Talk Radio belongs on AM, Not FM

AM=Talk/News/Sports, FM=music. That's the way it should be.

I live 2 hours south of Chicago, but I listen to their radio stations. If they were to move to FM, I would not be able to listen. It is somewhat better for nighttime sports. Plus, it doesn't sound the same on FM.

Agreed.

Let's put NPR on AM then. It seems to be mostly talk anyway.

raccoonradio said:

Let's put NPR on AM then. It seems to be mostly talk anyway.

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Shortwave! Maybe they could just use 1 xmtr. instead of all of these H.S./college stations!

N1WVQ said:

raccoonradio said:

Let's put NPR on AM then. It seems to be mostly talk anyway.

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Shortwave! Maybe they could just use 1 xmtr. instead of all of these H.S./college stations!

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Shortwave broadcasting is just about dead in the US - in fact, most of the world outside the poor countries of Africa and Asia. The number of shortwave radios in the hands of the non-ham American public is minuscule compared even with AM.

When was the last time a radio with shortwave capability was available, outside of ham equipment or specialty-electronics (such as Fry's or Radio Shack) stores? I don't think I've seen one in at least 20 years.

The AM stations I listen to most are those community TIS stations; sometimes up to a minute at a time.

I believe the Indian government has restricted the amount of talk that can be transmitted on any FM radio station.
They have an interest in preserving the listenership of their public AM networks.

Canada tried something similar and it didn't work. They limited the amount of hits that FM could play but people still abandoned AM in droves!

NPR has music programming too. And PRI content is also aired on many of those stations. And a lot of it too is music. And NPR lovers are more hi-fi minded. Put preaching and teaching content on SW or LW, put news talk on AM unless there is no full coverage AM serving the city of license.

two points i'd like to make.
I've heard WFLF Pine Hills on the HD of 104.1 WTKSHD2. it sounds very different and bright. i am not a fan of heavier processing but think talk radio on AM with the heavier processing is better.
I know of a few yung people who have turned on AM, but its WPHT.
My dad has had WPHT, KYW, and WIP (before it was on FM.) he usually now puts on satelite radio for Nac/SJ or CCM. but in FL he'll listen to WPOZ's translator at 99.7-fm. I dont believe that satelite has the best audio qualety. AM can have good audio qualety if the station and receiver being used has good audio sections. the thunderstorms ruen Am, and get undernief powerlines and its a mess too. In a house you have lots of RF. same in a hotel.
Heres the question. do people really wanna get in there car and fiddle with whatever it is they want to hear before actually going to there destination?
with all of these optins in cars now, i think everybody will pick which thing they want to use. for my dad its Am/Fm/XM with more on the XM side. for my GF, its cd's (she doesn't like the radio anymore.)
AM? she's never mentioned it.
I do believe that Am can be done right. I believe that you can have higher frequency response and love AM Stereo. what i dont know how to fix is the nighttime issues when stations powerdown, the power line issues, the RF issues and the thunder storm issues. I think those are the problem with AM, and even if you had better receivers with noise blanking, that wouldnt' fix the issues i listed above. doesnt' matter the programming (whether it be talk, music or nature sounds...) you're still gonna have problems with the reception of the band.
FM doesn't have these problems and some MP3 players only have the FM band.

John Holcomb II said:

FM doesn't have these problems and some MP3 players only have the FM band.

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But lest we elevate FM to sainthood before it's time... FM does indeed have some problems. The early literature on FM was written back when anyone who had an FM receiver probably had a superior quality set and probably had a nice external antenna sticking up above the house. I read some of this "theoretical" (or is that theological) description of Fm decades ago.

Today we have oodles and gobbbs of FM stations poking their tentacles into the other nearby FM signals, and we have, pardon the colorful description, we have these bastardized receiver designs who aren't sure if they are going to be FM or AM when they grow up, and there is a lot of noise and interference on the FM band also.

It's just not a perfect world.

Well Sports Radio has certainly benefited from the (Gradual) move to FM. While doesn't really make a difference when it comes to Sports Talk, there IS a noticeable difference in how live sporting events sound on FM though. FM sound MUCH better here

Cheers & 73 ;D

Not here in New England. There's too much empty space.

