R.I. where a good number of stations have their transmitters, only WHJJ would decode. 550 would NOT. On the F.M. side, a few stations came in in HD2. Now in Middleborough, the wire antenna is useless, no A.M. HD stations decode (it sees WBZ's HD signal but can't quite pull it in) & even with rabbit ears the F.M. HD signals aren't much more than Providence. I've even lost WWBB's signals.