I had one of their XM portable 'boom boxes' that housed one of the snap-in XM tuners. It seemed to work pretty well, but one needed to be either in the coverage area of an XM terrestrial transmitter, or a South-facing window. Your average consumer would get frustrated with the limitations.
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Digital-Only Signals Could Help Bring AMs ‘Back From The Brink Of Extinction
- Thread starter rbc
- Start date
I had one of their XM portable 'boom boxes' that housed one of the snap-in XM tuners. It seemed to work pretty well, but one needed to be either in the coverage area of an XM terrestrial transmitter, or a South-facing window. Your average consumer would get frustrated with the limitations.
HD tuners are made for AM or FM. It's all just software in the tuner chip. The original HD-IBOC transmitter equipment had a hard drive which over time failed. The manufacturers wouldn't support the original transmission equipment, offering instead new and expensive versions. The original AM-HD stations didn't see enough interest in IBOC-HD-AM, so many have just returned to normal analog once their transmission equipment died.
If the Commission continues down the path of allowing full MA3 operation for Medium Wave stations, the couple remaining AM transmitter manufacturer's are planning of offering an MA3 transmitter. How many stations would be able to afford it, remains the question.
I still have one, along with a SkyFi2! The only windows I have in this apartment face south and southeast, so it's always worked fine. Conversely, this situation works against me when trying to receive over-the-air TV -- only one transmitter to my south, carrying only WTNH New Haven and its subchannels, with all the others to the north and northwest and unable to be received with an indoor antenna, which is all I am allowed to use. Ain't digital wonderful!
Would MA3 solve the Noise Problem on AM?
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That depends on your understanding of the word "solve". If your receiver can decode enough data bits, you will hear no more noise than what the source material being broadcast has. If you have a device, or natural phenomena that emits broad band RF noise of a higher field strength in close proximity to your receiver than the radio station signal, then your receiver may not be able to reliably capture enough digital bits to make an audio stream. In the digital reception world they call it: "cliff effect".
And there is the problem: very, very few AM stations have an adequate signal that covers their metro day and night. So any lesser signals that go to digital only will find that commuters and suburban potential listeners will have a less than satisfying experience, particularly at night.
Why not move all of those inadequate daytimers and low power signals off the AM band and allow the clear channels and economically viable stations to go digital and increase their listening footprints? Many of these low power AMs only exist to support FM translators as per the FCC requirement. Get these off the AM band and there will be a lot less interference.
Here in Vancouver, I can easily receive several of the West Coast AM clear channels after sunset. KFBK 1530AM (900 miles away) comes in reliably like a local station in my car and only fades out when I drive through a tunnel or underneath high voltage power lines. I assume that I would be able to receive more distant stations if the band is cleaned-up. If MA3 provides crisp, clear audio of these stations, this would be an excellent outcome for the listeners and additional revenue opportunities for the stations.
Great idea. What do you give all of those owners who lose their investment? And where does that money come from? That's the problem with the American system of broadcasting. We're not just talking about licenses. We're talking about property and investments. Millions of dollars that have been dedicated to those "inadequate daytimers," as you called them. Their owners are looking around, waiting for someone to buy them out.
I agree that the AMs with translators should be given permanency for the FM and allowed to surrender the AM. But that is a different issue because it requires no new hardware by both listeners and broadcasters.
But you can not close those AMs that have no translator unless they are compensated.
In statistics, when "nearly nobody" engages in a practice, they are called "outliers". The numbers of people who listen to AM are so low that they constitute outliers. There is no advertising market for that audience, and, further, there is so little nigh radio listening that it does not matter anyway. Major advertisers that have an ad agency don't buy radio at night save for very special situations, like live sports.
Signals that are not receivable in tunnels in analog are not receivable in digital. AM at night bounces off the atmosphere and if you are in an enclosed place where the signal can't penetrate, you will not receive it.
In any case, a pure digital signal would cut a station's audience by over 90% in the local revenue market (100% of in home listening, over 80% of in-car listening. How are they to survive for the 10 years it will take to even get half the cars able to receive them? And nobody buys home radios any more.
