[BC] Daylight Savings Time changes?

[Rich Wood]

------ At 09:01 PM 7/22/2005, Bill Harms wrote: -------

>         Haven't we heard that secondary listeners (those who receive the
>stations by skywave) are not considered to be part of the audiences
>any more? If that is true, then to the owners of the stations,
>listeners in distant provinces and states would not matter.  You know
>me well enough that I think that would be a shame if it were true.
>Many stations enjoy fairly clear reception in distant locations at
>night.

If that's the case, why do we need 50Kw stations anymore? Since the 
TSA won't be important, all we need is enough power to cover the 
metro. Since WTOP is a regular example, wouldn't they better serve 
the Washington metro with 10Kw ND rather than a directional array 
that requires AM & FM simulcasts? WOAI, San Antonio certainly could 
serve the metro with 5Kw ND. I believe KTSA does pretty well with 
5Kw. I don't think anyone else in San Antonio needs 50. We might take 
an example of KFI still serving their metro with 25Kw. Since IBOC 
will get rid of all the man-made interference, we won't need the 
power to overcome it. We'll just need power to overcome IBOC.

If the NAB really wants to serve radio that's willing to give up all 
but its protected contour, why not get all the engineering brains at 
the NAB together (I think he's on vacation this week) and redraw all 
the allocation tables to make all stations local. Imagine the 
simplicity compared with the hodge-podge of powers, pre-sunrise, and 
day/night. Imagine the real estate stations could sell to strip malls 
when they can remove 46 of their 47 towers and bump up their 
nighttime power from 18 watts into 47 towers to 5Kw into one. They'll 
probably need that extra income to cover the iBiquity license fees. 
Especially if they have multiple "CD Quality" channels.

It might put some consulting engineers out of business when High 
School kids could plot an AM station's pattern pretty close with just 
a compass. I really think this might be the answer. Daytimers could 
go fulltime. We could eliminate skywave by reconfiguring antennas 
with all those extra parts to keep the signal close to the ground. 
Who needs to hear Sean Hannity from 400 miles away when you can hear 
the same thing every day from a closer station. Who needs to hear 
Sean Hannity, at all? Sorry, just a personal opinion.

It's always good to get back to basics. Everyone at 10Kw or lower, 
non-directional and local. Sounds like a plan.

Rich