QuoteA Quest to Save AM Before It's Lost in the Static
By EDWARD WYATT
WASHINGTON — Is anyone out there still listening?
The digital age is killing AM radio, an American institution that brought the nation fireside chats, Casey Kasem's Top 40 and scratchy broadcasts of the World Series. Long surpassed by FM and more recently cast aside by satellite radio and Pandora, AM is now under siege from a new threat: rising interference from smartphones and consumer electronics that reduce many AM stations to little more than static. Its audience has sunk to historical lows.
But at least one man in Washington is tuning in.
Ajit Pai, the lone Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, is on a personal if quixotic quest to save AM. After a little more than a year in the job, he is urging the F.C.C. to undertake an overhaul of AM radio, which he calls "the audible core of our national culture." He sees AM — largely the realm of local news, sports, conservative talk and religious broadcasters — as vital in emergencies and in rural areas.
"AM radio is localism, it is community," Mr. Pai, 40, said in an interview.
AM's longer wavelength means it can be heard at far greater distances and so in crises, he said, "AM radio is always going to be there." As an example, he cited Fort Yukon, Alaska, where the AM station KZPA broadcasts inquiries about missing hunters and transmits flood alerts during the annual spring ice breakup.
"When the power goes out, when you can't get a good cell signal, when the Internet goes down, people turn to battery-powered AM radios to get the information they need," Mr. Pai said.
He admits to feelings of nostalgia. As the son of Indian immigrants growing up in small-town Parsons, Kan., he listened to his high school basketball team win a 1987 championship, he said. "I sat in my bedroom with my radio tuned into KLKC 1540," he recalled. On boyhood family road trips across the wide Kansas plains, he said, AM radio "was a constant companion."
But that was then. In 1978, when Mr. Pai was 5, half of all radio listening was on the AM dial. By 2011 AM listenership had fallen to 15 percent, or an average of 3.1 million people, according to a survey by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private investment firm. While the number of FM listeners has declined, too, they still averaged 18 million in 2011. (The figures are averages based on measuring listeners every 15 minutes.)
Although five of the top 10 radio stations in the country, as measured by advertising dollars, are AM — among them WCBS in New York and KFI in Los Angeles — the wealth drops rapidly after that. In 1970 AM accounted for 63 percent of broadcast radio stations, but now it accounts for 21 percent, or 4,900 outlets, according to Arbitron. FM accounts for 44 percent, or 10,200 stations. About 35 percent of stations stream content online.
"With the audience goes the advertising revenues," said Milford Smith, vice president for radio engineering at Greater Media, which owns 21 stations, three of them AM. "That makes for a double whammy."
Nearly all English-language AM stations have given up playing music, and even a third of the 30 Major League Baseball teams now broadcast on FM. AM, however, remains the realm of conservative talk radio, including roughly 80 percent of the 600 radio stations that carry Rush Limbaugh. Talk radio has helped keep AM alive.
"If it had to rely on music," said Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, "AM radio would be dead."
But why try to salvage AM? Critics say its decline is simply natural selection at work, and many now support converting the frequency for use by other wireless technologies. A big sign of AM's weakness is that one hope for many of its stations may be channeling their broadcasts onto FM.
Not so fast, said Mr. Pai, who has been pushing the F.C.C.'s interim chairwoman, Mignon Clyburn, to put the revitalization of AM high on the agency's agenda.
"I'm obviously bullish on next-generation technology," Mr. Pai said. "But I certainly think there continues to be a place for broadcasting and for AM radio."
Mr. Pai said he was not promoting AM to advance conservative talk radio, but part of his prescription treads a traditional Republican path. He wants to eliminate outdated regulations, for example, like one that requires AM stations to prove that any new equipment decreases interference with other stations, a requirement that is expensive, cumbersome and difficult to meet.
Mr. Pai also wants to examine a relatively new technology known as HD Radio, which has allowed some stations to transmit a digital signal along with their usual analog wave, damping static. (HD Radio is a brand name; it does not stand for high definition, as in HDTV.) But some critics still fault the F.C.C. for allowing too many broadcasters to crowd into a relatively narrow AM band of airwaves.
