"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...
..

In any case, the reality of your argument is simple; "I don't care if AM
radio dies as long as I can listen a while more to stations that were not
even licensed to serve me."

Again, stations are licensed to serve the PUBLIC. I am part of the PUBLIC,
as are all those millions of others that you so easily dismiss.

Even back when stations had a more defined service "obligation" as part of
the terms of their license, the FCC was very specific about equating
"service" with "community of license" and required service only to the city
of license, and, at the licensee´s option, surrounding communities within
the primary coontours.

In fact, the rules are rather specific for both AM and FM as to what signal
contours are protected from interference on the same and adjacent channels.
Fringe area reception is guaranteed neither to the station nor to the
listener.

The public, for example, for an FM is that within the 54 dbu coverage area.
There is no granted right for the station or the listener to be able to hear
the station outside that area. And there is no requirement of the licensee
to serve any audience even that far out, signal wise. Never has been, and
you are trying to make a case based on rare and unusual circumstances.

Or does the term 'freedom of choice' not mean anything to you? (not that
we have much of that anymore, what with Clear Channel, Entercom, etc.
running cloned formats coast to coast).

Actually, if you do some deeper inspection, you will find that neither of
these companies run cloned formats. While they may use the same name for
similar formats because of the amazingly difficult challenge of finding new
names (due to the Internet's effect on service mark rights), the fact that
there are many named "Kiss" or "Star" or "Majic" or "Power" does not mean
evey station with the same name has the same format, music or DJs.

As to formats being repeated nationally, you reallly don't think that there
wouldm't be a country, and AC, a rock, a CHR station in nearly every market?
And that they would play fairly similar music form city to city? In fact, 45
or 50 years ago, there were two or three Top 40 stations in every larger
market!

What you're saying is that people outside your precious contours have no
choice what they can and cannot listen to.

They have no expectation of hearing, consistently, any station beyond its
protected contour. And they never have. The fact that your lot is a bit
lower than your neighbor's lot and you have saved water by using their
run-off for years does not give you the right to expect that he can not put
a drain on his property at some point and capture that water. Same with
distant signals. There is no right or expectation under the law and FCC
rules that grants a right to DX specific stations without interference.

If they have only one station in their town (there are a LOT of such
places, believe me), or, worse yet, none at all, they are just **** out of
luck. Sorry, I ain't ever going to buy into that malarky. When I was
growing up, I had to listen to stations perhaps 150 miles or more away if
I didn't want to listen to the farm report or the swap meet of the air or
other equally lame (to me, as a teen) programming.

In another forum, I mentioned this story... which shows that the "when I was
growing up" thing is a fable and not relevant today.

In the 60's, the town of Omena, MI, in Leelanau county, population 60, could
get two Traverse City AMs in the daytime, and that with difficulty if there
were atmospherics. At night, there was no local reception, and one had to
depend on WJR, WLS, WBBM and WMAQ... the only consistently receivable
signals in the region. Unfortunately, for much of the year, Omena is in an
auroral region and reception could be blocked for days on end at night.

So, daytime, when most radio listening is done, there were two choices. At
night, there were four, none of which had any service to the local area.

Today, there are 3 AMs with a 5 mv/m day signal and one at night. Not a big
change there. But there are 7 FMs with a 70 dbu signal, 8 with a 60 to 69
dbu, and a half-dozen mure between 65 and 69 dbu. In other words, 15 easily
receivable, by day and night, FMs and a couple more with signals most radios
could get with a bit of effort.

So the idea that rural areas are unserved is bunk. I can repeat this story
for Dewey-Humboldt, AZ or Indio, CA or a thousand other rural communities
where AM reception in the 50's and 60's was bad, limited and subject to
interference by day, and limited to distant, irrelevant non-local stations
at night. Now, as in my example, here is a tiny, remote community that has
good signals from over a dozen FMs.

I know I'm just banging my head against the wall here, because you will
never see the other side of this issue (and yes, I do see the business
side of the issue), but dammit, PEOPLE have to be more important than the
almighty dollar, or the entire business ideal is doomed to eventual
failure. You serve the PEOPLE.

No, we do NOT. We serve the people, by the terms of our license, in the
communities around our city of licence. We have never had an obligation to
serve anyone outside our protected contours, and there has never, even in
the toughest regulatory days, a requirement to serve listeners in the weaker
protected contours... just in the immediate community.

That's the way it's supposed to work. The PUBLIC first.. the advertisers
second. If you don't serve the public, the advertisers will eventually go
elsewhere because they'll be advertising to nobody.

And how many advertisers today care if there are people listening beyond the
protected contours of a station? NONE is the answer. Without revenue, the
audience can not be served.