There is also the issue of music licensing for an all-digital service. Free streaming music services have no way to make a profit; why would a digital radio stream be any different if they had to pay the established artist and label digital fees?
How much value have these AM stations lost in the last 20 years? I’ve read stories on this board that AM stations in major markets have been sold for $15,000. In Savannah, Cumulus recently handed in the licenses of two longtime AM stations because they couldn’t find a path to profitability or a buyer. You are correct that the government can’t force these stations to vacate the AM band. But, if the FCC permitted standalone FM translators, how many broadcasters would voluntarily shut off their AM signals? I can’t imagine that many owners would continue to maintain the infrastructure and pay the power bill for an AM signal that nets them no listeners.
They have to offer something. Not sure that all low power AMs have translators.
I was suggesting that this could be part of a broader strategy to revitalize the AM band. The first step would be to clean it up by allowing the broadcasters to voluntarily surrender the AM and run the FM translators as standalone entities. I agree that the AMs without an FM translator would have to remain. I’m curious as to how many of these stations remain.
This is more of a problem with radio in general. If the content does not give listeners a compelling reason to tune in, then there are no listeners and no advertising demand. It doesn’t matter if the signal is FM HD or an AM signal with a 1,000 mile radius. If the programming sucks, people are not going to make an effort to listen. But, if people can’t receive the station, they definitely won’t be listening either.
That makes sense. Cellular providers install repeaters to provide continuous coverage when driving through tunnels. For over-the-air broadcasting, I guess there’s no solution. When I’m in an enclosed space, I typically stream via my cell phone because I always have it with me and I’m near a wifi hotspot. But, I was referring to listening in a car and not at home.
This may be true for AMs without an FM counterpart. Again, I’m curious as to how many of these remain. Most of the established AMs in every market have an FM outlet. Don’t most cars manufactured in the past 5 years include HD capable radios? My understanding is that these radios can receive all digital AM so it’s not like we’re starting from the very beginning. For listening to radio at home, there’s streaming and digital will not change that.
For HD FM, are those considered all-digital services? I remember reading an article about how iHeart was parking their formats on HD2 signals so that they didn’t have to pay royalties to the labels.
I'm not so sure the history bears that out. The collapse of AM ratings happened while stations were still carrying the heritage programming that had once brought ratings. But new competition came along on FM, and the programming that had once brought great ratings was no longer in style. In some markets you have high quality NPR news programming that gets great ratings in places such as DC or SF not getting those same ratings in places such as Miami, Houston, or Atlanta. So it's not always the stations fault. Sometimes what is compelling content in one place isn't as compelling in another. Rush Limbaugh is the highest rated show on a 5KW AM in Buffalo, and the exact same show is a non-player on a 50KW AM in LA.
I managed a daytime only AM in Houston for years. We leased the station mostly to broadcasters that broadcast to an ethic group in the metro. We had been Spanish, Vietnamese, China Radio and Urban over the years. As for revenue, I could get close to $40,000 a month around 2008. After a power increase (3 kw to 25 kw) and an owner that did not pursue a translator, I was getting push back at $20,000 a month. I could have leased the station for around $18,000 a month with a solid client but my owners felt the signal was worth more. I imagine a mere 2 years later, based on what I've seen, I suspect $15,000 might be tough to get. The FM translator has all the perceived value. An AM daytimer is handicapped by being off the air sunset to sunrise. In a major metro in the winter months, sunrise happens generally after you're in the car on the way to work and goes off the air before you get home from work. (if you left downtown at 5, it would easily be 7 by the time you reached the outer suburbs)That alone is why a daytimer is not desired. If you have some post sunset power you have a chance (keep in mind it is more perception than actuality in the minds of clients). If you have something at night that covers 10% of your market or you have a translator covering 10-25% of you metro there is value but coming on at 7:30am or going off at 5:30 just doesn't work for the client. At least with 10% you have more than 0%.
As for an AM station value, in larger markets that value is almost nil. In some rural areas it is still viable if you do things right, especially if you have a translator or at least night power. It is true night listening is very minimal. Of people I know with a daytimer with no translator, billing $2,000 to about $3,500 a month is not at all rare. Given so many stations are relatively low power or directional, it is pretty much a given an AM daytimer will lose money every month. Directional always is a money pit. If the land and taxes don't get you, the cost of keeping the directional within parameters will, if not this year, certainly in future years.
