"Robert L. Herman" wrote in message
...
To ansdwer your question.

First of all it's an all day thing. It seems to be all over town. About a
month ago I was riding out to a place where I play piano music for some
older people at an assisted living place on the other side of town and the
distorted sound never cleared up from my house to the other side of town.

As I stated earlier the distortion was heard as far away as Battle Creek.
To
discribe the sound would bew like running a radio with batteries that are
about to die. You know that raspy sound that a station makes when the
batteries are about to die.


It's definitely a problem at the station. Many AM stations these days are
only on the air because if they aren't, the FCC will take the license. The
way those owners operate them, I'm surprised they just don't give the
license up anyway. It's poor maintenance and a lack of caring on the part
of the person(s) who should care and fix the problem.

"videonex" wrote in message
...

"Robert L. Herman" wrote in message
...
To ansdwer your question.

First of all it's an all day thing. It seems to be all over town. About
a
month ago I was riding out to a place where I play piano music for some
older people at an assisted living place on the other side of town and
the
distorted sound never cleared up from my house to the other side of
town.

As I stated earlier the distortion was heard as far away as Battle
Creek.
To
discribe the sound would bew like running a radio with batteries that
are
about to die. You know that raspy sound that a station makes when the
batteries are about to die.


It's definitely a problem at the station. Many AM stations these days are
only on the air because if they aren't, the FCC will take the license.
The
way those owners operate them, I'm surprised they just don't give the
license up anyway. It's poor maintenance and a lack of caring on the part
of the person(s) who should care and fix the problem.

WKMI is the #4 rated station in its market, which is relatively small and
ranked #182 nationally. I'd be surprised if a relatively successful station,
albeit in a smaller market, is just ignoring a critical engineering issue.
The first suggestion, if the station is one of interest, is to call it and
make a polite inquiry of the manager or program director or operations
manager.

That said, I do take issue with a statement that most AM stations are on the
air to hold the license. Most AM stations are on the air to make money. Not
all do, but many are among America's top billing stations, and those AMs
with decent signals that cover their markets are successful. And many
smaller AMs that have limited coverage have found great success and profit
by serving ethnic communities, minority groups or religious followings.

In some cases, there are over-radioed markets where the FMs have better
coverage and the AMs are inferior (Palm Springs leaps to mind) where the AMs
are all pretty miserable and none even covers the entire market. However,
even in those cases, there is generally someone who is willing to take the
risk of buying the station to program their "better idea."

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...

That said, I do take issue with a statement that most AM stations are on
the
air to hold the license. Most AM stations are on the air to make money.
Not
all do, but many are among America's top billing stations, and those AMs
with decent signals that cover their markets are successful. And many
smaller AMs that have limited coverage have found great success and profit
by serving ethnic communities, minority groups or religious followings.


David,

I always value your opinions and find you one the most sane of the regulars
here. But I did not say that "Most" AMs are only on the air to hold the
license, I said "Many" are. There is a big diff and it is true. What you
said about the successful AMs is also true. I just think that any station
that let's it's quality get that bad is among the ones just holding the
license. If I owned it, it would be in stereo and have the best audio
quality available 24/7. If I couldn't afford to keep it going properly I
would sell it or send the license back to the FCC.

"videonex" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...

That said, I do take issue with a statement that most AM stations are on
the
air to hold the license. Most AM stations are on the air to make money.
Not
all do, but many are among America's top billing stations, and those AMs
with decent signals that cover their markets are successful. And many
smaller AMs that have limited coverage have found great success and
profit
by serving ethnic communities, minority groups or religious followings.


David,

I always value your opinions and find you one the most sane of the
regulars
here. But I did not say that "Most" AMs are only on the air to hold the
license, I said "Many" are. There is a big diff and it is true. What you
said about the successful AMs is also true. I just think that any station
that let's it's quality get that bad is among the ones just holding the
license. If I owned it, it would be in stereo and have the best audio
quality available 24/7. If I couldn't afford to keep it going properly I
would sell it or send the license back to the FCC.


Point taken on the "many" vs. "most" distinction.

