The Death of AM Radio?

[Usagi]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/us/a-quest-to-save-am-radio-before-its-lost-in-the-static.html?_r=0

Interesting article pointing out the seemingly imminent death of AM radio and the "quixotic quest" to save it. 

I've never heard of Ajit Pai before, but now he has a fan.  I too find nostalgia to be as legitimate a purpose for preservation as anything else.  However, the article paints a pretty dim picture of AM's future.  I had been thinking about building a crystal radio with my son.  I guess I had better get on that sooner rather than later...

[Mind Flayer Monk]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/us/a-quest-to-save-am-radio-before-its-lost-in-the-static.html?_r=0

Interesting article pointing out the seemingly imminent death of AM radio and the "quixotic quest" to save it. 

I've never heard of Ajit Pai before, but now he has a fan.  I too find nostalgia to be as legitimate a purpose for preservation as anything else.  However, the article paints a pretty dim picture of AM's future.  I had been thinking about building a crystal radio with my son.  I guess I had better get on that sooner rather than later...

I thought the FCC auctioned off some AM band a few years back and it was bought for pretty high prices by cell phone carriers and google? I think the band might be pretty wide- I remember other countries using different parts of the AM band.

The thing I always loved about AM radio was DXing(picking up really far AM broadcasts). I think its pretty easy to pull in 850 Denver from pretty much everywhere. I can hear it in San Diego. As a kid, I could pick up baseball games from Kansas City, St Louis, both Chicago teams, Minnesota and the Dodgers (from a Las Vegas rebroadcast). 

Also, from the article:
"By 2011 AM listenership had fallen to 15 percent, or an average of 3.1 million people, according to a survey by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private investment firm. "
So our dear friend GN is telling us that everyone that listens to AM listens to Coast...

[Eddie Coyle]

The thing I always loved about AM radio was DXing(picking up really far AM broadcasts). I think its pretty easy to pull in 850 Denver from pretty much everywhere. I can hear it in San Diego. As a kid, I could pick up baseball games from Kansas City, St Louis, both Chicago teams, Minnesota and the Dodgers (from a Las Vegas rebroadcast). 

          Same here. As a kid living in Boston(on the water-which helped), on any night I could pick up the broadcasts of the Mets,Yankees,Phillies,Expos,Indians, Cubs-White Sox, Blue Jays , Orioles and Tigers with ease. I listened to WABC in New York, which started coming in loud and clear as the sun set, so much that it was number 1 on my pre-sets circa 1993-94. That was the beauty of AM radio. I listened to WFAN in NYC more than my local sports talkers.

[Sardondi]

To me the fact that the AM waves can be heard hundreds or even thousands of miles away is an obvious basis for keeping it. But being of great use in a major disaster won't pay the bills of the stations. AM has to remain commercially viable. Right now it is  because people want its programming. But never think that would prevent a Democrat-stuffed commission from abusing its authority if its members thought they might muzzle conservatives. Because they would if they thought such a move might lessen the reach of the conservative message. Never mind that the people have shown for over thirty years that they want it.

But then there's intangible value of the magic of AM in the nighttime. I rarely do it anymore, but occasionally I would just slowly turn the AM dial and try to pick up regional stations, and I treasured those with local programming aimed at small nearby communities.

The most magic of all was nighttime in the car with my parents, hearing the silly, goofy DJs from little towns we might pass through on the road. I still remember vividly being about 5 years old and traveling with my parents for several hours late on a Saturday night. My dad was a closet country music fan, and he tuned in to a station that carried something called "The Grand Ol' Opry". I'd never heard anything like it, and I can't describe the effect it had on me. Even though it was quiet and dark in the car, and there were few others on the road, as I listened to the radio, in my mind's eye I saw an entire city of people in some huge auditorium lit up with a million lights. There was another world out there, with happy people having a wonderful time singing and playing. And they all knew each other. The announcer even spoke to listeners by name, who lived in places like Rising Fawn, Eclectic, Greasy Hollow, Progress, Port Lonesome, Arcadia, Chimney Rock and Ooltewah. It was magical.

