"It's the programming, stupid!"

[Dan.Strassberg]

I've heard that argument for years but, regardless of the repetition,
I'm not sure the statement is correct. Many of the ferrite-loop
antennas that have been common in AM radios for the last 40 years or
so are not much larger than your typical USB memory stick. An antenna
that size would be physically just as compatible with an i-phone-style
handheld device as are the binaural in-the-ear headphones that many
people use with the devices to listen to stereo music. Moreover, if
modern 3D electronic-miniaturization techniques were used to fabricate
ferrite-loop antennas, it seems likely that the antennas could be made
even a bit smaller while quite possibly also offering improved
performance. I think the absence of such a development indicates that
people in the industry are not thinking about the problem and are
simply parroting old-wives' tales that became the conventional wisdom
a generation or more ago. A USB-stick-sized AM antenna could quite
possibly be successfully integrated with in-the-ear stereo headphones.
During the last decade, consumer electronics has begotten many
far-more-radical technological advances.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@bimajority.org>
To: "A Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 1:30 AM
Subject: Re: "It's the programming, stupid!"


> <<On Sat, 19 May 2012 00:13:37 -0400, A Joseph Ross
> <joe@attorneyross.com> said:
>
>> Back in the early 1960s Congress and the FCC required that all TV
>> sets
>> had to be able to tune all channels.  Maybe something similar
>> should be
>> done for AM radio.
>
> That's a physical impossibility for a device the size of an iPod.
>
> -GAWollman