[BC] AM Stereo

[Broadcast List USER]

Jerry:

Barry is completely right, and I would not have clipped so much,  
except that the filter would have gotten me.

The FCC did not write receiver standards.  They could have and should  
have.

The broadcasters were FORCED to comply with NRSC, and other standards,  
but the FCC has NEVER written a receiver standard.

If they had, we would have had a working interoperability like FM pre- 
emphisis and de-emphisis.

The receiver manufacturers were free to really screw up the frequency  
response, while the broadcasters were limited in what they could do in  
response, though that was likely good, because the war prior to that  
was really awful.

You really need to read what Bob Orban has written in this thread, but  
also what he has written in years gone by.

This history has unfolded over many decades, but the fact is the lack  
of FCC standards over RECEIVERS is quite possibly the biggest problem  
we have had, and has had a lot do do with why the US Medium Wave band  
is so screwed up, and why stations, especially the smaller ones (at  
least the full-time ones) are having the issues they are today.

Then again, could AM Stereo save AM?  Not a chance.  At best, it could  
have pushed back the decline a few years at best.

Could better fidelity have helped?  You bet.  It could, even today.

The FCC should have never allowed the additional stations, and should  
have allowed the unprofitable to fail.  That culling of the herd  
should allow the remaining stations more power, and better frequency  
response.

Oh, well.

I have to say that questioning the writings of folks like Bob Orban  
and Barry Mishkind is pretty bold, and pretty arrogant.  You can do  
it, but you really need the data to back it up.

And to pile on, I believe Barry was spot on when he wrote that we have  
done ourselves a real disservice when we pushed negative modulation  
beyond 90-92% negative modulation.  We were really idiots, and  
frankly, we remains so, Magnivox aside.

--chip

On Nov 26, 2010, at 2:37 AM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 11
> From: Jerry Mathis <thebeaver32 at gmail.com>
>
> This is not said in anger, but you are blaming the victims for the  
> crime. While the trend to automation began before AM Stereo and  
> NRSC, the trend continued because of the continued listener drain.  
> Decent radios MAY have made a difference for many AM stations. Yes I  
> agree, the industry did itself a lot of harm--but improved audio  
> quality COULD have turned a lot of that around, IMHO
>
> Jerry Mathis
>
> On Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 1:26 PM, Barry Mishkind <barry at oldradio.com>  
> wrote:
>
>>      Really, between the industry wars and the timid FCC, it is
>>      broadcasters themselves - the same bunch who
>>      decided to automate stations to save money - who
>>      have really made the mess.