I don't think distortion-free radio is worth losing that. Or if one even connects to the other.

[Juan]

I don't know what else the AM band would be used for.  It's too low frequency for cell phones or other recent, high-tech uses.  I think the real change is in FM - folks don't listen to radio for music anymore - they have satellite, iPhonePadPods etc.  I see a number of powerful FM stations now simulcasting a co-owned AM talk station.  FM signals get into buildings better than AM, so folks at lunch can listen to Rush on FM.

[Ipokesmot]

AM radio has been with me long before the internet and BBS's.  There's something magical about it, even though it doesn't sound as good as FM. It's like you can hear something "spooky" in the background, especially when Dx'ing a far away station at night. Spirits? The Big Bang? Call me weird but it's like joining your mind up with the signal for a ride.  :  They better not touch it.

And selling off the analog TV allocations to replace it with the digital crap was beyond stupid.  It was probably just some swine lobbyist to force people in rual areas to buy dishes.  Trouble is there's hardly anything good to watch these days.

[stevesh]

Back when I was listening to C2C in the car, our local affiliate cut its power to 900 watts at night, and I had to be actually in Lansing to hear the show. Fortunately, thanks to the AM band propagation, I could listen on a station in Roanoke, VA.

[Insanity]

I love listening to the radio, Sometimes I specificaly plan a trip so i'm driveing at night, it just seems more fun.  I do wish they would come up with more programing that was different than Political Talk.

Some nights, our local " Big Gun" AM station will play a few hours of old Radio shows and they are, on average, more entertaining than most TV.

[onan]

I love listening to the radio, Sometimes I specificaly plan a trip so i'm driveing at night, it just seems more fun.

There is a certain magic listening to Art while driving on a dark road at 2 in the morning.

[shell88]

  I posted this article on the GNS thread yesterday. This thread would be a good spot for it.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/03/01/why-terrestrial-radio-will-never-be-great-again/

[Tinfoil Hat]

<snip>
Some nights, our local " Big Gun" AM station will play a few hours of old Radio shows and they are, on average, more entertaining than most TV.

You've got that right! I don't know if it's still on, but not too long ago, there used to be a show called When Radio Was played in the late evening around here. Some of those old serials would keep me on the edge of my seat!

Few things are more entertaining than Orson Welles as the Shadow in my book.

[Sardondi]

You've got that right! I don't know if it's still on, but not too long ago, there used to be a show called When Radio Was played in the late evening around here. Some of those old serials would keep me on the edge of my seat!

Few things are more entertaining than Orson Welles as the Shadow in my book.

One of my pleasures is sitting at my desktop (I'll never give it and my monster monitor up!), listening to a new radio play, a book being read or radio sitcom at BBC Radio 4 Extra (what used to be BBC Radio 4 and 7 combined) while I play Solitaire. Here's a link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4extra

It's wonderful. As are the old shows from American radio of the 40's and 50's.

[HorrorRetro]

For those who love the classic radio shows and plan to get Sirius, they have a radio classics channel, channel 82. 

http://www.siriusxm.com/radioclassics

Here's the weekly schedule for next week: http://gregbellmedia.com/Schedules/RC%20Sept.%2015th,%202013%20-%20Sept.%2021st,%202013%20-%20PDF%20Version.pdf

[Insanity]

You've got that right! I don't know if it's still on, but not too long ago, there used to be a show called When Radio Was  played in the late evening around here. Some of those old serials would keep me on the edge of my seat!

Few things are more entertaining than Orson Welles as the Shadow in my book.

Thats the One!

I would love to hear the famous Orson Wells radio version of War of the worlds. My dad and I were talking about it a while ago, he said the first time he heard it, was  back in the 80's, while driveing from  eastern oregon to his farm in WA after makeing a delivery of hay, on halloween night. He said it was super creepy, on the crackly AM radio with a single speaker in his truck at 1am, all alone, in a area so sparcely populated he dident see a single light from a house.

[Ipokesmot]

Thats the One!

