On 18 Aug 2003 14:23:26 GMT, "Bob Haberkost"
wrote:

AM is dead, FM is dying, and they can have their IBOC in its dying days. In the end
the only broadcasting left will be the satellite-subscription services, and you'll
need to pay for that, just like everything else worth watching or listening to.

How will the satellite services find the space to serve every
community with the news and local information they need? Virtually
every community has a relatively local station. Whether they actually
provide service is another matter. Rural areas, I doubt, have
repeaters, so localization can't be done that way even if the FCC
allows it.

Then the repeater becomes a radio station (as cookie cutter as you
could ever imagine) at a diffferent frequency.

During the recent blackout I listened to WINS. Once WINS is gone, will
the satellite providers provide an identical service to me? I didn't
go to CNN (though WINS carries CNN among other networks). CNN or the
satellites can tell me what's happening across the country but
couldn't possibly support the cost of all the local news departments
(yes, they're dwindling) for every market. Who is going to tell me
which subway lines are running or where there might be food. Please
don't tell me wireless Internet because the cell site UPSs ran out of
power a couple of hours into the blackout. No cell service. My phone
switched to analog, then the dreaded "no service" message appeared.

Here the outage lasted 29 hours. Does every translator have a
generator capable of that fuel duty cycle and where will the fuel be
stored. Gas stations had fuel but no pumps working. As you can
imagine, New York has extrememly strict rules about fuel storage and
handling. I can't even bring a camp stove propane tank through a
tunnel. It's a felony if you're caught, according to the NYFD. If I'm
renting cell site space to Verizon I don't want a gas tank in the
building. Clearly, the weren't running on natural gas.

I believe all the news services on both satellite services are
pass-throughs.

I found it funny that TV stations stayed on the air with virtually no
operating receivers. They were talking to themselves.

Rich