Stations licensed to the U.S. AM radio band are in a time of dramatic change and challenge. In October the Federal Communications Commission took action with a report and order that implements a number of important rule changes. It also laid out additional moves it intends to take.
This eBook will help you untangle the details and implications of the big order and understand what else might be coming.
Radio World invited Commissioner Ajit Pai to share with you his thoughts about the revitalization effort to date. I can think of no commissioner since Jim Quello who has taken such an active interest in radio — and AM specifically — as he has.
The translator aspects of the FCC order have been well reported, but how does the situation look now that the first of the four-part window process has begun? Communications attorney and translator guru John Garziglia helps us understand.
The October order enacted more than just translator windows, though, so we turned to AM expert Ron Rackley to dig into the less publicized aspects and analyze them. He discusses day and night community coverage standards, elimination of the ratchet rule, wider implementation of MDCL and more.
And paragraphs 49 to 88 of the order discussed what the FCC proposes to do next, further technical steps that go beyond the rules discussed above. Our longtime contributor Cris Alexander explains these proposals. We’re likely to hear a great deal more about some of the ideas discussed there.