In the longer term, Mr. Pai said, the F.C.C. could mandate that all AM stations convert to digital transmission to reduce interference. Such a conversion, however, would cost consumers, who would have to replace the hundreds of millions of AM radios that do not capture digital transmissions.
Finally, Mr. Pai wants the F.C.C. to consider what are called FM translators, which send duplicate AM broadcasts over FM airwaves and help to reduce interference. In 2009, the F.C.C. granted permission to AM stations to use such translators.
"Our business has improved rather dramatically" since the conversion to dual bands, said Bud Walters, owner of Cromwell Group, which operates 23 stations in four states, six of them on the AM band and five of which share translators.
The F.C.C. has said it is behind Mr. Pai, although it is a long way from committing to the overhaul he envisions. In August the commission approved a measure requiring the builders of any new radio tower to compensate an AM station if the tower interferes with the station's broadcast.
Some station owners want more. David Honig, the president of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, said that the F.C.C. had before it 37 proposals that would expand opportunities for minority ownership but do not require giving minority-owned radio groups special rights. Two-thirds of minority-owned radio stations broadcast on AM.
The reality, however, is that even if the F.C.C. reduces regulation and provides compensation for AM stations, it cannot repeal the laws of physics.
Nearly every recently manufactured electronic consumer product — not just proliferating smartphones but televisions, home air-conditioning systems, refrigerators, computers and even energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs — emits radio signals that can interfere with AM broadcasts.
The economic boom of the 1980s and 1990s also contributed to the problem with an increase in the construction of tall buildings in suburban areas and beyond, blocking AM signals. Another issue is that the F.C.C. requires most stations to turn off or greatly reduce signals at night, a rule aimed at keeping high-powered AM stations from interfering with smaller local ones.
(The rule, which hardly engenders loyalty among listeners, was adopted because of the way radio waves in the AM frequency travel. Once the sun goes down, AM signals bounce off the ionosphere and reflect back down to earth hundreds of miles from where they originated. That is why listeners of WRDN-AM (1430) in Durand, Wis., for example, on some nights discover they are inadvertently tuned in to a broadcast from St. Louis.)
Mr. Pai said that unless the problems with AM radio were fixed, people would keep fleeing. "There are plenty of other options," he said. "They will switch the dial to something else."
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
If its dying let it die. Might as well bring back the gramophone while he's at it.
As a kid in the early 80s I liked scanning through the AM frequencies, catching glimpses of foreign language radio stations. Though the best were AFN (Bremerhaven) and BFBS.
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:23:40 AM
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
neither does CdM, but there you have it :P
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:23:40 AM
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
He brings up a salient point, though; AM wavebands travel farther in FM dead zones, it's not susceptible to the technological weaknesses of cellular or digital radio; it's a great emergency alternative, similar to POTS copper phone lines that everybody is trying to eliminate.
One of these days, our aversion to low tech communications resiliency is really going to bite us in the ass.
Post script: shove it, HVC.
I mostly listen to AM in the car. We have a couple decent sports stations and another that sometimes covers sports.
In Chicago I think I heard 2 or 3 different Polish language stations.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:31:08 AM
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:23:40 AM
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
Post script: shove it, HVC.
you probably have one of those giant wheeled bicycles too, dontcha :D
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:31:08 AM
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:23:40 AM
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
He brings up a salient point, though; AM wavebands travel farther in FM dead zones, it's not susceptible to the technological weaknesses of cellular or digital radio; it's a great emergency alternative, similar to POTS copper phone lines that everybody is trying to eliminate.
One of these days, our aversion to low tech communications resiliency is really going to bite us in the ass.
Post script: shove it, HVC.
PSTN, Jargony McJargon. :contract: (for those who don't know, POTS = plain old telephone system, PSTN = public switched telephone network)
Thing is that emergency radio's already been long gone from AM. Sure, there are things like NJ Turnpike's highway traveler info radio station, but emergency personnel mostly switched to P25 en masse back in the 90s.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:31:08 AM
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:23:40 AM
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
He brings up a salient point, though; AM wavebands travel farther in FM dead zones, it's not susceptible to the technological weaknesses of cellular or digital radio; it's a great emergency alternative, similar to POTS copper phone lines that everybody is trying to eliminate.
