I’ve long respected the opinion of Guy Wire, the pseudonym for a “veteran radio broadcast engineer” who writes regularly for Radio World, an excellent source of industry news. Hiding behind a pen name has given Guy Wire the balls over time to speak unpopular truths about the radio industry.
Which is why I was somewhat disappointed in his latest column, where he praises the National Association of Broadcasters’ plans to flood the FM dial with more translator stations that will do nothing more than simulcast AM radio stations.
Guy paints the plan as prudent, allowing neglected and beleaguered AM broadcasters to finally have “real relief” from increased interference and noise on the AM band. He says AM radio is “under siege,” with “far too many marginal stations with dwindling audiences and revenues.”
Back in 2000, Guy Wire defended the NAB’s fraudulent assertions that dropping hundreds or thousands of LPFM stations onto dials across America would cause oceans of interference; he later backed away from that position, tentatively endorsing the possible expansion of LPFM in a 2004 missive (though it never happened). He’s also been quite the apologist for digital (“HD”) radio, even in the face of all of its attendant technical problems.
This time around, though, it’s the industry ox that’s getting gored, so the tune has changed: woe to the poor AM broadcasters whose federally-mandated mode of transmission hasn’t aged well in the face of new technology, especially digital radio. And where was Guy Wire when mostly-religious broadcasters mounted their own translator invasion three years ago, whose effects have yet to be fully felt?
Tough sh*t, Guy. As you like to say, radio is a business, and those who invested in lower-power, non clear-channel AM stations are now feeling the pain of “progress.” Pain in part due to moves to adopt a digital technology that further marginalized the little guys on the AM dial. That was an industry decision. These are the consequences. The solution is to advocate a wholesale migration of AM stations to the FM band? Sounds like nothing more than another chance for incumbent spectrum-users to stake some new claims on a scarce resource. Unfortunately, that’s just business as usual, and I expected better from you.
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