That’s the word from the FCC for the future of AM and FM radio.
The NAB is holding its convention out in Las Vegas this week, and that’s the clear message from the FCC. It’s time to get serious about FM/HD and AM/HD so we can “clean up the wasted spectrum”. The NAB people hear that and think “iBiqtuity IBOC HDradio”. I’m not sure that’s what the FCC has in mind at all, but I’m not there. The DAB European model would be much more attractive to some in Washington where stations would provide their signals to a central broadcast facility that would be run by the government or a quasi government entity – kind of like Sirius/XM but without the satellite. And centrally controlled. And the number of licenses not limited by discrete frequencies and overlapping power contours.
A few months ago, Congress passed Michelle Obama’s “Healthy Eating for School Children” act and dismissed complaints that the law would permit schools to prevent parents from giving their kids food to take to school. People raising that objection were characterized by the media as “kooks”. Now a school in Chicago has banned bringing your lunch to school. [Story]
The elementary school kids are in full revolt. The Loyalist teachers supporting the Principle’s regime are prepared to use extreme measures to enforce the rules and stop the food fights in the cafeteria. An appeal to the United Nations for a No Carrots zone is expected shortly.
What do those two things have in common you might be wondering….
I’m not wondering nothing.
How would it work without distinct frequencies?
Digital audio is done using multiplexing of packets rather than carrier modulation. In a very basic sense, it is the same thing when you’re listening to streams here. There is no frequency, Kenneth. There isn’t even a need for call signs. The entire pipeline of audio for all stations is combined into one big pipe, which itself does have a frequency.
Glenn Beck already sees that. The local station (and their expensive license) is close to irrelevant.
If I were king of radio and believed that we need to go to digital radio, I would change the ownership caps to count each analog signal as 3 “stations” for purposes of the limits. If you’re Clear Channel and you are allowed to have 6 FM stations, you now are allowed 2 – and have to push your 6 stations onto 2 channels. Right now, there is no motivation for stations to do anything with HD, which is why it has sat there for 5 years and sold only a handful of HD capable radios.
The downside is that if the goal is to get rid of analog radio, that means every radio becomes useless after a transition period. There is even more inertia behind analog radio than there was with analog TV. There was talk at one time of using VHF channels 5 and 6 for a new FM digital band (perhaps DAB), but that doesn’t seem to have picked up any steam. That would allow analog and digital to coexist for a while, similar to the phase out with TV
All is well! All is well with my soul! Just as long there is CENTRAL GOVERNMENT CONTROL, what possibly could go wrong? Howabouda a nice cuppa Gleiwitz someday, boys?
Glenn Beck was making a big deal out of Bill Clinton’s idea to round up all the unemployed and shipping them off to be re-educated.