Globe editorial calls FM radio "outdated technology"

[Dan.Strassberg]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@bimajority.org>
To: "Sid Schweiger" <sid@wrko.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 7:06 PM
Subject: RE: Globe editorial calls FM radio "outdated technology"


> However, that's
> not enough to account for the horrendous disadvantage the Commission
> gave the VHF-low band, which I suspect reflects a failure to
> properly
> account for the noise floor in that band, particularly when it comes
> to impulse noise.  (This may in turn be related to the Commission's
> vacillation over whether VHF-low would even be in the
> post-transition
> TV band -- their mind was probably made up only when it became clear
> that there wasn't anyone willing to pay Uncle Sam $billions for the
> privilege of using that spectrum.)
>
So why is the FCC so reluctant to allow FM to expand into the former
TV channels 5 and 6. Even if Channel 6 had to be shared with TV in a
few markets (Philadelphia, for one), FM would be an ideal use. Rumor
has it that receiver manufacturers already manufacture FM radios that
tune from 76 to 108 MHz for use in several foreign countries, so there
would not have to be a long wait before the public could get its hands
on radios that could tune the expanded FM band. The big issue would
then become how best to move the current AMs into the new FM spectrum.