David Eduardo wrote:
"D Peter Maus" wrote in message
...
David Eduardo wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message
ups.com...
David Eduardo wrote:
The greater good is trying to preserve the existing free terrestrial
broadcast system, which will not endure unless a digital alternative
is
offered.
We got that through numerous posts you have made.
You may have. DXass certainly hasn't, nor has Steve and the now-absent
"IBOC_Sucks" guy.
And yet, you're the one who wrote, in post 173, that AM will never
become primarily digital and, in fact, you say you "have never heard it
discussed."
I think that most listening in the future will be to the digital signal,
not the analog. I have never heard anyone talk about turning analog off.



I've spoken with two GM's, now, who've said they can't wait to shut the
analog off, and save the cost of power. Especially with energy costs about
to skyrocket here, that can be quite a difference in the bottom line.

That is an interesting reason... spend $100 k at least to go HD, and then
shut off analog to save a couple of thousand.


$100k is a Cap item. The couple of thousand is recurring. When we
bought into the new combiner on the top of the Hancock and upgraded our
antenna, we dropped more than $1.3M and no one batted an eye. But we
were still reusing the toner in the copy machine, and bitching about the
airconditioning bill in the summer. No one blinks at the Cap item when
it can result in recurring savings.

Especially when use of the analog stream falls below the use of the
HD stream, and with as many distribution outlets many stations are
investigating, a GM will get a real itch to shut down the analog stream,
and save that outflow for something more profitable.





I just do not think that there would be a win for at least a decade by being
only digital.


I think that may be a bit optimistic. Given the rate at which radio
use in general is declining, (and this has been a fairly recently
documented phenomenon...even as late as last year, the numbers suggested
that things were only off slightly...Bridge has been reporting sizeable
erosion for the last two quarters, now) and given the difficulty, at
least from where I sit, in listening to AM signals, and the lack of
options for retrieving some content once the IBOC hash blots out the
available signals, I don't expect things to remain viable for analog AM
for anything near a decade.

Let me give you an example...where I am, far north suburbs of
Chicago, about a 3 wood from Waukegan...I've got two AM's, one
Milwaukee, one in Chicago, that carry Rush Limbaugh. If I want to
consume that content, those are my choices. There is no local station
offering that content. As the IBOC rash spreads, those stations, WISN
and WLS will become closed to me. They're nearly impossible to catch
some days, anyway, due to noise. The Din of iBiquity would close them
entirely, as it has a number of other stations formerly available here.
And you know I'm no slouch when I want a signal. But even I can't pull
content out of the noise where IBOC is concerned.

Now, I'm part of Chicago metro. So is Pete Gianakopoulos. But we're
going to be under served when the IBOC rash spreads to the rest of the
dial. And there is no alternative, no local frequency, offering what's
available from the Chicago and Milwaukee AM's. Rush isn't on FM around
here. And he's not on XM or Sirius.

Air America, where I am, is no longer listenable.

So, there's content put off limits by the laws of physics, where the
FCC's model says we should be enjoying AM reception from the market to
which we belong.

In that light, keeping the analog stream alive for a decade is more
or less, just silly.

Now, I realize that my mileage may vary...but I can't be the only one
experiencing this. Nor can this be the only area it's happening.

Eventually, the conversation about terminating analog AM will extend
beyond the coffee bars between GM's and into much higher places where
things get decided in earnest.









I know they talk amongst each other, and I know it's been discussed for
some future date. Nothing official, of course. And nothing from the
Commission. But it's being discussed. And like analog TV, when the digital
audience reaches a certain saturation, it would be fiscally silly to
continue to support a mode that's not being listened to.

This sounds more like the FCC, which is responsible for the sunset law on
analog TV. Hopefully, this was a lesson learned that you can not force
consumers to buy things they do not yet want.


Apparently, a lesson not yet learned. At least not judging by this
newsgroup.