FCC Approves All-Digital Option for AM

[rbc]

The Federal Communications Commission will allow U.S. AM radio station owners to convert their stations to all-digital HD Radio transmissions if they choose to do so.

The commission voted unanimously in favor today at its October open meeting.

Industry observers will be watching to see if any owners large or small take this step. All HD Radio receivers in the market are capable of receiving the MA3 signals; but making this switch would end analog listening on the given frequency.
[...]
https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/digital-radio/fcc-approves-all-digital-option-for-am

 

[DavidEduardo]

The Federal Communications Commission will allow U.S. AM radio station owners to convert their stations to all-digital HD Radio transmissions if they choose to do so.

The commission voted unanimously in favor today at its October open meeting.

Industry observers will be watching to see if any owners large or small take this step. All HD Radio receivers in the market are capable of receiving the MA3 signals; but making this switch would end analog listening on the given frequency.
[...]
https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/digital-radio/fcc-approves-all-digital-option-for-am

Instead of trying to clear out the band, they are trying to resuscitate about 3,000 cadavers.

 

[rbc]

Takeaways From the AM Digital Order

Here’s some immediate reaction and followup to the announcement that the FCC will allow AM radio stations to use all-digital transmission if they wish.

THE CHAIRMAN LOVES AM

Ajit Pai hasn’t lost his lifeline affection for radio. In an official statement after the vote, Pai wrote: “Freddie Mercury memorably sang in Queen’s 1984 hit Radio Ga Ga, ‘Radio, someone still loves you.’ Thirty six years later, that remains true; I love radio, as do millions of my fellow Americans. And that love extends to the AM band.”

Pai repeated his frequent praise for stations that cover local events and sports, provide a forum for discourse, offer foreign-language programming and provide information in emergencies. He reminded us that in the AM revitalization initiative, more than 2,100 FM translators are on the air rebroadcasting AM signals, with another 700 pending. “Countless AM broadcasters have told me that their FM translators have given their stations a new lease on life.”

APai said that a transition to all-digital service “presents a singular opportunity to preserve the AM service for future listeners.” He also thanked Ben Downs of Bryan Broadcasting, the proponent of this proposal who hosted Pai at his stations in Texas years ago “and planted a bug in my ear about this idea.”
[...]
https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/digital-radio/takeaways-from-the-am-digital-order

 

[TheBigA]

Too little too late. Would have been a great idea in 2000. But they decided to go with IBOC.

Now too many consumers already own digital audio devices called phones. They don't pick up AM.

 

[CTListener]

Pai's grip on reality seems tenuous on this issue. He ought to get out more.

 

[Kelly A]

Too little too late. Would have been a great idea in 2000. But they decided to go with IBOC.

Now too many consumers already own digital audio devices called phones. They don't pick up AM.

Actually it should have been proposed back in the 90's when developed. At least the same HD radios that are being shipped in cars will also receive MA3.

Problem is; the public abandoned AM years ago.

 

[Kelly A]

Pai's grip on reality seems tenuous on this issue. He ought to get out more.

When Pai was just one of the Commissioners, he made a tour of small to medium market AM stations and developed a relationship with those owners. The AM station owners involved gained an ally in Pai. After Pai became Chairman, a lot of that relationship continued.

I applaud Pai's taking some interest in an old form of media, trying to help them out. The question really is whether the effort is worth it. Approving MA3 for the MW band in the U.S. is a simple, low cost effort that may or may not help out the Antique Modulation crowd.

 

[TheBigA]

Problem is; the public abandoned AM years ago.

More importantly, the consumer electronics industry abandoned radio years ago. The public can't hear it if they don't have radios.

 

[DavidEduardo]

More importantly, the consumer electronics industry abandoned radio years ago. The public can't hear it if they don't have radios.

There seems to be an industry-wide belief that most listening is in the car; it is not. And even then, it will take a decade just to get the system in half of all cars, assuming every new car has it standard.

Not happening.

The FCC started making dumb decisions from the year it was founded, and they haven't quit. Every nation that has recognized the decline in AM has created a path to FM or even digital except the US where the FCC thinks it can be "revitalized".

"Revitalization" does not work at funeral homes or on the AM band.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Actually it should have been proposed back in the 90's when developed. At least the same HD radios that are being shipped in cars will also receive MA3.

Problem is; the public abandoned AM years ago.

Elephant in the room: the vast majority of AM stations do not adequately cover their market. 50% are daytime or have night power below 500 watts.

Someone should have the full Commission watch the first several episodes of "The Living Dead". Switching AM's to all-digital is a good parallel.

 

[TheBigA]

"Revitalization" does not work at funeral homes or on the AM band.

I read the FCC "order." First of all, it's not really an order, it just allows stations to broadcast digital.

Second of all, there's absolutely NOTHING in it having to do with RECEIVERS. The FCC regulates both transmission and reception. They could have addressed the lack of receivers, but they didn't. Consumers can't have the digital experience without digital receivers. They think they already have digital receivers, because they own phones and computers. Neither of those things receive AM radio, except as streams, which exist now without the FCC order.

For this to actually work, the FCC needs to address the second half of the system, which is the receiver side.

See below:

Today’s Order establishes technical rules to protect existing AM broadcast stations from
interference. In addition, stations converting to all-digital operation will be required to notify
the Commission and the public 30 days in advance of their transition. These stations must
provide at least one free over-the-air digital programming stream that is comparable to or better
in audio quality than a standard analog broadcast. They also must continue to participate in the
Emergency Alert System. The Order envisions that AM broadcasters will decide whether to
convert to all-digital operation based on the conditions in their respective markets.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I read the FCC "order." First of all, it's not really an order, it just allows stations to broadcast digital.

