"RHF" wrote in message
ps.com...
Long Term IBOC FM "HD" Radio would give them :
1 - Better Overall Local Market Signal Coverage
2 - Better Sound Quality and the 'option' for a
Second Audio {Data} Channel.
3 - Plus Younger Listener Demographics
- - - So . . . Why Waste the Time, Money and
Technology on IBOC AM "HD" Radio which as
you admit is at best a short term lossing game.

There is a real simple reason and that is based on the fact that nearly all
broadcast companies are publicly held. Moving a big n/t station to FM and
abandoning the AM to a lesser format would require a write-down of the book
asset value of the property, which would affect earnings.

Bonneville, held by the LDS, can afford to do this kind of dramatic move.
Most of the rest will have to slowly move to simulcasts and gradual
adjustments in the values of assets, rather than just pulling the lug; HD
may offer some alternatives, such as niche music formats, too... it is a
hedge play... and for a big AM, not particularly expensive. As an example,
changing a 50 kw AM in LA to HD with a brand new transmitter is less than
$250,000 in a market where bigger stations typically bill $40 million to $60
million a year.