One of these days, our aversion to low tech communications resiliency is really going to bite us in the ass.
Post script: shove it, HVC.
Yeah, we should spend money propping up technology that nobody wants. How positively Québécois of you.
Quote from: HVC on September 09, 2013, 08:33:26 AM
you probably have one of those giant wheeled bicycles too, dontcha :D
Won't be as difficult picking you out of the spokes either when I curb hop your ass.
"It was a funny lookin' bike, officer...like in the old pictures...An' he just kept pedaling, sayin' 'how you like old school now, bitch' over and over..."
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:36:22 AM
Quote from: HVC on September 09, 2013, 08:33:26 AM
you probably have one of those giant wheeled bicycles too, dontcha :D
Won't be as difficult picking you out of the spokes either when I curb hop your ass.
"It was a funny lookin' bike, officer...like in the old pictures...An' he just kept pedaling, sayin' 'how you like old school now, bitch' over and over..."
And then someone hits you in their Prius. :D
Quote from: DontSayBanana on September 09, 2013, 08:35:16 AM
PSTN, Jargony McJargon. :contract: (for those who don't know, POTS = plain old telephone system, PSTN = public switched telephone network)
:blurgh:
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:36:58 AM
And then someone hits you in their Prius. :D
Fucking hipsters. :mad:
What about Town Criers? Can we save those to?
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:37:30 AM
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:36:58 AM
And then someone hits you in their Prius. :D
Fucking hipsters. :mad:
Note someone and not me as I wouldn't be caught dead owning one.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on September 09, 2013, 08:35:16 AM
Thing is that emergency radio's already been long gone from AM. Sure, there are things like NJ Turnpike's highway traveler info radio station, but emergency personnel mostly switched to P25 en masse back in the 90s.
I only partially worked on p25 interoperability standards at the state before I left, but part of the problem is precisely because doesn't have civilian availability for emergency notification. And good luck trying to find any available bandwidth after 9/11. Another law enforcement clusterfuck.
Quote from: Valmy on September 09, 2013, 08:38:23 AM
What about Town Criers? Can we save those to?
I hate all of you.
AM radio was great living in the countryside. There was no way FM stations from the city were reaching where I lived, and there was only one incredibly generic FM station in the small town I was in. But I could reliably haul in AM signals for my really long car drives every day. As well in the Yukon it was only the CBC AM transmitter that had any coverage whatsoever outside of Whitehorse city limits.
Plus, I have fond memories of the mid 90s dropping my then-girlfriend off at her house, then driving home at some incredibly late hour. I would start fiddling with the am dial to see what kind of wacky AM signal I could listen to. I could consistently get a Chicago all news station, but I remember getting a Denver station, and I think one from Kentucky.
Quote from: HVC on September 09, 2013, 08:33:26 AM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:31:08 AM
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:23:40 AM
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
Post script: shove it, HVC.
you probably have one of those giant wheeled bicycles too, dontcha :D
Then he'd be a Korean schoolgirl, because bikes with ridiculously large and/or ridiculously small wheels are fashionable among them.
Quote from: HVC on September 09, 2013, 08:30:32 AM
Quote from: garbon on September 09, 2013, 08:23:40 AM
Pai doesn't even seem old enough to be a luddite.
neither does CdM, but there you have it :P
He's plenty old enough. He's probably got a rotary phone.
Quote from: Valmy on September 09, 2013, 08:38:23 AM
What about Town Criers? Can we save those to?
Well amateurs seem to be saving themselves. Remember that old man who announced the birth of the royal baby?
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:44:17 AM
I only partially worked on p25 interoperability standards at the state before I left, but part of the problem is precisely because doesn't have civilian availability for emergency notification.
Civilian availability for AM only works if said civilians have an AM radio and actually listen to it. If people need a radio covering a specific band for emergency purposes, we would be better off with the existing All Hazards (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/) radio system. The frequency band those stations use has better range performance than AM, is taxpayer-funded, and already exists.
