AM radio listeners set to be permanently tuned out in Japan - Japan Today
AM radio listeners set to be permanently tuned out in Japan - Japan Today
Is Japan witnessing the death of AM radio? Since February, some commercial radio broadcasters have begun a trial suspension of AM radio, with a real possibility the pause will extend to a permanent discontinuation across the country as broadcasters look to cut costs. Thirteen of the 47 commercial op...
AM, which operates at a lower frequency, has radio waves with larger wavelengths, meaning they travel farther but struggle to penetrate solid objects like buildings.
Aren’t low frequencies better at penetrating materials?
yes they are, you can detect lower bands pretty much everywhere. The problem is modulation: AM sucks balls when it comes to noise rejection. Some AM stations switch to digital encoding which uses the same band so good propagation + good audio quality within some range. After you get too far away signal just drops, if you're willing to put up with higher noise level range of normal AM radio is basically global
After you get too far away signal just drops, if you're willing to put up with higher noise level range of normal AM radio is basically global
This depends very highly on the condition of the ionosphere and its ability to reflect the signal. This doesn't make its useful range global, even if you can pick up very distant broadcasts occasionally.
On a clear night I can catch a Cardinals game on KMOX on the Indiana/Ohio line. There have been reports of people in Glasgow being able to get the broadcasts. But it's really only good for talk radio. Any music sounds like shit. But listening to a baseball game on AM radio is such a peaceful way to soend a sunmer evening.
Yes. But any metal in the building that's smaller than the wavelength of the AM radio frequency which is quite long, will absorb the radio wave so it won't penetrate the building
Basically every tunnel and such here has an AM station to tune into for traffic/weather conditions (weather can be wildly different at the end of some longer tunnels, especially the ones that gain elevation or open to a bridge over a valley).
Japan actually has more of an excuse for this than somewhere like the United States or Russia, just simply due to its size. AM radio is pretty much required in countries as large as the US or Russia. Sure, maybe there should be fewer AM stations with more power, but AM should not go away entirely.
This could be us in the US but lobbyists be playin
Other way around. Lobbyists for the auto industry want to get rid of AM to save themselves money, but AM is more reliable than FM for emergency alerts (further range, can penetrate buildings).
I understand the benefits for emergency alerts but don't we also have WEA on phones for that same reason? Let's be honest, the only time we ever get a big one on our phones it'll either be for something terrible we have no control over, or the president announcing pee is stored in the balls.
In general, AM radio is the playground of the right wing and I'd love nothing more than to fuck them over because that's the only thing they've ever known. They'll survive on FM, sure, but as they like to say: The cruelty is the point. Emergency broadcasts can be made on FM, its not as big of a loss as we fear it will be.