Pat Cook said:

Well Sports Radio has certainly benefited from the (Gradual) move to FM. While doesn't really make a difference when it comes to Sports Talk, there IS a noticeable difference in how live sporting events sound on FM though. FM sound MUCH better here

Cheers & 73 ;D

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Very few sports-FM stations use stereo.....but I would think that hearing a broadcast play-by-play in stereo with fan "surround sound" would be awesome.

cd

Well, I'll have to agree to disagree. Because when there's no music left on local terrestrial FM radio, what's the point of listening to local terrestrial FM radio?

AM, for all it's granny-ness, seems to serve News/Talk, any spoken word format better. It can reach farther and is more tolerable under super noisy conditions. FM stations don't have the same reach. Not off your highest transmitting peak or even at 100,000 watts. And it doesn't help if your rimshot Seattle FM frequency is co-channel with a full 100,000 watt FM signal from Vancouver. A FRENCH language station.

I'm referring to the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge on I-5. In this area, only CBUF 97.7 comes in on 97.7 MHz. Not KOMO-FM (also on 97.7)

Most folks outside of TV and web access had to get their instant updates from KOMO on AM 1000. The local commercial AM radio stations in Mount Vernon were too busy playing syndicated Gold AC or Country music programming.

This is sadly the state of modern small-town terrestrial radio.

And that bridge was/IS important. It's a HUGE trade route between the US and Canada. CNN was on this for hours. Even the BBC (who even pronounced "Skagit" CORRECTLY. - It's Ska-JIT, rhymes with "magic" and not "Ska-GIT", which rhymes with a deplorable slur against gay people.) were on the story

So all in all, I say high-powered major market AM radio DOES have it's place. While in the big city, with all it's radio noise pollution (Hint: FM, unless the tower is a few blocks away, is often just as bad as suburbans AM in big cities) the big 50,000 watt AMs still seem to come in LOUDER and BETTER than anyone else. And beyond that, they LAST longer for the long haul.

So keep that in mind.....

Bongwater said:

AM, for all it's granny-ness, seems to serve News/Talk, any spoken word format better. It can reach farther and is more tolerable under super noisy conditions.

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Wow... i'm just outside of Philly and AM is a noisy mess. KYW at night doesn't come in very well at all, and I'm just outside city limits. nor does WNTP. If i wana listen to KYW i'll have to do it online, or on 94.1 HD2. I dont much like WNTP, but listen to WSJ at times, but i find that lisetning to that online from Tunein is a much better option then OTA radio.
WPHT comes in best here. and even though there is noise if you are near electric or running near powerlines, the signal can at least be tolerated.
now if you have a turk advantage loop with a Maduci tuner and can get the antenna away from your electric, you'll have a better shot.
but on a portible boombox or walkman? unless the electric is out, AM isn't a fun choice.

FLjack2 said:

Based on satellite radio, mp3 players, pandora and every other way you can hear music, why wouldn't talk move to FM? NPR has been doing it for years (and rather successfully.)

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So has Pacifica Radio

The big question is, "what will happen to all those AM signals?"

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Two words (For starters) - HAM RADIO

At some point, maybe in 5-10 years, WSB, WDBO, WBBM, WMAL, etc, will decide it's not worth the electric current to keep both stations operating with the same format. Eventually, they will want to split that signal again, keeping the news and talk on FM.

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Agreed

They'll also start making their online streams into a seperate station (Or create one stream to simulcast the OTA & additional online streams for other stuff they wanna do & CAN do knowing they won't be hampered or bogged down by the FCC)

(Remember, this is no different than what happened back in the 60s and 70s with FM radio. Music was on AM, then moved to FM. They put news and talk programming on AM. What's next?)

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More accurately put - We're witnessing this generation's version of the late 1950s & early 1960s when the OTR era came to an end & broadcasters were struggling as they tried to figure out what to do with all the radio stations affiliated with ABC & Mutual (And later NBC & CBS)

JMO.....

Cheers & 73