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"America’s love affair between the automobile and AM radio — a century-long romance that provided the soundtrack for lovers’ lanes, kept the lonely company with ballgames and chat shows, sparked family singalongs and defined road trips — is on the verge of collapse, a victim of galloping technological change and swiftly shifting consumer tastes."
Full story here -
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Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation’s top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated.
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When something is removed, it needs to be respectfully replaced. The replacement could be internet radio options, or HD radio.
Here is what I fail to understand: IF an AM radio station goes dark, can it continue operating as an HD2 station? Or does it still require the AM Tower and all it's equipment to continue operating?
Why not just shift from AM radio to online? Offer HD2 as an option for people who are not streaming.
Last edited by Radiowiz (May 15, 2023 12:33 am)
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Radiowiz wrote:
Here is what I fail to understand: IF an AM radio station goes dark, can it continue operating as an HD2 station? Or does it still require the AM Tower and all it's equipment to continue operating?
Why not just shift from AM radio to online? Offer HD2 as an option for people who are not streaming.
No, an HD2 station does not require the AM to be active, at least from a technical or regulatory point of view.
It doesn't, however, work financially. AM stations that have positive ratings and revenue have so on pure inertia. Any interruption to that inertia kills them.
The costs required to produce the programming on well rated AM stations cannot be covered in the streaming environment alone.