TORONTO – While radio stations in general face many of the same issues thanks to burgeoning competition from streaming audio services, the separate AM and FM bands have their own unique challenges to overcome, as was apparent during the North American Broadcasters Association’s Future of Radio & Audio Symposium, held last week at the Glenn Gould Studio in downtown Toronto.
In his keynote address to the symposium held 10 days ago, Ajit Pai, commissioner of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, outlined two issues for AM/FM radio: the revitalization of the AM band and the activation of FM chips in smartphones.
In 2013, the FCC launched its AM Radio Revitalization Initiative, which is designed to help AM broadcasters address some of the technical challenges they face such as electromagnetic interference from the increasing number of devices being used by consumers; degradation of AM signals at night, over distances and in urbanized settings; and the 10 KHz frequency spacing between radio channels which limits the bandwidth of receivers. In particular, the FCC is “opening a window” to allow AM broadcasters to apply to obtain FM translators or repeaters, Pai said during his keynote speech. This move would be a temporary measure while long-term fixes for the AM band were worked on, Pai said.
Regarding the issue of activating FM chips in smartphones, Pai said he considered it to be “a matter of smart spectrum policy” to have consumers use their phones to listen to radio over the air instead of using spectrum unnecessarily to stream FM stations on their smartphones. However, Pai said he didn’t support the U.S. government imposing a mandate on wireless carriers to activate FM chips (which are available and active, in many smartphones), suggesting instead that the issue should be ultimately resolved as a result of consumer demand and competitive pressure in the marketplace.
Sylvie Courtemanche, vice-president and associate general counsel for government relations at Corus Entertainment, said the disparity between daytime and nighttime coverage of AM radio can be an issue for radio stations in Canada. Corus owns 40 radio stations across the country. “It can make a difference. Especially in wintertime, on the drive home at 5 o’clock, it gets dark,” Courtemanche said. “So it could definitely have an impact on the bottom line.”
Ben Downs, vice-president and general manager of Texas-based Bryan Broadcasting Corp., said he often hears complaints about weak AM radio signals from listeners. “As an old guy in broadcasting, it would be hard to count the number of times somebody has said, ‘Why can’t I hear you at night? Why can I hear you in some places and I can’t hear you in others?’” Downs said.
“Imagine for a moment what would happen if Spotify went away at 6 o’clock at night? We wouldn’t be talking about them. We wouldn’t be talking about Pandora. The expectation of the audience and the marketplace now is you will be there, you’re always on, you’re always there,” Downs said.
The amount of real estate AM radio stations need for towers sometimes means the land value of an AM station’s transmitter sites is more than the overall worth of the radio station itself, added Gary Cavell, founding principal of Cavell Mertz & Associates Consulting Engineers in Manassas, Va.
“We have a radio station in Washington, D.C., that could probably be sold for $10 million, but the land is going up for sale for $75 million. That’s a no-brainer. ‘Let’s turn that puppy off and make some money, cold cash, now.’ You see it over and over again.” – Gary Cavell, Cavell Mertz & Associates
“We have a radio station in Washington, D.C., that could probably be sold for $10 million, but the land is going up for sale for $75 million. That’s a no-brainer. ‘Let’s turn that puppy off and make some money, cold cash, now.’ You see it over and over again,” Cavell said.
Prior to the session on revitalizing the AM band, CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting, Tom Pentefountas, took part in a discussion about the future of local broadcast radio. He was asked by an audience member if the CRTC is taking any steps to protect the AM band or help AM stations to improve their facilities, similar to what the FCC is doing in the U.S.
“I’m not sure we’re doing anything special to protect AM stations, or FM stations, or any other kinds of stations,” Pentefountas responded. “If a community is well served, we’re very aware and cognizant and cautious not to over-licence. But besides that, is there anything specific that you can do to save AM as opposed to FM, just protecting AM licences or protecting any radio stations, I don’t think we should be in the business of doing that.”
Pentefountas added: “With the AM frequency, if you’re not getting the kind of signal you want, you can always pick up an AM/FM station and convert the AM into FM.”
