Seeing the audio interview with another real man of genius from iBiquity today (and he really is a smart guy to spin this magic so long and far) brings to old radio minds everywhere the big question: Did Beer Man leave NAB because he was catching on to the frailness of this bogus industry or perhaps to return to create the next gen of Real Men of Genius spots for Radio and TV? How dumb are we anyway? Don’t ask.
Sitting in front of TV Tower Row in Jax Fla Friday, I showed a guest where 7 TV signals once broadcast with maximum power and explained why our new world government forced the stations to go away in exchange for a newer improved and mandated method of not reaching her portable TV and the value add of having cable TV added, perhaps with a UPS connection to the power sources. We were doing a talk show on Hurricanes in August-October in Florida. “Wow, what in the world will they do with those huge antennas and towers now?”, she asked. “Leave them standing in hopes we have a reprieve and return perhaps at a lower power level in the future or during emergency operations for the sake of our communities”, I submitted as I walked away shaking my head and looking back at the vast wasteland of slowly rusting metals a few thousand feet above our heads.
“Face it AM Radio is dead!” they shouted to me in 1974 as I was sharing with a college class that AM done properly would win over automated FM for a long long time. In 1989 an investor told me he would never touch AM Radio while building a very successful career placing FM drop-ins in many US markets and selling for good cash back. Today, he’s got his eyes on AM stations and sees the potential for AM especially with a few hundred watts of FM Low Power backing up the nighttime and weak signal areas. How will we explain the interference fluctuations on these Low Power FM additions from our new hideaf jammer channels? Small world afterall. What goes round cometh in a new and improved package!
Jerry Smith, Broadcast Technical Observer, Sunny Florida
