... or what programming suppliers will subsidize and incentivize. Sirius / XM pays fees to have the satellite module and the antenna put in new cars and they share the ongoing. It's a profit center for car makers.
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Why Is Tesla Killing AM Radio?
- Thread starter Bongwater
- Start date
... or what programming suppliers will subsidize and incentivize. Sirius / XM pays fees to have the satellite module and the antenna put in new cars and they share the ongoing. It's a profit center for car makers.
DRM = Digital Rights Management?
Never heard of that in connection with analog. Are they using the band for digital?
joebtsflk1
Star Participant
That's DRM = Digital Radio Mondiale, a digital modulation standard.
Sorry, I forgot that the initials have an additional meaning.
As Joe posted, I meant the Digital Radio Mondiale. It's a very good sounding digital system, but was never considered for AM in the US as it is not backwards compatible. In some places where it was tested, they used two transmitters on different frequencies so as to not interrupt an existing analog broadcast... whose listeners would not have the new radios, of course.
But it is a pure digital system that "fits" on very narrow AM, LW and SW channels.
Thanks. Sounds like a good system. I think backwards compatibility is becoming less of an issue with every passing day.
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
How will India get the radios to the listeners? Will the government be distributing them, or do Indian retailers still sell radios and consumers still buy them? It's reported that adoption of DAB in England is creeping toward the 50 percent mark as well. That also requires buying a radio, and I don't think the BBC -- the driving force behind DAB as it converts its regional stations to the mode -- is handing them out. So, again, can Britons go to their local general merchandise or electronics stores and still find radios amid all the computers and smart phones and tablets?
All India Radio (AIR) is running digital only transmitters in the 100 to 300 kw range from over 30 sites now. The analog facilities, on other frequencies, will be phased out.
http://www.nautel.com/solutions/digital-radio/high-power-drm-mw-am-transmitters-air/
Consumers will be buying new radios. Streaming, OTT video, etc., is nowhere near as prevalent and common in India, so radio is extremely viable, particularly in the rural areas where there is still no FM (limited to the bigger cities and tightly controlled in number). So radios are widely sold.
DAB and DRM work best when the government pushes and subsidizes the broadcast infrastructure. England has the BBC with its tax on tv sets, whereby things like DAB are financed. On the other hand, DAB is not so popular in places such as rural areas and lower floors of urban apartments where reception is spotty at best in many places.
With in-car listening so important, backward compatibility is essential. The average car is 11 years old. So to get 50% penetration of a digital only system would take over a decade. In the meantime, what would a digital station live on? On day one, there would be no revenue and no audience.
Some interesting DRM MW radios marketed to India. I just wonder how well they are selling.
http://www.drm.org/products/consumer-receivers/
http://www.drm.org/products/consumer-receivers/
Keep in mind that the per capita income in India is about $1,600 per year, and even as expressed in purchasing power it's only about $5,000. A large part of the population is below that level, and basic, free entertainment is their only entertainment.
65% of the population lives in households with 10,000 Rupees a month income, about $135 U$S.
So there is not a lot of family budget for $1000 iPhones and the like (although there are much cheaper cellular options there than in the US). A radio the whole home can enjoy can be bought on a combination lay-away and pay-to-own, a common way of getting appliances, TVs and radios in underdeveloped nations... particularly outside the bigger cities.
There are lots of ways radio and media are different in this sort of situation. With very few owning cars, drive times are not the peak audience times. "Second morning" and "First Afternoon" (9 to Noon and Noon to 3) are generally bigger audience times (those shift names are used, in different languages, in a number of countries I have worked in).
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But car radios of the past decade barely work on AM. Some people still listen to CDs but that population isn't significant enough for Best Buy. At some point it's time to pull the plug.
tjguitar85
Regular Participant
AM comes in fine on my 2011 Civic. Though I can't believe too many would complain if only FM would be supported. Sports and Talk have moved to FM in some markets.
Define "fine". There are AM sections that aren't as noisy as others but a fairly strong AM signal used to come continuously, as long as there were no lightning strikes or high power lines in the area, not anymore.
The issue is not the quality of the radio itself but the increasing level of man-made interference from everything from wall warts to LED traffic signals and their CPU based controllers.
brettbutlerisok
Leading Participant
AM reception in vehicles varies a whole lot between the different makes. Some brand new trucks I drive can't even pick up 50,000 watt signals in the city of licence, others work just as well as the delco did in my 73 El Camino.
landtuna
Walk of Fame Participant
When my '65 Corvair finally made its trip to the razor blade factory I removed the AM-only Delco radio from it and used it in my shop for many years (until there was no more content worth listening to). I would pick up stations all over the West (sometimes during the day and almost always at night). Fidelity was acceptable as was the background noise level. It was still working fine when I gave it away to a guy who was rebuilding an old Chevy.
brettbutlerisok
Leading Participant
Being a teenaged dumb ass, I replaced it with a AM/FM cassette about 20 years ago. The chicks just weren't diggin' on the AM only. I left it in my parents garage, figuring it would be there when I needed it. I looked for it a couple a weeks ago, couldn't find it; of course my father has no idea what i'm even talking about.
I know he threw it away, can't say I blame him. Just really reminded me how time flies.
I know he threw it away, can't say I blame him. Just really reminded me how time flies.
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