[BC] Should Skywave Listening protection continue?

[Tom Taggart]

Ah...the old lawyer's trick, frame the question in order to obtain the  
answer you want.

The issue is not skywave, that is, distant listening.  This is the  
standard Iniquity line, that some sacrifices will have to be made to enter  
the wonderful world of tommorrow. They forget to mention that the  
sacrifices must be made by the stations who would otherwise receive  
protection from the IBOC station.

The issue is this interference, day or night, inside the otherwise  
protected contours of other stations.

Case in point, daytime: Detroit's WWJ's IBOC signal destroys the daytime  
signal of adjacent channel WLJM, Lima, Ohio inside the protected .5  
groundwave contour.

Case in point, nighttime:  My GM lives in Pittsburgh & works at our WV  
station (100 miles away) during the week.  He's very familiar with KDKA's  
coverage, not only because he lives in the 'burgh, but also because he  
worked as an AE for KD before he bought into our corporation.  Even with  
IBOC running just six am to six pm, come November~December there is a nice  
nighttime path between Boston and Pittsburgh between 5 and 6 PM.  Very  
noticeable interference to KDKA from WBZ's IBOC (for you left coast folks,  
BZ is 1030, KD 1020, co-owned Infinity stations)INSIDE the Pittsburgh  
metro...Allegheny/Washington County PA.  Come six, perfectly clear signal  
off KD.  Others on the list came come up with different examples.

The issue is NOT whether skywave listening should continue, the issue is  
whether established day and night-time interference protections should be  
maintained?  Or do we adopt IBOC and return the AM band to the situation  
existing prior to the 1934 Communications act, where one's coverage is  
determined by how much one can afford to pay the Washington insiders?

Interesting that KDKA is not IBOC. Ya think it might be because CFRB may  
raise hell in Ottawa?


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