Quote from: Baron von Schtinkenbutt on September 09, 2013, 09:42:34 AM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:44:17 AM
I only partially worked on p25 interoperability standards at the state before I left, but part of the problem is precisely because doesn't have civilian availability for emergency notification.
Civilian availability for AM only works if said civilians have an AM radio and actually listen to it.
The only time I ever listen to AM is in my car when I turn to listen to traffic.
Quote from: Barrister on September 09, 2013, 09:03:47 AM
I could consistently get a Chicago all news station, but I remember getting a Denver station, and I think one from Kentucky.
The last one might have been WLW AM 700 out of Cincinnati. At night it can be picked up as far west as Denver.
I remember one Saturday evening, driving from West Virginia back home through Eastern Kentucky-- all through Kentucky I was able to listen to the LSU game pretty clearly on a Baton Rouge AM station, but as soon as I got close to Cincy the signal faded out.
My grandpa was a huge radio enthusiast-- he had all sorts of crazy antennas on top of his house. I thought it was cool how he could pick up French-language stations out of Quebec :bewareMalthus: I didn't understand a word of what was being said, but listened anyway because it all sounded so foreign & cool.
Quotespring ice breakup
Is this about drunk sluts showing boobs? :punk:
While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was. But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 10:04:39 AM
While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was. But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.
Do you mean UVB-76?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76
Quote from: Syt on September 09, 2013, 10:11:54 AM
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 10:04:39 AM
While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was. But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.
Do you mean UVB-76?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76
Nah, woodpecker was the signal from DUGA-3 stations.
Quote from: Syt on September 09, 2013, 10:11:54 AM
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 10:04:39 AM
While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was. But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.
Do you mean UVB-76?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76
From a link at the bottom of the article you posted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker
Fascinating.
AM radio in the Boston area has major news stations, sports and talk radio. All good stuff because they're local. I'd be bummed to lose those. There were a couple of FM talk stations but I think those are all now music stations.
Quote from: Baron von Schtinkenbutt on September 09, 2013, 09:42:34 AM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:44:17 AM
I only partially worked on p25 interoperability standards at the state before I left, but part of the problem is precisely because doesn't have civilian availability for emergency notification.
Civilian availability for AM only works if said civilians have an AM radio and actually listen to it. If people need a radio covering a specific band for emergency purposes, we would be better off with the existing All Hazards (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/) radio system. The frequency band those stations use has better range performance than AM, is taxpayer-funded, and already exists.
Poopies.
Quote from: Barrister on September 09, 2013, 10:21:23 AM
Quote from: Syt on September 09, 2013, 10:11:54 AM
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 10:04:39 AM
While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was. But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.
Do you mean UVB-76?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76
From a link at the bottom of the article you posted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker
Fascinating.
Yep, that's it. My grandpa thought it was the Russians trying to either jam some of our transmissions or some of their own (not sure why the latter would be the case). It was creepy yet fascinating to listen to it, and probably would have been even more so had we known it was a ginormous ABM radar bleeding into shortwave frequencies.
Quote from: Barrister on September 09, 2013, 10:21:23 AM
Quote from: Syt on September 09, 2013, 10:11:54 AM
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 10:04:39 AM
While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was. But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.
Do you mean UVB-76?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76
From a link at the bottom of the article you posted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker
Fascinating.
Interesting articles.
Here's an example of the relatively rare UVB-76 voice messages:
https://soundcloud.com/djoutcold/uvb-76-aug-23-2010-9-32ampst
Sounds post-apocalyptic. "This is Lawrence, Kansas."
Quote from: DontSayBanana on September 09, 2013, 08:35:16 AM
PSTN, Jargony McJargon. :contract: (for those who don't know, POTS = plain old telephone system, PSTN = public switched telephone network)
:huh: I've never heard anyone outside the business use "PSTN," Garblely McJargon.
Plain ol' telephone
service = POTS and I have heard used many times. :contract:
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:55:25 AM
Quote from: Valmy on September 09, 2013, 08:38:23 AM
What about Town Criers? Can we save those to?
I hate all of you.
