Digital AM, Duplicate Radio Items Seen as Uncontroversial
FCC Media Bureau draft NPRMs on digital AM and same market, commonly owned radio stations sharing content generated little activity in the FCC’s electronic comment filing system and aren’t considered controversial for Friday’s FCC agenda (see 1910290053), broadcast attorneys told us. An FCC official told us that few changes to the draft versions are expected.
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The all-digital AM radio draft would seek comment on allowing AM stations to voluntarily switch to all-digital service, and on the standards and notification processes for such a switch. “I think it very much has the potential of saving AM,” said Hubbard Senior Engineer Dave Kolesar in an interview. Kolesar oversees the only currently operating all-digital AM station in the U.S., Hubbard’s WWFD Frederick, Maryland.
Though not all car radios can receive a digital AM signal, it could be worth it for AM stations that aren’t currently profitable to make the jump if the FCC allows it, Kolesar said. AM radio “isn’t a growth medium” at the moment, Kolesar said. Larger, successful AM stations likely wouldn't want to test the all-digital signal, but the proposal is for the process to be voluntary, he said. Newer transmitters can send the all-digital AM signal, but stations with older equipment would likely need to upgrade to make the shift, he said. Kolesar said cars with the HD radios that receive the signal have about 25 percent penetration in his station's coverage area.
The draft item also seeks comment on possible interference consequences for all-digital AM. Kolesar believes the interference to analog AM stations from all-digital is not as severe as interference from other analog stations, but some entities raised concerns. Additional interference is “exactly what the AM band does not need, as it struggles with the ambient noise environment that is already present,” said American Association of Information Radio Operators founder Bill Baker in an email.
Engineering analyses show the all-digital signal “is both denser and wider” than analog, and “thus it is predicted that it will cause more interference to cochannel and adjacent channel analog radio stations,” Baker said. “If this is true, analog AM’s with lower power levels will have to surf a much rougher sea of interference, and their signals will effectively have less range.” The NPRM is “asking all the right questions,” said Kolesar.
The other media item is part of the FCC’s media modernization process and has generated little to no reaction among broadcast attorneys. The draft NPRM would seek comment on relaxing rules preventing same-market, commonly owned radio stations from airing the same programming. Changes to the media industry made the rule outdated, said the draft. Broadcast attorneys said market forces would likely discourage many station owners from repeating their own content in the same market if the FCC pursued a rule change.