Degraded AM station signals ...

(From the STLMedia Message Board):

I've been bitching about this for years and just now you all are getting into the boat.

Reasons for AM signal degradation:

1. Historically, the secondary reason is that manufacturers are putting the cheapest possible AM circuits into auto, desk set, portable and component tuners. This has been done for many years, since the Walkman devices, when they used the space to add good FM reception and good cassette and then CD player response.

2. Historically as well, the biggest reason is the degradation of AM station's ground fields. As the radials rot and are not replaced or the metal is stolen, the ground wave dies and an AM station cannot survive on sky wave alone. How many AM radio stations do you know that have invested any money in rebuilding their ground field?

3. PR. We're not growing new AM radio listeners nor are we encouraging them. Why would younger listeners tune into a medium that crackles during thunderstorms or fades under overpasses when they have FM, which does neither, and IP radio which provides an infinite number of formats? Then there's SatRad (which is kind of an ancient medium, too) and MP3 players, where the listener programs their own tunes.

Not even Jack or Archie can match that.

With the exception of the few sports franchises that remain on AM stations and the emergency services that we can also get on CB radio, what's the use of the band?

4. Interference. Nearly every single utility "improvement" in the past twenty years (including car rechargers and traffic lights) causes problems with AM reception. Windshield antennae suck. And the aging overhead electrical, cable and telephone lines? You can't believe that they have no effect on AM signals...leaky electric, spurious emissions, call it whatever you want.

Get rid of the kilohertz crap, sell the band off for more data transmission. Maybe reserve a tiny chunk for emergency services, like we have a narrow band for weather info.

But, sad to say, AM has seen its day.

And by the time some distant enemy slams us with an EMP and knocks us back to the 1800's, it won't matter anyway.

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