NAB Nudges FCC to Let AMs Go Digital at Night

NAB has recommended to the FCC that the agency authorize AM Nighttime IBOC operations. In a five-page letter from Senior Vice President and General Counsel Jack Goodman, NAB explained why its radio board endorsed the idea.
“Our radio board is very optimistic that AM IBOC will offer AM broadcasters and their listeners near-FM quality within broadcasters’ core service areas,” states Goodman in the letter. NAB also hopes nighttime digital authorization will spur receiver companies to market digital radios.
The board reached its conclusions in January after an NAB ad hoc committee working on AM nighttime for IBOC reviewed test reports submitted by Ibiquity. Those reports will be submitted to the commission soon, NAB said.
Based on the results of Ibiquity’s field trials, NAB’s radio board believes any additional interference introduced into the AM band at night by the introduction of IBOC would primarily affect distant analog skywave signals. The board believes the improvements promised by IBOC for AM are “well worth” the tradeoff.
NAB recommends the FCC adopt nighttime AM IBOC with the provision that the agency “address instances of unanticipated interference on a case-by-case basis.”