The Unintended Impact of the New Daylight Savings Time on AM Stations
This article is no longer available. For more information on this topic, see FCC Adjusts AM Stations' Authorizations to Adjust to New Daylight Savings Time
Trackbacks (0)
Links to blogs that reference this article
Trackback URL
Post A Comment / Question
Use this form to add a comment to this entry.
Send To A Friend
Use this form to send this entry to a friend via email.
Yes it is worth pursueing relief! Again AM broadcasters have to take a kick in the teeth, the am fm playing field has been so uneven for so long and the FCC failure to choose a AM Stereo standard killed once again an opportunity to help level that field. Now directional and daytimers take another kick (how many more teeth does the AM Broadcaster have to loose?) morning drive has got to be one of the last economical viable periods keeping these daytimers on the AIR. Did congress and the commission stop to think about the listners (voters)who will again be confused why they can't get weather alerts and EAS broadcast on the stations they are use to waking up to evryday of the week,now thanks to Congress you have to look at what month it is on the calendar before setting your alarm at night. We know what happens they are forced to find another station to wake up to. When the time changes back, who tells these listeners they can go back to their old favorite station? Let's say they did mark their calender so that when the daylight savings changed they could go back to their old favorite station, but guess what? The lost of the audiences during this DLST lead to lost revenues, which lead to layoffs of those favorite morning air personalities, and now it's satelite,or infomercial or worse yet it's off the air??
It's like all the laws Congress continues to pass,( the few that they can agree on enough to pass)the sideffects do more harm than good,just like alot of our new medications. Maybe they just have to have FDA approval after significant test studies?
Working with a small daytime am station, I would be very interested in seeking relief from the FCC regarding losing more broadcast time. Perhaps a 6am to 8pm rule or something along those lines.
There is a reason that daytime stations are daytime stations, and that others are directional. This is not simply a matter of "changing the rules". FCC rules can be changed, the propogation characteristics of the AM band don't and won't care what the FCC says, we'll simply have interference which will often be terrible.
That's why I get crazy when I hear otherwise very smart people talk about the FCC changing the rules to allow HD nighttime operation. They talk about it like it's only and FCC problem. The FCC needs to hire some scientists again and get the politics out of the rulemaking process.
On a related note, the whole DLST shift is idiocy and will cause many unintended consequences for dubious gains.