[Technology] AM Radio in Digital Only

[The Fat Man]

On the other site that discusses solely radio, some posts are going up about AM stations going digital only. In my home market (Boston), we have one such station who recently went digital only.

What's your take on AM digital? As an outsider, I look at it hypothetically. We make AM digital only, so now we need to get people to buy equipment that picks up digital stations. Ok, we achieve that. Now, what do the owners then program on AM? Many AM listeners are older, where the coveted audiences have long forgotten AM.

News, Oldies, talk (political or national/local sports), religious, and various foreign language broadcasts will not push listeners to buy equipment to listen in digital. Considering that SiriusXM, streaming services, iTunes, and Podcasts can get listeners what they want, and is even beating a dent into FM's audience, what chance does AM have?

That's just my take. The other site is mostly filled with insiders, who give their professional perspectives. Where I see that as highly valuable, I do like to see what the average outsider (fan/listener) thinks.

 

[harshness]

Given the issues with interference on the AM band, I'm not at all convinced that digital streaming on an AM carrier makes sense.

I'm forced to stream my favorite AM station as I can't pick it up on my radio just eight miles from the tower unless conditions are ideal.

 

[The Fat Man]

Given the issues with interference on the AM band, I'm not at all convinced that digital streaming on an AM carrier makes sense.

I'm forced to stream my favorite AM station as I can't pick it up on my radio just eight miles from the tower unless conditions are ideal.

If I'm correct, digital is more compressed within the signal, which is why an analog radios can't pick it up.

Here's the statement that I lifted from Fybush in one of the threads of the Boston board of radiodiscussions.com

On an analog radio, you'll just hear that rush of noise.

The MA3 all-digital signal is pretty tightly contained within the normal +/- 5 kHz of the center frequency. If you have a selective enough receiver and you're not sitting right next to the tower, you can still hear adjacent-channel analog stations.

With that tight compression, I'm not sure if the interference is as much of an issue as it is on analog AM.

 

[cpalmer2k]

AM radio is essentially unlistenable in my area so honestly I'd welcome a change to digital. I listen to several local stations on the FM band that broadcast in HD radio and it sounds pretty good. It's kind of like HDTV, it depends on whether they get "carried away" and try to add too many subchannels or not too.

 

[The Fat Man]

AM radio is essentially unlistenable in my area so honestly I'd welcome a change to digital. I listen to several local stations on the FM band that broadcast in HD radio and it sounds pretty good. It's kind of like HDTV, it depends on whether they get "carried away" and try to add too many subchannels or not too.

I'm not sure if AM can hold substations. Many AM stations dropped HD Radio. When they were pushing HD AM stations, it was just (Call Letters)-HD. All the HD-2/3/4 substations have only been on FM. I don't think Digital AM can handle multiple substations on the same on its frequencies as FM stations do.

 

[FTA4PA]

I'd be interested in hearing comments from radio on this topic.

 

[harshness]

AM radio is essentially unlistenable in my area so honestly I'd welcome a change to digital.

How can digital survive where analog is overrun by interference? Its like trying to hold a phone conversation and use a dial-up modem at the same time.