Quest to Save AM Radio (NYT)

[JaneChristo]

AM *must* be digital??? That's the biggest pile of horse hockey I've ever heard in my life.

Yep!

Before IBOC came on the market, there was NO...ZERO...NADA demand for digital radio, from either broadcasters or listeners, and what all too many don't seem to understand is that there's still effectively no demand for it. A relatively small number of broadcasters have launched digital operations, and the demand from listeners just plain isn't there. .

Yes, there was....there was demand for Satellite radio which was digital. There is (and has been for a long time) the demand for more streams/channels/format. The issue of "variety on the dial" comes up in every strategic research project.

It's not an improvement, mostly because it causes interference to other stations...

Only for DX-ers, hobbyists and radio-geeks.

horrible codec on AM and doesn't sound measurably better than analog on FM. It costs broadcasters thousands of dollars per station to build

Same old song...many years later.

If you still worked in the industry you would have more insight into the current realm of HD Radio and the way it is being used to bring more money into stations. Many stations have chosen to keep it all music (or whatever) without commercials...however, most of them could lease the whole thing out tomorrow to paid programming...or to smaller AM operators...but have chosen not to.

Get used to it. It's not going away.

Worry about AM THAT's whats going away. And the problem is not DX-ers and hobbyists trying to pick up WSM in Nashville.