I’m wondering about AM radio-what bhappens as radio migrates to high definition-and TV goes all-digital in 2009? To me, AM is pretty dead-it is mostly talk radio shows, and a forum for raving maniacs (everything from healthfood fanatics to fundamentalist preachers). Is AM radio dying a slow death?
Those talk shows for maniacs are pretty popular. I have read that AM was dying until the the call in shows took off. The call in shows can be on AM because the low fidelity does not really detract from the show in the way it detracts from music broadcasts. It is experiencing a resurgence not dying.
I think you underestimate how popular AM radio is in many places. Every big city I have lived in from New Orleans to Boston has wildly popular AM radio stations that cover everything from up to the minute traffic to controversial but popular talk radio to sports. I have never heard anything about it going away and I doubt that it ever will. What would be the point? AM radio also has the ability to cover very large (hundreds or thousands of miles in diameter) or small areas. There simply isn’t enough room on the FM dial to cover the many purposes AM serves.
There are no plans to shut down the AM broadcast band. It’s even getting a shot of new technology with IBOC (in-band on-channel) digital transmission.
AM technology is cheap and effective and can reach people in cars. I’d be genuinely surprised if the demand for digital bandwidth ever got so great that it began greedily eying the under 1700kHz territory. A big chunk of the UHF band (698–806 MHz, previously used by TV stations 52-69) is about to go on the auction block and that should hold them for a while.
AM radio got killed by the superior quality of FM. Back in the 70’s, there were a lot of AM and FM stations. By the end of the 70’s, almost all of the AM music stations were gone. In the 80’s, there was a lot of talk about what to do with the AM band. There were plans for AM stereo, increasing the frequency allocations to increase bandwidth (and therefore sound quality), and other plans were kicked around as well. Some automobiles at the time didn’t bother to include AM on their radios, which is a good indication of how unpopular it was.
Then, in the late 80’s and early 90’s, talk radio really took off. The talk radio shows didn’t need quality so much since they were just broadcasting voice, and the FM band was crowded in a lot of major markets, so the talk radio shows went mostly to AM. This caused a resurgence in the popularity of AM. Those talk show and raving maniac shows are still very popular, and there’s no talk that I’ve heard of for getting rid of AM now.
Since AM is mostly talk shows, it’s not suffering as people are moving to HD radio and satellite for better music quality. FM is the band more in danger of losing stations right now.
Does anyone know whether that band is being given away in Canada as well?
This means that CITY-TV in Toronto will have to change its analogue broadcast frequency again. They were once Channel 79, but that band went to analogue mobile phones in the early eighties; now they’re Channel 57. I don’t know what channel their digital transmission is on.
Another interesting note is that AM signals can bounce off of the ionosphere and travel hundreds or thousands of miles (which is usually better at night). I remember picking up an AM station clearly in Memphis from Atlanta (~400 miles). I’m not sure if that will be a factor in its survival, but it is one advantage over FM.
KGO 810 AM has been the number one radio station in the San Francisco area for many years. And KCBS 740 AM is usually in the top ten. I don’t see AM going away any time soon.
Does anyone know what the change in number of AM radio stations is from 1970 to the present? It used to be that you could roll your dial and pick up a lot of AM stations anywhere you were. Now I hit the search button in AM and, outside of the major cities, I won’t pick up a single station. The radio tuners should be vastly improved yet they don’t seem to pick up anything in AM. Have huge numbers of the stations actually quit broadcasting or am I wrong?
There are several Tejano music AM stations in Central Texas, FWIW. I’d guess it’s cheaper and faster to set up such a station, and I don’t suppose FM quality broadcasting is such a big concern when the music’s blaring over a construction site or a noisy restaurant kitchen.
When the zombie virus wipes out 99% of the population, we’ll need AM as a beacon for survivors.
True, the zombies will be busy staring at MySpace pages.
The search button will skip a lot of stations that you would hear while spinning an analog tuner knob.
That said, though, I don’t really have an answer to your question.
While radio technology has improved over the last 30 years, that doesn’t mean that you can expect improved performance from consumer-grade radios. Support for AM is often tacked on, designed for minimal cost, at the expense of quality. It’s considered a check-list feature.
There are slightly more AM stations today than in 1970 (4269 in 1970. 4754 in 2006). The AM band was extended on the high end (1610 kHz to 1710 kHz).
AM can have excellent audio quality, but it is crippled by the poor quality of most consumer-grade receivers. FM, on the other hand, is technically superior but commercial pressures have resulted in most stations broadcasting signals that sound like crap due to abusive use of audio processors. They would rather be “loud” than clean, resulting in high levels of distortion, non-existent dynamic range and listener fatigue. The responsible parties will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
Tell me about it. When I am listening to Tejano while working in my office seeing clients, the construction site and restaurant kitchen noises are deafening (I am not sure where they come from). I am so glad I own the building that way I can blare it.
But do you listen to it on AM?
AM is popular with the raving maniacs because FM and digital can’t penetrate tin-foil hats.
Yes, we listen to Tejano music on AM. And on FM, XM, Sirrius, cassette tapes, CD’s, LP’s, old eight tracks and even live bands. Jeez, some us might even sing it in the shower.
2 words: traffic & weather.