[BC] IBOC "secrets" and my opinions.

[Rich Wood]

------ At 07:06 PM 3/25/2007, Bill Harms wrote: -------

>    I am glad to see that you at least admit the possibility that 
> this technology may not work. I think the issue is when do we 
> determine enough is enough if it is not working. The problem with 
> making effort to make it work is that it may cause damage to what 
> is already there.
>
>    In order to find out if this will work or not, it should be 
> treated as an experimental technology.  I see too many people 
> thinking that it is going to happen no matter what. One thing that 
> has not been adequately tested is nighttime operation and its 
> effects.  That needs to be done first before we decide this is what 
> needs to be done.

Ordinarily, this would be the preferred method. However, each 
transmitter installation is different. I don't see a way to duplicate 
all the idiosyncrasies of every installation without having the 
station rollout take as many decades as the receiver rollout will.

I believe broadcasters have to be willing to bite the bullet, knowing 
full well it's live ammunition, and fix the real world problems that 
arise in each situation. If we do it now, when there are very few AMs 
using the system we can learn how to fix each facility before the 
entire audience has gone from adjacent stations. If we wait until 
there are many stations using it, we'll have mutually assured 
destruction. Like DTV, there won't be enough riggers and anti-NIMBY 
lawyers available to handle a large number of stations. By the time 
this stuff winds through the courts the audiences will have found 
alternatives.

>    Perhaps the IBOC nay-sayers are seeing something that some 
> others don't see.

Perhaps the programming folks among us are aware of how quickly an 
audience can be lost and how difficult it is, especially in AM, to 
get them back. It's Bosnian Roulette. We do know that WBZ, Boston, 
wipes out KDKA, Pittsburgh, in Western MA during critical hours. I'm 
well out of both stations' protected contours. However, there are 
closer-in listeners who may be regulars with Arbitron diaries or 
PeopleMeters who will simply disappear in a daypart already hurting 
for listeners for all but the strongest of signals. Please don't tell 
me no one listens to AM at night. Art Bell made some significant 
money for Premiere Radio Networks with an overnight show. So did 
Larry King when he was on Mutual overnight.

I'm completely unwilling to give up any daypart. Even the lowest 
rated contributes to the station's overall numbers and position in the market.

Someone here mentioned that small stations should have taken an 
active role in filing opinions with the FCC. They should have formed 
a group. Some believed that, since they don't intend to use the 
system, it won't affect them. In fact, they'll be the most vulnerable 
victims. It's now too late. Once someone lights up adjacent to them, 
their audiences will be gone. The reason I've been given by many is 
that they'd be ignored when competing with well financed lobbyists 
and political contributors.

Let er rip. Fix the tears and the tears.

Rich