FCC Approves MDCL AM Broadcasting

[KX5JT]

I agree AM broadcast has it's trouble, but since that is what paid my bills for 40 years I still enjoy it. How many of you listen to AM stations when you are on the road, (town to town or similar) at night.

Yeah, I have my CD of all my 60's favorites that I play also, but sometimes, you just gotta DX on AM and see what you can get.

Last November during my road trip to Denver and back through New Mexico and W. Texas, I really enjoyed the AM band through the night in the middle of nowhere.

[KB2WIG]

  "  Must have lots of ground radials. "


No, they use an Isotron.


klc

[flintstone mop]

I realize this is not technical,,but the annoying thing about AM broadcast is that little of it is original, except where OPCOM lives. I can tune into local AM, distant and skip and hear the same program on most of them. Satellite relay stations.

 

[W8IXY]

Content, content, content.   Give the audience something to listen to AND BE PART OF!   Include lifestyle information for your target demo.  Audio quality is a problem, especially with the garbage AM sections in most radios today, but I am sure a substantial number of listeners would tune in to something that is better than hate talk, extreme right or left wing politics, or hellfire and brimstone preaching (and send your money in...). 

If the audience listens to the horrible tiny speaker audio on some of the hand held devices like IPODs, I still have hope that they could tolerate AM audio....  If...if...if...if a station would transmit clean audio that could make it through a decent radio.  (Some of the CCRANE AM radios sound pretty good).

But, then again, I dream a lot about the old days........

I figure that if I ever won a lotto, I'd establish a radio station for the nearly ignored over 50 crowd.  I'd get the call sign KOOT.  Radio for old coots.  That'll show the young whippersnappers that us baby boomers still have some clout!!

73
Ted W8IXY

[K5UJ]

Never. Only listen to FM.

Ah, that is a shame leetle wan, for you miss the magical magnificence of da medium wave AM.   

It is the mode of the ancient radio fathers, of excited steel towers and return currents in the ground, of earth hugging ground waves and the exciting mystical night time skywaves with static and side band selective fading.   

What does that class C VHF have compared to summer nights  and the Grand Old Opry on a big speaker from a hot p.p. stage and the envelope detector glass audio warm fuzzy?  What about Dewey Phillips Red Hot and Blue?  Leonard Post Toasties (Postero); Wolfman....on FM...are you kidding me?    You can find it all baby...ya just gotta tune around, but ya can't dance without a good rx.   Make your own reality   stick with da ancient Fathers and da modulated carrier!

VHF FM.  Little dipoles up on towers.  Line of sight.  Stereo, the original radio ripoff.   Feh

[WA3VJB]

if something expensive happened like loss of  the transmitter site or need of a new pattern we would just turn the license back into the FCC.

Yeah, and until the recent real estate bust, it became "time" for many small independents to sell out to developers wanting their acreage where the multi tower DA has stood.

Far more return in real dollars than any prospect of station sale and billing revenue.
And to Ted --

I figure that if I ever won a lotto, I'd establish a radio station for the nearly ignored over 50 crowd.  I'd get the call sign KOOT.  Radio for old coots.  That'll show the young whippersnappers that us baby boomers still have some clout!!

Except for the excellent call letters, something like this was attempted by a 50,000 watt blowtorch in upstate NY.

I used to always listen to Jackson Armstrong's show in the late 1960s and 70s, playing Top 40 that now is the "oldies" format.

What WKBW did (legal ID is WWKB) is bring back Armstrong and other air personalities from that era, gave them the same dayparts as The Old Days, and went at it !!!   What a rush.

Sure, the DJs sounded older, but they were the same, and hearing "oldies" on an AM brought some authenticity to the sound itself, that I should have known was gonna be a bonus.

Unfortunately, the station had changed hands, and the re-created KB was apparently just a way to clear spot inventory until a format change.  I deleted the button on the car radio.

Soon after, Armstrong passed away, how's that for a denouement?

To hear and see him at his best -- check this out. This was after he had left WKBW, but it was the same schtick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tqSE1-iO9c

Especially note the art of back-timing the Stones song, and him riding the pot over the music intro !!
AH< maN that stuff is magic !!!