Since I am at the West Coast's first regularly operating IBOC AM station, I
can attest to the potential of better quality. AM IBOC on the couple of
receivers we have sounds better than some of the more squashed FMs in the LA
market...

However, there are a "scad" (to avoid having to say either "many" or "most")
of AMs that do not deserve to exist, as they cover very little, or have
miserable facilities and high-Q DAs and no intent to improve. I just wonder
if IBOC may create a band cleansing in the process.

In article , David Eduardo wrote: can
attest to the potential of better quality. AM IBOC on the couple of
receivers we have sounds better than some of the more squashed FMs in

Yeah but I bet its trashing the analog signal that people are
listening to. WOR in New York sounds like a buzz-saw when its running
IBOC. Not that it's any better at night anymore either. Music sounds
all distorted and clipped.

--
Sven Weil
New York City, U.S.A.

"Sven Franklyn Weil" wrote in message
...
In article , David Eduardo wrote: can
attest to the potential of better quality. AM IBOC on the couple of
receivers we have sounds better than some of the more squashed FMs in

Yeah but I bet its trashing the analog signal that people are
listening to. WOR in New York sounds like a buzz-saw when its running
IBOC. Not that it's any better at night anymore either. Music sounds
all distorted and clipped.

We bought a dozen or so average consumer radios, from a walkman to a boom
box to a clock radio, and whatever is in between. On every one, the music in
analog sounds as good as it did before, and switching the IBOC on and off
produced during several days of testing no significant differences on
average radios.

The only thing that IBOC requires is a narrower analog bandwidth. The
processing stays the same, and most radios sound identical as they have
limited bandwidth to begin with.

"David Eduardo" wrote in message ...

However, there are a "scad" (to avoid having to say either "many" or "most")
of AMs that do not deserve to exist, as they cover very little, or have
miserable facilities and high-Q DAs and no intent to improve. I just wonder
if IBOC may create a band cleansing in the process.

Could you clarify a portion of your statement for me? Are you really
saying that AM stations with little coverage should just go dark?
What about AMs that serve small towns and rural areas?

Just wondering...

In article , radiodad wrote:
"David Eduardo" wrote in message ...

However, there are a "scad" (to avoid having to say either "many" or "most")
of AMs that do not deserve to exist, as they cover very little, or have
miserable facilities and high-Q DAs and no intent to improve. I just wonder
if IBOC may create a band cleansing in the process.

Could you clarify a portion of your statement for me? Are you really
saying that AM stations with little coverage should just go dark?
What about AMs that serve small towns and rural areas?

AMs that cover small towns and rural areas, but which provide no local
programming and repeat only satellite programming are not providing
actual service.

Yes, there are some small AM stations that actually have local programming
and which provide a real service to the local community, but these are sadly
in the minority and that minority continues shrinking fast.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"radiodad" wrote in message
...
"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...

However, there are a "scad" (to avoid having to say either "many" or
"most")
of AMs that do not deserve to exist, as they cover very little, or have
miserable facilities and high-Q DAs and no intent to improve. I just
wonder
if IBOC may create a band cleansing in the process.

Could you clarify a portion of your statement for me? Are you really
saying that AM stations with little coverage should just go dark?
What about AMs that serve small towns and rural areas?

There are many stations in metro areas that have signals that are so
directional they cover only one side of some streets! Often, these don't
cover any cohesive area, and are simply inadequate for any purpose.

Other stations are so limited in power, or so directional at night they
serve no useful purpose.

Stations with low power can serve small communities. But defective signals
in metro areas are generally not doing anyone any good.

Cleaning out the band selectively might enable some rural stations to g
fulltime usefully, or some metro signals to cover the entire market by
losening the protection requirementos .

Just wondering...

"David Eduardo" wrote

That said, I do take issue with a statement that most AM stations are on
the
air to hold the license. Most AM stations are on the air to make money.
Not
all do, but many are among America's top billing stations, and those AMs
with decent signals that cover their markets are successful.

Agreed. Case in point --
http://rronline.com/Subscribers/Ratings/Homepage.htm and select Milwaukee,
WI.

Number one rated station, and resoundingly so, is an AM.

--
Dave