I'm on your side. :hug:
NPR is on AM around here, and so is the only Mexican Music channel. :) I only get hip-hop, pop, and country on FM.
NPR on AM? Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 01:26:37 PM
NPR on AM? Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!
:mad:
I like NPR.
Quote from: merithyn on September 09, 2013, 01:19:05 PM
I'm on your side. :hug:
NPR is on AM around here, and so is the only Mexican Music channel. :) I only get hip-hop, pop, and country on FM.
Here NPR and the CIty of Dallas station (the only two I listen to) are both FM. I have not listened to the AM band in about 15 years.
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 01:26:37 PM
NPR on AM? Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!
They do, in either AM or FM. I listen to it in my afternoon commute, to balance out the ultra conservative rednecks I listen to on my morning commute.
Quote from: merithyn on September 09, 2013, 01:54:41 PM
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 01:26:37 PM
NPR on AM? Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!
:mad:
I like NPR.
I'm just saying NPR would sound like shit on AM.
And I suppose also making a crack at how they speak :P
edit: Lusti gets it :)
I can only get the Mike & Mike show on AM in the morning. It is my only link to civilized sport in this sea of barbaric hockey culture. Where do I need to sign to save AM radio!
We find money to save trees all the time. We can find the money to save AM band.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:21:50 AM
In the longer term, Mr. Pai said, the F.C.C. could mandate that all AM stations convert to digital transmission to reduce interference. Such a conversion, however, would cost consumers, who would have to replace the hundreds of millions of AM radios that do not capture digital transmissions.
:thumbsdown:
That would destroy what makes AM so valuable in an emergency situation; it can be heard on a passive receiver.
Also Boy Scouts wouldn't be able to make crystal sets anymore.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 09, 2013, 08:21:50 AM
QuoteMr. Pai said he was not promoting AM to advance conservative talk radio, but part of his prescription treads a traditional Republican path. He wants to eliminate outdated regulations, for example, like one that requires AM stations to prove that any new equipment decreases interference with other stations, a requirement that is expensive, cumbersome and difficult to meet.
:thumbsdown:
Professional Engineers have to eat too.
;)
You're lucky, over here the powers that be are trying too kick FM into touch, replacing it with substandard 1st generation DAB (think MP2). <_<
Quote from: crazy canuck on September 09, 2013, 02:34:56 PM
I can only get the Mike & Mike show on AM in the morning. It is my only link to civilized sport in this sea of barbaric hockey culture. Where do I need to sign to save AM radio!
I switch back & forth between them and Fox Sports Daybreak (or Dan Patrick if I'm running late) on my morning commute.
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 03:06:31 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on September 09, 2013, 02:34:56 PM
I can only get the Mike & Mike show on AM in the morning. It is my only link to civilized sport in this sea of barbaric hockey culture. Where do I need to sign to save AM radio!
I switch back & forth between them and Fox Sports Daybreak (or Dan Patrick if I'm running late) on my morning commute.
Dan Patrick is on a tape delay. His show comes on in time for my afternoon ride home. I get the best of both worlds. :)
Quote from: merithyn on September 09, 2013, 01:54:41 PM
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 01:26:37 PM
NPR on AM? Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!
:mad:
I like NPR.
Of course you would.
Quote from: derspiess on September 09, 2013, 01:26:37 PM
NPR on AM? Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!
Diane Rehm on AM :bleeding:
If you have to listen to the radio might as well listen to something that at least pretends to be intelligent.
Like Coast to Coast.
Quote from: Maximus on September 09, 2013, 04:25:58 PM
If you have to listen to the radio might as well listen to something that at least pretends to be intelligent.
I prefer Howard Stern.
Quote from: Caliga on September 09, 2013, 04:27:53 PM
I prefer Howard Stern.
Did you miss the intelligent part?
Cal is such a rube.
Quote from: Maximus on September 09, 2013, 04:29:10 PM
Quote from: Caliga on September 09, 2013, 04:27:53 PM
I prefer Howard Stern.
Did you miss the intelligent part?
Howard might be crass but he doesn't strike me as stupid.
George Takei is in the studio all this week with him. :)