[ssbothwell SWL]

Content, content, content.   Give the audience something to listen to AND BE PART OF!   Include lifestyle information for your target demo.  Audio quality is a problem, especially with the garbage AM sections in most radios today, but I am sure a substantial number of listeners would tune in to something that is better than hate talk, extreme right or left wing politics, or hellfire and brimstone preaching (and send your money in...). 

If the audience listens to the horrible tiny speaker audio on some of the hand held devices like IPODs, I still have hope that they could tolerate AM audio....  If...if...if...if a station would transmit clean audio that could make it through a decent radio.  (Some of the CCRANE AM radios sound pretty good).

But, then again, I dream a lot about the old days........

I figure that if I ever won a lotto, I'd establish a radio station for the nearly ignored over 50 crowd.  I'd get the call sign KOOT.  Radio for old coots.  That'll show the young whippersnappers that us baby boomers still have some clout!!

73
Ted W8IXY

this is why i love part 15 AM. anyone can get on the air and produce their own super local content.

i think the fcc is now going the wrong direction. instead of trying to find ways to squeeze more power out of commerical megastations they should be opening up the band to more low power community am stations.

[flintstone mop]

From Paul,
Sure, the DJs sounded older, but they were the same, and hearing "oldies" on an AM brought some authenticity to the sound itself, that I should have known was gonna be a bonus.

I certainly agree....There was something special about each AM station for the sound. The processing, EQ, 1957 or so and the 60's?? There weren't any Optimods then. The 50KW stations almost always had 'that sound'. Very few 5 kw stations had a nice low end.
FM radio kinda sterilized "the sound"...........Did you ever buy your favorite recud heard on radio and when you played it at home, you think...WHAT??? is this what I have been hearing??? The same song??
Fred

[Bill, KD0HG]

A mic amp with EQ, A Stay-Level, a CBS Volumax and a real plate reverb or a reverb micked at the end of a 30' hallway. That's what you need. Good pipes help. That's *the sound*.

Both me and other local friends used to listen to Ricky the K on 1520 50 KW KOMA, OK City on Saturday nights. We listened to him every night,  The guy is damn good with 50s-60s doo-wop. Now he seems to be only on line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39NNeOusJek

http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmiller/the-return-of-ricky-and-tonto-and-ricky-the-ks-solid-gold-time-machine/9581/

http://stlmediastuff.blogspot.com/2010/05/ricky-ks-solid-gold-time-machine.html

[flintstone mop]

A mic amp with EQ, A Stay-Level, a CBS Volumax and a real plate reverb or a reverb micked at the end of a 30' hallway. That's what you need. Good pipes help. That's *the sound*.

Both me and other local friends used to listen to Ricky the K on 1520 50 KW KOMA, OK City on Saturday nights. We listened to him every night,  The guy is damn good with 50s-60s doo-wop. Now he seems to be only on line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39NNeOusJek

http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmiller/the-return-of-ricky-and-tonto-and-ricky-the-ks-solid-gold-time-machine/9581/

http://stlmediastuff.blogspot.com/2010/05/ricky-ks-solid-gold-time-machine.html

YUP definitely the dayzzz............nice smooth audio. I read that some engineers would FEEL the bass notes in the floor from the mod transformer in the 50KW rigs.
Those days are gone

[K5UJ]

if you have the coin, you can get a gates sta-level, orban spring reverb and CBS Volumax all on ebay right now but the sta-level is big bucks.

fortunately for me, i don't have the pipes (except maybe the first two minutes out of bed when my voice is an octave lower than normal for some reason) so I don't have to worry about not having the do re me.

[flintstone mop]

if you have the coin, you can get a gates sta-level, orban spring reverb and CBS Volumax all on ebay right now but the sta-level is big bucks.

fortunately for me, i don't have the pipes (except maybe the first two minutes out of bed when my voice is an octave lower than normal for some reason) so I don't have to worry about not having the do re me.

Hey Rob that's the time to get on the air!!!!