Wheeler: Proposals For AM Revitalization Coming

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler this week has promised he will soon recommend adoption of several proposals discussed in the 2013 AM Radio Revitalization NPRM.

Wheeler writes in his blog he believes the recommendations will further enhance the viability of the AM broadcast service.  He adds he looks forward to working on this issue, launched by  then-Acting Chairwoman Clyburn and championed by Commissioner Pai, and hope that broadcasters will participate extensively.

"This comprehensive set of actions modernize our rules to keep them in line with the public interest in an ever-changing marketplace, and will help to ensure the continued vitality of AM radio".

Tom Wheeler

Wheeler did not indicate when the recommendations would be made.  Some hope they could come during the upcoming NAB/RAB Radio show scheduled for Sept. 20 thru Oct. 2 in Atlanta.

The news comes two years after Clyburn promised FCC relief during the 2013 Radio show in Orlando. In prepared remarks, Commissioner Pai three years ago in Las Vegas ackowledged it’s trendy among some to dismiss broadcasting as a fading relic of the  past. However, he stated broadcasters have heard this tune before.

Ajit Pai

In 1922, Thomas Edison famously said that “the radio craze will die out in time. "Edison was right about a lot of things, but it’s remarkable to think about just how wrong he was about that. It’s now ninety years since he said it, and radio is still going strong."

Speaking of the way things look now (in 2012), about 93% of American adults today listen to broadcast radio during the course of any given week. Other than sleeping or brushing our teeth, it’s hard to think of another activity that 93% of us do every week. And we don’t just flip on the radio for a few minutes. Our average weekly listening is over 14 hours. On any day, more adults listen to the radio than surf the Web, and more than twice as many adults listen to the radio as read a newspaper."