I would love to hear the famous Orson Wells radio version of War of the worlds. My dad and I were talking about it a while ago, he said the first time he heard it, was  back in the 80's, while driveing from  eastern oregon to his farm in WA after makeing a delivery of hay, on halloween night. He said it was super creepy, on the crackly AM radio with a single speaker in his truck at 1am, all alone, in a area so sparcely populated he dident see a single light from a house.

Here it is:
Orson Welles - War Of The Worlds - Radio Broadcast 1938 - Complete Broadcast.

[HorrorRetro]

Thats the One!

I would love to hear the famous Orson Wells radio version of War of the worlds. My dad and I were talking about it a while ago, he said the first time he heard it, was  back in the 80's, while driveing from  eastern oregon to his farm in WA after makeing a delivery of hay, on halloween night. He said it was super creepy, on the crackly AM radio with a single speaker in his truck at 1am, all alone, in a area so sparcely populated he dident see a single light from a house.

My grandpa used to tell us the story of when his family heard the original broadcast.  They didn't catch the warning at the beginning, so they were pretty confused.  They didn't really believe it, but they loaded their shotguns just in case. 

[SR-71]

I hope that am radio does not die for many reasons. Here is one of my reasons, when I fly my plane, I use my ADF so i can pick up radio stations. An ADF is a nav for planes. here is a web site that talks about the adf.

http://www.thaitechnics.com/nav/adf.html

[SR-71]

I hope that am radio does not die for many reasons. Here is one of my reasons, when I fly my plane, I use my ADF so i can pick up radio stations. An ADF is a nav for planes. here is a web site that talks about the adf.

http://www.thaitechnics.com/nav/adf.html

One of the reasons that radio stations have to ID them selfs is for the airplanes. It was a common nav for the early days of flying.

[shell88]

  I listen to am radio for the local content. I want to know what's happening in my city.I enjoy the open lines for views on local issues.

[West of the Rockies]

I wonder what the average age is of the folks who have posted on this thread.  I wonder if a robust internet had existed around the time typewriters were disappearing if there would have been a thread where people were waxing happily about the virtues of a Smith-Corona. 

If radio as we have known it disappears, we will be diminished.  I can remember being maybe 8 and wandering around the yard with my little transistor radio.  Not all kids have a Smartphone or a laptop.  Those didn't exist when I was a child in the 60's/early 70's.  But my trusty little transistor could go anywhere with me.  Slip in a little one-ear ear-plug, and you could listen into the night without risking parental detection.  Throw in a flashlight and a comic book or Hardy Boys book (or Tom Swift book), and you were living the dream!  Of course, Mom or Dad could see the glow of the flashlight under the blanket if they wandered by, but the radio was a doorway into other worlds.

Man, am I in a sentimental mood this morning....

[Mind Flayer Monk]

Those didn't exist when I was a child in the 60's/early 70's.  But my trusty little transistor could go anywhere with me.  Slip in a little one-ear ear-plug, and you could listen into the night without risking parental detection.  Throw in a flashlight and a comic book or Hardy Boys book (or Tom Swift book), and you were living the dream!  Of course, Mom or Dad could see the glow of the flashlight under the blanket if they wandered by, but the radio was a doorway into other worlds.

Man, am I in a sentimental mood this morning....

That is an interesting story. In many ways, the radio is a proxy for privacy.

[West of the Rockies]

Well, Mind Flayer, isn't radio a bit like a libary?  You can wander the aisles (spin the dial) and find something that engages you.  It is a pretty private activity (listening to the radio).  Maybe I was a weird kid...  When I was four, I suffered a serious eye injury (another four-year-old using a sling shot accidently shot a piece of sharp glass into my eye).  I wore a patch for years, suffered lots of name-calling, and generally felt pretty isolated.  Maybe the radio was a natural outlet for me, a sort of replacement for normal social activity.  I know that I often preferred my own company (or the company of books and the radio) to the real and wretched company typically available to me from classmates.   

I know that all sounds pretty dark, and I don't intend it to sound that way, but to me, radio is a great way to selectively experience the world.