Can you hear 660 AM at your place after dark? It makes it out here into the eastern San Gabriel valley surprisingly often. Such a trip, crashing head on into Native American tribal dance and drum circle music while scanning an urban radio dial.
I heard 660 from AZ on several occasions at my home in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico before moving to SoCal. It was the easiest AZ station to log using a loop antenna to eliminate the NYC co-channel station. That is rather interesting… hearing a station in a native American language in Puerto Rico where statistics show about 2/3 or more of the population has indigenous Taino heritage in their bloodline.
As for the future of AM, if you ask your niece, she would tell you that none of her peers have ever listened to AM radio or even know it exists. As much as those of us who love radio and grew up with it want to fight that reality, any intervention--or invention-- is far too late to capture anyone younger than Gen X, at best. AM will eventually go the way of Morse code and CB radio on its own. The government won't, or perhaps can't, euthanize the band, but sooner rather than later, the marketplace will do the job. Any energy and money broadcasters put into AM life support could be better spent keeping FM a relevant media option. It too is at risk.
No, analog TV was shut down by an act of Congress. (Technically several acts, because they pushed back the date several times.)
That was a change in technology. Stations simply had to move to the newer system, not cease to operate.
This would be similar only if the FCC gave AM stations an alternative "new" band. But the industry would not accept a system that made all existing AM radios obsolete while requiring purchase of new ones for home and car use. The TV change was wanted by consumers. Such a change for AM is not.
I am not sure I agree with the "simple" characterization.
Two words: nanny state. Some people are obsessed with every single soul in the United States knowing when every single severe weather event, hazmat spill or other potentially adverse situation is occurring, no matter how far they may be from it or how remote the possibility is that they will be at all affected by it. And somehow, it's the government's responsibility to do all that, and in order for that to happen, the government will tell a private industry what it must include in their motor vehicles, whether the citizens buying the vehicles want that item or not. Ridiculous. Let AM's demise continue at its current pace.
Why didn't you tune to WINS at 92.3 FM? Just curious.
As much as 1010's directional signal is poor in much of the Hudson Valley, 92.3 is worse. I miss WCBS which had a much better signal
True, but OTA TV was still economically viable at that time. Most AM's today are not, with the few exceptions (for now) that we all know about. That's the difference.
It's not exactly "nanny state" to tell manufacturers that if they are going to make a radio they have to make a whole radio. It's no more "nanny state" than seat belts or turn signals. It doesn't cost anything to include AM and nobody is even saying it has to work well.
I don't like having to pay so much for just broadcast channels (the ones from the analog era, not the subchannels), public access, whatever they did to WGN America and a news channel. But when I try to pick up channels not on my cable system with indoor antennas, I get varying degrees of interference. Sometimes the signal is almost perfect on some channels. But all of these are UHF. I've never gotten VHF.
It's not the place of the Federal Gummint to require auto manufacturers to include any kind of radio. Radio is not safety equipment; it is an entertainment device. Period. If someone wants radio in the car, and one isn't included (I have bought a few cars like that, and I'm old enough to remember when even an AM radio was not standard equipment from the dealer in many cases), they can do what we've done for decades and have an aftermarket unit installed. Or just use a cellphone.
Don't have one. There's a flip phone in the trunk in case I need to make a call. Don't know what I would do if I received a call. I am told the phone can receive texts. Don't know what would happen if I got one. Would I somehow know I was getting it if the phone was up front?
Wow...you sure that device is functional "just in case?"
