Re: FCC Orders All TV's To Have Digital Tuners By 2007

["Aaron 'Bishop' Read" <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 02:09 AM 8/10/2002, A. Joseph Ross wrote:
>On 9 Aug 2002 at 10:59, Aaron [Bishop] Read wrote:
>
> > And to flip it around, the public did not demand AM stereo, and the FCC
> > made the colossal mistake of allowing market forces to drive a standard.
> > Look what happened.  Now a big selling point of AM IBOC is that it allows
> > stereo.  (and yes, I know there's lots of issues with IBOC; let's not go
> > there...the point is that "stereo AM" is a big selling point of it)
>
>Though the term "AM IBOC" is a bit of an oxymoron.  It will be in the AM
>broadcast band, but it will be a digital signal, not an AM signal.

Yes and no...as long as we're being "nitpicky"  (I prefer to think of it as 
"thorough" :-)  IBOC stands for In-Band, On-Channel.  That's a reference to 
the fact that the IBOC signal is both in the same band as the analog 
signal, and also on the same channel (frequency).  Technically a subcarrier 
is close to being, but not quite, an IBOC signal by the strict 
interpretation of "IBOC".   "DAB" (Digital Audio Broadcasting) is a more 
accurate way of describing it.

And also strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a "digital 
signal"...it's still just waves of modulated RF energy.  How the energy is 
encoded and decoded is what's changing.  :-)

Speaking of which, I know I'm not impartial on IBOC due to my work, but a 
big pet peeve of mine is people looking for excuses on why it won't work, 
as opposed to raising valid concerns.   Bill Suffa's (a bigwig at Clear 
Channel) interview in the recent Radio World is indicative of this:
*****************
(here's a quote, apologies to Paul McLane)
http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/iboc/01_rw_suffa_q_a_2.shtml
RW: Do you think the solution for the AM technical problem might be to skip 
the hybrid phase and just go to the all-digital mode?

Suffa: I don't know that that's a solution, because what do you do in the 
transition period? That might work for a number of stations that are just 
not economically viable now. But if you look at a big station ... there 
still is a compelling revenue stream, still a very viable 
station.  Shutting that off and converting to digital, particularly when 
there are no radios out there, or where radio penetration is very low, is 
something I think a broadcaster and a businessman is not likely to make the 
decision to do.
*****************

Just how retarded is Suffa?  Does he really think RW listeners are thinking 
that by "skip the hybrid phase" that it means that we'll force AM to go all 
digital RIGHT NOW when there's no (or very, very few) receivers out 
there?  DUH...it means we force manufacturers to create DAB-capable radios 
now and when penetration reaches a certain point (say in 10 years or so) 
only then the FCC forces AM stations to go to DAB.   The technology for 
all-digital AM is there, now.  I think...actually, to be honest I'm not 
100% sure the all-digital side is done, but if not I believe it's pretty 
darn close.  Less than a year of work away.

Just think, by then the digital TV fiasco ought to be resolved as well, so 
they'll have a roadmap of sorts, too.

_________________________________________________________
Aaron "Bishop" Read       aread@speakeasy.net
Fried Bagels Consulting   www.friedbagels.com
AOL-IM: ReadAaron         Brighton, MA 02135
"I'm weird, but around here it's hardly noticeable."