No static, higher fidelity, less picket fencing. That’s what I call higher quality sounding.
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Saving AM Radio
- Thread starter BruceB
- Start date
Nobody is talking about when transmitters all switch off because, unlike other countries, the government doesn't control whether radio stations in the U.S. live or die. Will radio be completely streaming once the all existing radio listeners are on the lower side of the cemetery lawn and when? If I could tell you that for certain, I wouldn't be wasting my time on some radio discussion board.
I had an interesting AI discussion over a couple of beers with a very well-tech-connected friend the other evening. He thinks in ten years the public Internet isn't going to look anything like we experience today. He believes Google's (Alphabet) AI model 'Gemini'(tm), will be the default when you use Google Search, and it won't take you to sites on the Internet, but contained within Google itself. Duplicate that same model with Microsoft Bing(tm), or even shopping on Amazon. The algorithms want to control what options you see, and how you feel, and keep you dependent on their services. In other words, the Internet is no longer the Wild West of everything imaginable, but a few dominant players that control users' experiences through AI models serving up what you didn't know you wanted. Now take that to the next level and include news and entertainment choices. None of it is streamed on the Internet as we know today, but it is kept inside an ecosystem controlled by the major players.
What will that look like ten or twenty years from now, assuming the radio generation is gone? I have no clue.
Only if the station streams. And many stations, due to copyright material licensing, can't afford to stream outside their local market... or at all.
Maybe in the vein of the original query "what can the FCC do to save AM?" they might mandate (which is what a government agency can do/does) that AM stations embrace the internet and get a stream underway if they don't already. Maybe relax those TOH identifiers allowing for just the internet identity to be promoted.
It seems more and more the definition of the word radio IS getting muddied up. I just think that outlets that have a tower and transmitter associated with them have a better chance of getting advertisers interested, particularly if they are ubiquitous in every car.
And in a real emergency, your phone will not work. Most "real" radios will.
I have heard from many on these boards that they don't personally have a radio in their home, despite obviously being interested in radio. For those who are in that situation, I wonder what they did in the last emergency/power outage?
The argument that AM in cars is needed to provide vital information in the event of an emergency is hollow in my opinion. In a real emergency, FM will drop the music to keep people informed. Sometimes a cluster will simulcast on all their stations to get the word out. AM in cars DOES have an argument wherein if they have to play and pay fees by FCC rules, the FCC ought to mandate that all radios sold in the US be able to pick up those broadcasters.
The Nielsen numbers seem to suggest that Market 2 has a non-Hispanic white audience that is 54% (Los Angeles itself may be largely Hispanic?) If I am doing my math correct, using those Nielsen figures Orlando/Market 30 has a non Hispanic white audience that is 56% (Hispanics / total population - blacks). There ought to be plenty of younger people who don't want to argue politics that would welcome a forum and other spoken word entertainment. For that matter, not knowing what the Spanish talkers talk about, if they don't already would they be ripe for Orlando-FM type talk?
That's an understandable way to describe it. The problem appears to be that the AM 'truck' can't restock the radio company's shelves with desirable product for their customers. Rather than abandon the store building, use the Internet 'truck' to do transporting. If the AM 'truck' can get souped up to help bring in stock again down the line, that'll be good too.
It's unregulated. You could start your own streaming station today with no need for approvals.
Affordable is up to you.
Ah, I meant ASCAP/BMI/SESAC/SoundExchange/whatever licensing for any stations wishing to play any sort of music that isn't public domain. I guess the FCC wouldn't have anything to do with that, so I stand corrected.
It could be more regulated, though, like maybe set a price cap for small stations with low TLH numbers or something.
c
The royalties are based on audience size already. Small stations and non-coms pay a set rate.
By my count from an industry source, as of mid-2023 there were 4492 AMs, including ones with silent STAs, from KAAA to WZZW. Since then, there have been somewhat less than 100 that have gone off the air permanently... about two a week.
That FCC figure seems to exclude stations not currently on the air.
Thanks for answering the questions.
And the AI / Google / Bing thing is interesting, because it looks like it's already headed in that direction. Search engines are nothing like they were even 10 years ago. Three major search engines with two pages of almost the exact same, repetitious results, often interspersed with what are little more than links to ads for products.... yeah, I believe it.
What your friend described almost makes it seem like in 10 years we'll have a handful of internet platforms, and the rest will be the rough equivalent of what we now call the Dark Web.
Those stations would have to be 500 kw and above. And still, that would not cover the whole country in the daytime... which is when most radio listening takes place.
Who is going to spend $5 million or so on a high power AM station that won't be able to do local news and traffic and likely would have the same programming that the still-successful AMs that are around today have.
Who is going to compensate the owners of existing smaller AM stations?
In fact, nearly all of listening to any station is within 30 to 50 miles of its transmitter site. Once you get farther away, people listen to more local stations with local advertisers, local traffic and weather (for those who don't get it on their phone. People have not listened to distant radio stations in any significant number for decades.
It's amazing how big aggregators or data consolidators or services have begun to dominate searches.
I wanted to check the menu and operating hours of a restaurant nearby that we had not tried. I put in its name, and got a screen and a half of sites that rate restaurants, companies that deliver for restaurants and even guides for other restaurants. It took me some time to find the actual restaurant's site and open it.
I'm not sure there are any "international agreements" regarding power on the MW/AM band except agreements between countries (usually adjacent). Perhaps someone should clarify...
– will suggest bringing back the APEX system (I'm sure the spectrum that was used before has long since been taken over for other uses).
When WSRO (650 Ashland, MA) went off the air last year, they were broadcasting classical music with a digital-only signal. And I will say that it did actually sound pretty good on a car radio.
Robert Douglas
Banned
David, I actually have thought you were nuts about this...until I moved to Bella Vista. Back in San Antonio, the power lines are clean and AM reception of 25 stations is near perfect all over. But here in Bella Vista AR the lines all seem to radiate some horrible noise, making AM reception almost unbearable. Only one signal cuts through reliably. Where is the FCC in controlling this nonsense? Are there no standards for electric utility noise?
You are correct. There are regional agreements, such as the semi-functional NARBA in North America, a similar one in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia), and some other regions of the world.
Northern South America has no regulation between nations on AM broadcasts. Central America is the same. The Caribbean had none, but most nations there have eliminated AM anyway (Cuba, Haiti, DR, Puerto Rico, USVI still have AMs).
What's worse is that many of those rating sites claim to have menus available for the restaurant being rated, but when you click on the link, you ger a "not available," a menu from some other restaurant, or a fuzzy, impossible-to-read picture of a menu snapped by a diner who didn't know how to use a camera.
A rounding error, in the grand scheme of things currently in the industry, I would think.
Might be the utility, might be all of the horrible electronic devices in your home and in the homes of your neighbors.
What do most people care more about, their fancy devices or AM. Probably a double edged sword. As AM gets worse they move more to those devices for listening.
Correct. Stuff associated with your computer or TV -- even the humble wall wart -- can put out all sorts of audio garbage.