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What is the point of AM IBUZ with FM simulcasts?

N

nd2023

Banned
Why would you spew IBUZ on an AM station when the AM station's audio is simulcast on an FM HD2 or HD3 in the same market? Most of the time, the FM HD goes further than the AM HD, and FM IBUZ doesn't chew up 8 channels.

For the 5 people in the market that actively listen to HD radio, 1 of them can pick up the AM in HD in the fall and winter (too many thunderstorms in the spring and summer) and the other 4 pick up the FM HD2. The rest of the thousands of listeners pick up the analog AM.

Why sink $10000 a year for a handful of listeners? You're better off putting that $10000 in the promotions budget and giving away the cash in on-air contests.
 
Our friend Nick posed this valid query:

Why would you spew IBUZ on an AM station when the AM station's audio is simulcast on an FM HD2 or HD3 in the same market? Most of the time, the FM HD goes further than the AM HD, and FM IBUZ doesn't chew up 8 channels.
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It's all about the politics which are necessary in order to give a continued justification for the manufactured perception that people are actually listening to this horrid AM IBOC system and an unwillingness to admit that they have made a financially irresponsible decision. It is about what they think they need to do in order to save face.

For the 5 people in the market that actively listen to HD radio, 1 of them can pick up the AM in HD in the fall and winter (too many thunderstorms in the spring and summer) and the other 4 pick up the FM HD2. The rest of the thousands of listeners pick up the analog AM.
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There is a deep rooted and obviously misguided hope that this will eventually change and really large numbers of people will start listening in HD. This might already be starting to wane, even amongst the most optimistic of of HD movers and shakers.
 
Newer HD radios often exclude AM completely. It's time to turn off the AM HD buzz, increase analog modulation, improve coverage and double the fidelity.

What a concept! In this case less is actually more.

Pocket the wasted HD AM cash.
 
SUPERCASTER said:
Newer HD radios often exclude AM completely. It's time to turn off the AM HD buzz, increase analog modulation, improve coverage and double the fidelity.

What a concept! In this case less is actually more.

Pocket the wasted HD AM cash.
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An open letter to CBS Radio....

Hello, CBS Radio, hello? See all this? You're WASTING MONEY with AM HD! If Old Gringo is to be believed, AM is dying anyhow - so you're throwing good money after bad. If the rest of us are to be believed, you're hastening the death of your AM investments with a technology that nobody listening to AM is going to utilize! Either way - shut the damn HD off!!

By doing so, you can save enough money to buy a new printer or company ties for the sales staff or even a few reams of paper for the copier. Any of those things will do you far more good than running the IBOC crap on the MW band.

By the way, do you guys ever actually listen to your AM stations? Audio all compressed, sidebands from each of your 50 kw signals stepping on all of the others? What about when the exciter is off - ever listen then? Like when WBBM's exciter was down last week - did you check that out? Wasn't it better?

Get a clue and end this experiment in futility NOW. You're running the most AM HD signals and destroying a larger piece of the AM spectrum than anyone else now. And you have the most to gain (or at least stop losing) by shutting them all down. Go on, give it a try. Heck, you've got your AMs on FM HD-2's, 3's and 4's now. That's where the action is anyway. Promote those as alternatives to "noisy" AM signals. Just imagine how much cleaner the band will be from, for example, 1000 to 1130 kHz. You might even get a few of those older men back who used to listen to the likes of KDKA or WBZ or WTIC from their respective markets' exurbs but left when those signals started filling up with background hiss.

Please, do us all a favor and unplug the IBOC from your AM signals. You're just wasting electricity by running them anyway and - in doing so - you're not being green and environmentally conscious. We wouldn't want to offend Al Gore, now would we? ::)
 
Could it be that they have a contract with Ibiquity and it is cheaper just to let then contract run it course rather then break it and pay a penalty for turning off AM HD?
 
speer360 said:
Could it be that they have a contract with Ibiquity and it is cheaper just to let then contract run it course rather then break it and pay a penalty for turning off AM HD?
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No, they are drinkers of the Ibiquity Kool-Aid. Citadel has a contract and they have gradually been shutting down AM HDs all over the US. It's not that; it's that the execs at CBS radio can't bring themselves to believe that the emperor has no clothes.
 
WABC and WJR turned off nighttime IBUZ only a few days after it was legalized. WABC was buzzing in Detroit's suburbs, and WJR was buzzing in New York's suburbs. Would they rather shoot themselves in the foot by interfering with themselves so that 2 people can hear it in HD at night?
 
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