6-3-14
So much for the FCC's revitalization plans. KCAA San Bernadino owner Fred Lundgren blogs in the Huffington Post that AM radio faces a dismal future and pleads for the FCC to get involved. "Most AM broadcasters know they are doomed," Lundgren writes, "but they won't stand up and insist on action because they don't want to get on the radar screen of the FCC. I will not sit quietly and meekly and accept the slow and certain demise of AM radio while the FCC does nothing with dozens of FM frequencies below 87.5 FM that should provide AM stations with a new home."
Lundgren says, "It's time for the Congress and the FCC to pause its love affair with inefficient point-to-point communication and realize that the most efficient form of mass communication and spectrum utilization continues to be point to multipoint terrestrial radio, and unless the AM band is migrated to FM very soon, the opportunity to expand the band will be gone forever. There is only one logical way to 'cure' the problems of AM radio and that's to migrate all AM stations to FM frequencies below 87.5 FM. I am stupefied that it has not happened."
Read Lundgren's blog post HERE and leave your comments below.
(6/4/2014 9:13:04 AM)
Fred is right on the mark! Our small market AM is still vital, partly because of it's exclusive adult standards music format and the much older average age of our market's audience. Interestingly, there are times when we have hundreds of simultaneous listeners to our internet stream - perhaps more than over the air. So many that we worry about not being able to afford to continue streaming due to rights fees. The internet gets through where our AM signal does not.
(6/4/2014 1:26:23 AM)
I admire very much Fred's obvious passion. But I'm afraid he is right, when he says AM is doomed. ...That is a given. But I am also very worried about even FM being a factor, at least in the major markets, within even 5 years. Smart phones can do everything that radio does, in terms of immediate information, and smartphones are interactive and offer many many more entertainment/music choices than FM. .., 5 years I think at best, even for FM relevancy in major markets. Sad.
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