Comments Due May 13 at FCC on Petition to Let AM Stations Go All-Digital
FCC approval for an all-digital AM service “will not happen overnight,” and won’t go anywhere without “industry support,” blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford Friday. He represents Bryan Broadcasting, which petitioned the FCC in docket 13-249 March 27 for…
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a rulemaking to let AM stations go all-digital (see 1903270057). Comments on the petition are due May 13, said a public notice Thursday, and Oxenford urged anyone “interested in having the option to operate an all-digital AM station” to file support. Proponents of all-digital AM argue that it allows for “better reception and increased stability of the transmission,” said Oxenford. They also say it’s time for stations “that are willing to transmit in this better system to be allowed to do so without having to seek experimental authority -- the only way in which an all-digital AM transmission is now allowed,” he said. If the FCC senses “enough industry support” for the Bryan petition, it will issue an NPRM “seeking additional comments on rules for implementing this proposal,” he said. Hubbard Radio's WWFD Frederick, Maryland, was the first AM to transmit in digital full time using the HD Radio “MA3" mode, said an NAB Show paper that won top technical honors at the Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology conference last week in Las Vegas.