As for an AM station value, in larger markets that value is almost nil. In some rural areas it is still viable if you do things right, especially if you have a translator or at least night power. It is true night listening is very minimal. Of people I know with a daytimer with no translator, billing $2,000 to about $3,500 a month is not at all rare. Given so many stations are relatively low power or directional, it is pretty much a given an AM daytimer will lose money every month. Directional always is a money pit. If the land and taxes don't get you, the cost of keeping the directional within parameters will, if not this year, certainly in future years.
Do you think these are unique situations where external variables should be considered? If a heritage AM station has new competition in the market on the FM dial, the newcomer has a perceived competitive advantage since FM delivers better fidelity and listening experience. It was a defensive move for AMs to simulcast on FM in order to preserve their market share.
For what’s considered compelling content in each market, you have to consider other factors such as demographics and what other programming is available on the dial. SF and DC also have all-news stations that are very successful. The all-news stations were disasters in Houston and Atlanta. The LA market has KFI which provides locally relevant programming during the same timeslot when Rush is on. If there was only one talk station in the market and Rush was part of the lineup, I’m sure the ratings would be better.
Geez, I don’t see how any station could stay afloat with such abysmal revenue. This seems to reinforce my theory that if the FCC allowed standalone translators, the marketplace would help eliminate these noise generators from the AM band.
Exactly...that's my point. There are no easy solutions to the problems with AM radio.
In metro areas, many AMs did not get translators. And in geographically large metros, a translator is generally unable to cover the whole market. Exceptions are places like Albuquerque, where many translators are on the mountain, and can cover most of the market.
But in many cases, a translator can't cover the whole market. A Houston or Dallas translator... or one in Chicago or LA or San Francisco... can't replace even a mediocre AM.
There are 4265 commercial AMs in the US. There are 4,300 translators and about half are for non-coms and groups like KLove that are not local simulcasts. So about half of all US commercial AMs do not have translators.
Less than half of all cars made in the last 5 years have HD. In many, it is only in the most expensive add-on audio option. And the last 5 years represents less than 25% of all vehicles and less than half of all listening is in the car. So existing HD radios have the potential to only represent about 12% of all listening. Who wants to loose 88% of their audience?
iHeart is, I believe, the only group that separately negotiated royalty deals with the labels and their artists. Remember, the royalty rate for digital is paid by the listener or stream so the bigger the station the more the cost.
There seem to be two problem statements here. One problem is that station has to broadcast a quality signal to large geographical and populated area. With the current state of AM, it’s not possible to do this reliably.
The second problem is that the broadcasters need to deliver compelling to the markets in their coverage areas. Some broadcasters have figured out how to do this very well while others have failed. In Vancouver, we receive two FM stations from Bellingham, WA that cover our metro area very well. One of them is KWPZ with a contemporary Christian format and the other is KISM which is classic rock. KWPZ does very well in the ratings because it provides a format that people want that’s not available anywhere else on the dial. KISM doesn’t show up in the book because they’ve been playing the same worn out 200 classic rock songs for the past 10 years and we have two better classic rock stations that cover the format very well.
Just checking the books from other markets, this doesn’t seem uncommon. KOA-AM from Denver appears in the Cheyenne book. Several Boston stations appear in the Hartford and Providence books. Several New Orleans stations appear in Biloxi and Baton Rogue books. If the station owner knows how to leverage the asset, it can be a significant revenue generator.
Providence, I get, since it's only 50 miles from Boston, but what Boston stations are turning up in the Hartford books, and why do you think whatever Connecticut listeners they are attracting matter to their advertisers? I'm about 20 miles south of Hartford and the only Boston stations I can hear during the daytime are WBZ and WRKO, neither of which is a pleasant listen because of all the ambient manmade hash on AM. No Boston FM stations make it here except during enhanced conditions or tropo. The station I hear most when conditions are above average is WGBH-FM, a noncommercial station.
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