[BC] DRM broadcasting to begin in USA

[Glen Kippel]

On 10/21/07, Rich Wood <richwood at pobox.com> wrote:
>
> ------ At 11:00 PM 10/20/2007, Glen Kippel wrote: -------
>
> >That's a provocative question, given that nobody really listens to their
> AM
> >and FM outlets -- who's going to listen to it on DRM or IBOC?
>
> If you do a little more research you'll find radio and TV are still,
> by a wide margin, the population's choice for entertainment. I think
> we're getting suckered in by the doomsayers and those who believe
> digital is our salvation. At this point, consumers have absolutely no
> interest in digital radio. They have great interest in digital TV
> because of HDTV. It's sexy.
>
> -----


Yes, HDTV is a visible improvement.  IBOC is not.  But, what I meant is that
nobody listens to Family Radio.  Maybe on SW, but not domestically.  What
keeps them going is that they sold off their FMs for some *beau-coups* bones
and moved their operations to AM.  They are surviving off the profits.  At
one time, (very early `70's), Family Radio was pretty
*avant-guarde,*playing the Gaithers, Linda Rich, Doug Oldham, Ray
Hildebrand, Honeytree
etc.  Then Harold Camping decided to re-trench and air nothing but choirs,
quartets and old music.  Thus, when their listeners became old enough to
become deceased, some of them left bequests, the others stopped giving.  I
believe that when a station is listener-supported, it is helpful to have
listeners.  Perhaps things will change when Camping goes to that great big
radio station in the sky.  But since most of their stations are now AM, it
may be too late to revitalize the network.  My bet is that they will
eventuially fold.