Second of all, there's absolutely NOTHING in it having to do with RECEIVERS. The FCC regulates both transmission and reception. They could have addressed the lack of receivers, but they didn't. Consumers can't have the digital experience without digital receivers. They think they already have digital receivers, because they own phones and computers. Neither of those things receive AM radio, except as streams, which exist now without the FCC order.

For this to actually work, the FCC needs to address the second half of the system, which is the receiver side.

The problem is that the FCC alone can not regulate the consumer electronics industry. It took an act of Congress to get UHF mandated:

§ 303(s)), commonly known as the All-Channels Act, was passed by the United States Congress in 1961, to allow the Federal Communications Commission to require that all television set manufacturers must include UHF tuners, so that new UHF-band TV stations (then channels 14 to 83) could be received by the public.

At the moment, I don't think Congress is going to worry about AM radio with all the other matters at hand. In fact, there are still misconceptions that there was a mandate about FM or one about FM stereo. They were proposed, but never prospered.

Of course, the bigger issue is that it would take a decade just to have 50% digital AM in cars... way to long to do anything to "save" AM.

 

[Kevin]

If AM HD MA-3 is compatible does FM all digital have MA-3 and would that be compatible, should FM stations get the go ahead in the future to go all digital?

 

[Kelly A]

Elephant in the room: the vast majority of AM stations do not adequately cover their market. 50% are daytime or have night power below 500 watts.

In all fairness, technically field tests have proved MA3 transmissions are more robust than analog for reception when it comes to overcoming terrestrial noise. Is it noise-immune? Absolutely not. And there is the lovely cliff effect, so should the receiver get close enough to the noise source that the station reception drops too many packets, the receiver just mutes.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Will digital AM have stereo sound? It seems like that would play a factor in weather music comes back to AM.

In my area the only AM stations that have anything I want to hear have FM translators so the best advantage I can see is hopefully if the AM signal goes out further than the translator if it were to be on digital.

 

[TheBigA]

Will digital AM have stereo sound?

Depends on the receiver. The signal is just ones and zeros.

 

[Kelly A]

Will digital AM have stereo sound? It seems like that would play a factor in weather music comes back to AM.

If the station infrastructure is stereo, absolutely. The received audio quality is comparable to analog FM stereo.

 

[Kevin]

Most AM stations will not be able to afford the new digital equipment. So for the most part the AM band will eventually naturally thin out as more stations will go dark due to economic collapse. The 50kw stations will remain on the band if economically feasible.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Most AM stations will not be able to afford the new digital equipment. So for the most part the AM band will eventually naturally thin out as more stations will go dark due to economic collapse. The 50kw stations will remain on the band if economically feasible.

Stations with a signal that serves its entire market, day and night, will have no trouble affording additional equipment. For smaller stations, the transmitter likely cost less than the owner's car. For 5 kw, the rig costs around the same as a mid-price BMW or Lexus.

It's not just about 50 kw. There are many, many 50 kw stations that are daytimers that are still not viable. There are 50 kw stations that are terribly directional that are not viable. There are 50 kw stations on high frequencies that are also useless. Or ones that cut power ridiculously at night, like the old Mathis stations in MS. Or they are 50 kw in the middle of nowhere, like Roswell, NM.

I'd rather have a nice 1 kw on 600 than 50 kw on 1520, for example. The one on 620 will cover better, too.

The issue is not power... it is about covering a market. That market may be the trade zone of a single farming country in Nebraska, or it may be a huge metro with many counties like New York City or Los Angeles or Dallas where there are only a few AM stations that cover it all... or a major city like Phoenix which has zero stations that cover it all day and night.

Start with the daytimers or those that have less than 500 watts at night... fully half of all US AM stations... those have zero future and the ones that are viable do so with a translator, not the useless AM facility.

 

[b-turner]

When the news broke about all digital AM, I thought back to KYND's owner (now deceased). He was ready to jump on the bandwagon once it was approved, if the receiver interest existed. He understood the barriers and potential. That was in the 1990s or around 2000. As time moved on and things evolved, it became evident brokered time was the only viable option for an AM daytimer. That worked for many years. The station turned a profit. Then the FM translator for the AM signal came about. KYND applied and was shut down. Then a broadcaster in Dilley, Texas claimed to be retransmitting KYND 'off the air'. While KYND is a Houston station and Dilley is in the San Antonio market with KQQB in Stockdale on the same 1520 frequency as KYND, it got approved and a revised application for Houston was denied as the FCC said we already had a translator. To win the fight meant no frequencies available, so nothing to win, so to speak. So, KYND sat there: 25kw. days without a translator. The potential time brokered clients had figured out leasing a FM HD channel and leasing a FM translator. All that was left in the time brokered realm for AM were the poorly funded groups that could not pay anywhere close to what prior clients paid. The issue was more complex: more stations offering time than the universe of clients. This further diminished revenue potential. KYND got offers from potential buyers but none willing to pay the actual value of the land and equipment. Three years after the last client left, I did as well. See KYND's thread on the Houston page.

This is an actual case scenario. While a bit extreme, there are many AM stations in the same boat with a leak that will sink them, if not tomorrow or next week, next month or next year. The AM station, in many cases, could never afford the investment or would have the capital to give it a go. If this happened 20 years ago, it would be quite different, perhaps. I say perhaps because online options were already gaining traction by then.

As it is now, in some small markets, the AM loses a bit on money monthly but the FM pulls in a profit big enough to allow for the AM loss. If the small market FM does $25,000 a month and the AM does maybe $3,000 a month, you can keep the AM going. There's not the incentive to go digital.

About the only way a station might consider digital is if the company has a good number of profitable stations that can survive the possibility of digital AM going the route of FM HD signals.