Proposed AM Revitalization Order May Reject AM-Only Translator Window

Wheeler said he will propose an order in the coming weeks that would ease regulatory burdens on AM broadcasters. He is “committed to taking action in this proceeding so that AM radio will flourish while also preserving the values of competition, diversity, and localism that have long been the heart and soul of broadcasting,” he wrote in an April 13 blog post. Wheeler noted the bipartisan nature of AM revitalization, at NAB Show (see 1504150037).

“The biggest issue is how quickly any relief comes,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast lawyer David Oxenford. “There are AM stations going off the air every day.” The "key issue is to move translators to the areas that really need them,” said Gregg Skall, Washington counsel for the California, Minnesota and Missouri broadcasters associations. Wheeler’s post rejected what the industry sees as “the real answer to revitalizing AM radio,” opening a filing window for translators to rebroadcast AM stations on the FM band, wrote Pillsbury telecom lawyer Scott Flick in a blog post Monday.

AM stations are waiting for the window to open for translators, Oxenford said. “It’s unclear from the statements whether that will be happening or not.” Wheeler wrote that he's not sure an FM translator window is necessary or if it should be an “exclusive opening.” The number of FM translator licenses available for AM stations may not be insufficient, he wrote. The commission will likely double the number of licensed translators from 2003 over the next 12 to 18 months through translator construction permits, he said. “The translators have been an enormous benefit to small town communities,” Skall said. “That’s why we felt it was critically important that AM have a separate translator window, one time, it doesn’t have to be repeated.” IHeartCommunications urged the commission to include an AM-only FM translator window in a proposal, in an October 2014 ex parte notice.

FM translators shouldn’t be the only solution, Oxenford said. “Many of these stations have been hanging on for translators until some bigger fix can come down the road.” Solutions that aren’t "Band-Aid fixes" would be changing AM antennas and radiation systems to minimize interference between stations or moving to an all-digital platform, Oxenford said. “Some of the preliminary testing [of all-digital AM] offers some promise, but it means you have to replace all the radios that are out there,” he said. “There are more radios than there are people.” Some iBiquity radios could be used for digital AM, but many of those receivers are FM, he said. Skall agreed that iBiquity could create a plugin to add capabilities to existing radios. “A lot of AM broadcasters are concerned about the cost and penetration of existing receivers,” Skall said. “But demonstrations of digital stations are astounding.” Creating a path toward digital stations, or allowing it on an optional basis, is worthwhile, he said. Another long-term solution is the proposal to migrate AM radio to channels 5 and 6 in the TV band, Oxenford said. These channels are adjacent to the bottom of the FM band, he said. “Given the incentive auction and the potential for packing TV stations in the VHF band, that seems like an unlikely solution until we see what the repacked TV band looks like.”

Commissioner Ajit Pai agreed with Wheeler’s commitment, in a statement April 13 (see 1504130024). "There is nearly unanimous support in the record for the ideas put forward by the Commission under Acting Chairwoman [Mignon] Clyburn’s leadership," said Pai, who's known for his role in championing AM radio. Pai said the commission should move on this proposal in “the next couple of months.” Commissioner Clyburn began the AM revitalization proceeding by “asking what the Commission should do to keep AM radio thriving,” Wheeler wrote. The commission adopted an NPRM for revitalizing AM radio service in October 2013 in docket 13-249.

The proposed order will include measures to address obstacles and interference-related issues that “have long plagued AM stations across the country,” Wheeler wrote. It will offer stations flexibility to choose site locations that comply with local zoning requirements, incorporate energy-efficient technologies and receive power increases, he said. Wheeler will also circulate a companion Further NPRM that will propose to let stations that serve smaller communities expand limited day and nighttime service areas, while protecting larger Class-A stations’ core service areas, to help the smaller stations overcome environmental interference, he said. This type of flexibility is encouraging for AM broadcasters, Skall said. The FNPRM will ask for input on opening the expanded AM band, or whether the commission should do so, since there's currently room for additional stations in the 1605 to 1705 kHz AM band, Wheeler said. “The AM band has already been expanded to go above 1600, where it used to stop,” Oxenford said. “Moving stations above 1600 so far really hasn’t made much of a difference. It doesn’t overcome many of the problems that still exist with background noise, urban environments, other interference issues and receiver sensitivity.”

AM stations deal with background interference, especially in urban areas, Oxenford said. “With more electronic devices, there’s more noise that makes it harder for AM to be received,” he said. “Fluorescent lights and computers give off radiation that interferes with AM reception.” Devices in cars and other electronics like iPhone docks often have low-quality AM receivers, he said. “In many cases, [AM] are small mom and pop locally owned stations,” Skall said. “We need to bring more ability to those folks. They live in their communities and want to serve them.”