All-Digital AM Draft Allows for Voluntary Transition, 30-Day Waiting Period

An FCC order on allowing AM stations to go all-digital wouldn’t codify a specific technical standard or impose additional interference restrictions on the fledgling service and would require a 30-day waiting period for stations to provide notice, said the draft Tuesday. The order was released with other drafts for the Oct. 27 commissioners’ meeting (see 2010060056).

All-digital AM will allow for higher-quality audio and increased format choices, the draft said, and potentially for secondary programming streams. Authorizing the service on a voluntary basis has been “a main goal” for all-digital AM supporters, said NAB Vice President-Advanced Engineering David Layer via a chat window at the Radio Show.

The agency wasn’t moved by commenters concerned about the lack of radios that can receive all-digital AM: “We are not persuaded that the current level of availability of digital receivers should delay voluntary all-digital AM operation.” The draft cited Xperi showing 70 million receivers shipped to North America, with 60.9 million installed in cars. The shift's voluntary aspect will “help facilitate an orderly transition” and allow the FCC and industry to adjust if needed, the draft order said.

The agency is “confident” existing rules allow the FCC to address interference caused by all-digital AM stations and any adjacent channel interference in the unlikely event that all-digital causes prohibited interference and the stations are not able to resolve the issue on their own. “Ultimately, in an all-digital environment, both adjacent and co-channel interference are expected to be less due to the data encoding and error correction inherent in digital transmission,” the draft order said. All-digital operation would be permitted day and night without reduced power levels under the order.

The receiver issue is likely to have different permutations for different stations, Layer said during Tuesday’s panel. Hubbard's WWFD(AM) Frederick, Maryland, saw listenership increase after it began operating in 2018 as an all-digital AM station -- the first in the U.S. -- under an experimental license, said Senior Broadcast Engineer Dave Kolesar.

WIOE(AM) Fort Wayne, Indiana, found that it received a host of listener complaints at night after switching to all-digital, said owner Brian Walsh. “People interpreted it as transmitter difficulty.” WIOE has since ceased broadcasting in all-digital, though Walsh said that's temporary. He “didn’t want to jeopardize the overall product of the station.” Kolesar pegged the stations’ varied experiences on the AM listenership in their respective markets. AM “had reached the point of no return” in WWFD’s market a decade ago, while WIOE had dedicated analog AM listeners, he said. “Every station is unique,” Layer said.