10 Years On: NAB Wants Translators For AM

Everything goes in cycles, but sometimes the cycles can change direction. Back in 1997, the NAB opposed a petition to the FCC to allow the use of FM translators by AM daytimers. Now, in 2006, the NAB is telling the Commission that allowing such a use is a good thing, essentially because the competitive environment is even tougher for broadcasters on the senior band.

In a petition filed with the FCC earlier this month, the NAB said that it had opposed AM broadcasters using FM translators back in 1999, basically because HD Radio (a.k.a., IBOC) was still a relatively new technology and because the FCC had just started a proceeding to establish low power FM.

Now, says the NAB, “circumstances have changed substantially over the past seven years” in part because HD Radio is up and running, as is the fledgling LPFM service. More important, though, the NAB says “AM stations are encountering ever more interference problems as a result of an increase in ambient noise.”

To that end, NAB says the FCC should allow stations to use FM translators to retransmit their AM signals, but only insofar as the FM signal contour replicates the authorized AM signal footprint.

Industry observers note that approving such a proposal could only work if FM stations were prohibited from applying for these same translators.

Without such a restriction, say these observers, a new “land rush” for FM translators might ensue as so-called application mills began to churn out thousands of applications that could delay any meaningful action by the FCC for an extended period of time.