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Saving AM Radio
- Thread starter BruceB
- Start date
This is a RADIO board. The majority of RD'ers are probably GenX or older, to whom "Radio" is FM and AM. They grew up with it. They remember AM. In 15-20 years they'll also remember FM in the same way.
In 15-20 years, threads will probably be started about "saving" FM and OTA TV.
Naturally, on a Radio board, people will talk about AM as if it's a resource to try to keep relevant, even if it's impossible. Print and online newspapers are increasingly irrelevant, being replaced by social media and podcasts. Yet newspapers have also been discussed on threads on RD. And newspaper technology has been with us for more than 250 years, probably more than 150 years longer than AM radio.
Either way, why is anyone surprised that people talk about one of the two main RADIO bands on a RADIO board?
"" ... kinescopes ... ""
Do you mean the hardware (the glass display devices) or the content (the jerky excessively contrasty black and white movies)?
WFME's New York AM facility began as an experimental TV station (W2XR) and certainly with far fewer than slightly yesteryear's standard definition 525 scan lines. (It's frequency was near its last frequency 1560.)
Do you mean the hardware (the glass display devices) or the content (the jerky excessively contrasty black and white movies)?
WFME's New York AM facility began as an experimental TV station (W2XR) and certainly with far fewer than slightly yesteryear's standard definition 525 scan lines. (It's frequency was near its last frequency 1560.)
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“Kinescope” generally refers to the film recordings of live television programming from the pre-videotape era (1940s-50s). A movie camera was aimed at a TV monitor. Some shutter tricks were used due to the different frame rates between television and film.
Modern digital video processing can clean up a lot of the rough characteristics of the kinescope method.
Ironically, it ended with fewer listeners than it had scan lines during its experimental TV days.
Broadcast radio will remain with us for the foreseeable future although the industry landscape will continue to evolve as some companies adapt to new media and others die off. Reading through this 22 page, you see several reasons why:
Broadcasters are content companies and they employ multiple strategies to build an audience. Broadcast radio is one distribution strategy in their arsenal along with online streaming, on-demand, social feeds, and podcasts. Broadcast radio may not be as relevant to these companies as it was 30 years ago, but these companies can use these transmitters to expose listeners to their content and grow their audience. The problem in the digital world is that there is so much content, and these transmitters help expose content to a wider audience and rise above the noise. Fewer people would know about Dave Ramsey if he only had a YouTube channel instead of a radio program.
With more extreme weather events related to climate change, radio will continue to have consumer mindshare during emergency situations. The government may allocate funds to shore up EAS entry points and 50,000 watt clear channel blowtorches in strategic markets, but these stations are too important to disappear.
Another point mentioned in this thread is the fact that digital streaming requires bandwidth which will impact fixed-income and low-income individuals. That’s a valid point from the consumer perspective, but do these broadcasters consider this as part of their business strategy?
The reality is that all segments of society are becoming more “digital” every year. There are banks that are completely virtual with no brick-and-mortar locations. Governments are introducing central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and many states are implementing digital ID wallets. During the pandemic, I witnessed an elderly couple that wasn’t allowed to board an airplane because they didn’t provide a QR code for their vaccination records. They didn’t have a smartphone so they had to use a public computer and printer (and also missed the flight). It’s becoming more difficult to “opt-out” of the digital world.
At some point broadband will need to become a utility and made available to everyone.
And there will still be many who won't be able to afford it. Don't expect a government handout.
Broadband suppliers should not gouge people.
That's the BEST reason I've heard to shut down broadcast radio!! 😁
Right. But they should be entitled to earn a profit on their offering just like any other business.
Are any of these companies hurting?
Public utilizes make money because they are a necessity. We all need water power phone.
Public utilities are regulated by the government. The internet isn't regulated by the government.
I guess you'll need to write your congressperson, but I'm not sure that there's a way to undo what's done.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Actually, for a couple of years there was a FCC-operated program called the Affordable Connectivity Program which funded up to $30/month for broadband internet ... and participating cable providers were mandated to have a basic tier of service (even if it wasn't listed with their regular tiers) which was covered 100% by that subsidy. ACP was only available to low-income and disabled customers, so you had to be on SSI, or be in the SNAP (food stamps) program, or Medicaid, or something similar to qualify, although I seem to recall that a household could also submit their most recent 1040 to prove eligibility.
However, despite lobbying from AARP and various other advocates for seniors and others with limited income, Congress failed to reauthorize funding. (Even the FCC lobbied Congress to fund it for another year or two.) It is now in the process of winding down as the remaining funding was distributed to existing participants in April at something like 50% of what they had been getting credit for.
To their credit, most of the cable companies agreed to keep the $30/month rate in place for at least six months to a year, so if those households can scrape the money together they can keep their broadband access. Spectrum (Charter) has even offered a free year of their wireless service, including unlimited data, to their affected customers.
I agree that there should not be a "universal handout" for broadband, but the ACP did help a lot of people who could not afford it otherwise and I think it is shameful that its funding was halted. Low-income families with school age children probably benefited the most from having the access ... and now they're back to where they were before.
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ACP got caught up in election year politics, as neither party wanted the other to be able to take credit for giving a $30 discount. There
is a chance.It may come back after the election
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Typical.
Before I discovered how to use the Internet to read newspaper articles (and back then it was free) one newspaper was missing from the library. The next day's paper had commentary on a hard rock radio station that had switched to soft AC, and I wanted to read more. I don't remember how much detail there was. So I called the paper to find out more and was referred to a researcher who was going to charge me $15. I said I'll buy the whole paper (probably was $3 if mailed) but just tell me which one. I forget how I found out I could go online but it was the first time I ever used the Internet. And eventually I found the real paper that had that article.
WNAM, an ABM affiliate in Appleton, WI that I used to listen to, was considering an increase to 25,000 watts from 5,000. It's to the right of the middle of the dial. I have never seen evidence of a translator.