The Unintended Impact of the New Daytime Savings Time on AM Stations
As some of you may know, in 2005 Congress passed a law extending Daylight Savings Time by four weeks. Beginning next Spring, daylight savings will begin three weeks earlier than before, and extend an extra week into the Fall. Specifically, as of March 11, 2007, daylight savings will start on the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November. The change was part of a bill passed by Congress aimed at spurring energy conservation. This change, however, will also have the unintended effect of causing many AM stations to sign-on well into morning drive time, and possibly after many kids have been deposited at school, for an additional month of every year.
Due to nighttime propagation characteristics, many AM radio stations must drastically reduce their power during the nighttime hours, or cease broadcasting altogether. The extension of Daylight Savings Time will exacerbate the impact of the annual time shift by requiring stations to delay the start of their morning broadcast for an additional four weeks each year. This expansion of daylight savings could have a real impact on the bottom line of many AM stations, especially daytime-only stations. Ultimately, staying on the air for an extra hour at the end of the day does not offset the loss of an hour during morning drive time.
This change in daylight savings is essentially an experiment to see if the four-week extension will truly result in any conservation of energy. Once the change becomes effective, the law requires the Department of Energy to conduct a follow-up report to assess the impact of the extension on energy consumption. Congress can then decide whether to keep the extension or revert back to the current time schedules.
Congress’ presumably well-intentioned efforts to conserve energy will have a huge impact on AM radio stations, unless the FCC waives or changes its rules to grant affected AM stations some relief. While the NAB mentioned this issue in passing as part of its recent Petition for Rulemaking regarding the use of FM translator stations by AM stations, at present, there does not appear to be any request pending before the FCC seeking relief from the upcoming extension of Daylight Savings Time. AM broadcasters may wish to consider filing a petition with the FCC seeking relief from this new law. We'd be interested in the reactions of AM station owners to see if this is seen as a problem that is significant enough to require some regulatory relief.