Courtemanche noted the CRTC vice-chair’s comments and she said during the panel discussion on revitalizing the AM band that Corus currently has a fourth application before the CRTC to try to get a nested Class A FM repeater to address the core interference problems of one of its urban AM radio stations.
“Based on what I heard from [vice-chair] Pentefountas, I think we’re facing another denial, because it doesn’t seem to be that AM is really something that they want to sustain in Canada or feel that they’re obliged to,” Courtemanche said.
“Based on what I heard from [vice-chair] Pentefountas, I think we’re facing another denial, because it doesn’t seem to be that AM is really something that they want to sustain in Canada or feel that they’re obliged to.” – Sylvie Courtemanche, Corus Entertainment
Cavell suggested one solution is to move to all-digital AM radio. “It sounds pretty damn good,” he said. “No, it’s not FM…but the frequency response is wonderful. It’s getting back to where we need to be, and the way it seems to handle noise issues and fading issues seems to be way superior and a much more tolerable listening experience.”
Digital AM has many obstacles to overcome, most of them regulatory. “There is a lack of global agreement on standards,” Cavell said. “It would be helpful if at least the hemisphere were doing the same thing.”
Canadian radio broadcasters were unsuccessful in the past with making digital radio (with the Digital Audio Broadcasting standard) a reality. “In Canada, the problem that we have is that for many years we thought we were going to do digital in L Band, and we did 12 years of that before that didn’t work out. So I can see that the HD (Radio) penetration in the U.S. is quite higher than in Canada, and that’s the reason why,” Courtemanche said.
She reiterated that it doesn’t seem the CRTC is ready to take any particular steps to help the AM band specifically. “They believe that there’s sufficient diversity out there and they don’t need to save a particular band in order to ensure that diversity,” Courtemanche said. “I would question that. I think the news talk format is potentially at risk if we don’t do something for the AM band.”
For FM radio executives and proponents who attended the symposium, the other topic of interest was the activation of FM chips in smartphones.
During his afternoon keynote address, Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications, advocated for the radio industry to educate listeners about the FM chips in their smartphones and to apply pressure on wireless carriers to ensure those chips are activated.
“I appreciate Mr. Pai and everybody else who has said let the market decide. Here’s where we have a bit of a problem. There is no free market,” Smulyan said, adding it would take millions of consumers to apply enough pressure for carrier activation of FM chips to become the norm.
“So it’s not really the freest of markets, but we have strength, and the strength is in our voices…if we tell our listeners,” he explained.
He added that wireless providers who don’t activate FM chips in their customers’ phones “have an unsustainable position because of public safety, they have an unsustainable position because of data charges, and they have an unsustainable position because they’re denying people something that they paid for.”
During a panel discussion regarding the importance of radio in public emergency situations, Raj Shoan, Ontario commissioner for the CRTC, made a special point of addressing the issue of FM chip activation. Emphasizing that he was speaking on only his own behalf, because he wouldn’t presume to speak for his colleagues at the CRTC in Ottawa, Shoan said it’s an issue worth exploring.
“The argument that FM receivers in smartphones could have a role to play in an emergency alert, or a public emergency context, is a compelling one.” – Raj Shoan, CRTC
“The argument that FM receivers in smartphones could have a role to play in an emergency alert, or a public emergency context, is a compelling one,” Shoan said.
The first question to be answered, however, is whether or not the CRTC has jurisdiction over the issue, Shoan said. “Interestingly, unlike in the United States, it’s a bit of a regulatory grey zone in Canada, as to whether it’s the CRTC or Industry Canada (that has jurisdiction).”
Shoan added that he has already done some research on the topic with CRTC staff in Ottawa and discovered that the issue of FM chip activation in smartphones has never been the subject of any applications filed with the CRTC.
“Shockingly, surprisingly, from my perspective, no radio broadcaster has ever made an application to the Commission to have these FM receivers turned on. So even though there is interest in the industry, it’s never actually been brought before the Commission through a public process to be addressed,” Shoan said.
“So I’m not advocating anything, but what I will say is that if an application is brought before us, we are legally obligated to deal with the application on its merits. So wink, wink, nudge, nudge. That is what I’ll say.”
