Medium-wave radio is dying for a lack of listeners. Only 10 to 20 % of all radio listeners listen to it, and that depends upon the locale. It may be less that 10 % in some places.
By M Haroon Abbas
100 years ago, Australian superstar Dame Nellie Melba sang ‘Home Sweet Home’ into a microphone & made history. The world’s 1st live public entertainment broadcast came from a Marconi studio in Chelmsford.
Nellie’s voice was heard by radio enthusiasts around the World, given there was little competition for either audiences – or space on the spectrum. Enthusiastic reports of the reception of the 15kW long wave transmissions came in from Iran, New York and Newfoundland.
Radio not only survives but continues to thrive as a broad reach proposition because its core benefits to listeners are hard to replicate and scale through more personalized technologies. We still love radio because it’s simple to access, offers predictable edited choice and above all, at least in my view, it has the psychological superpower of providing listeners with good company and great memories.
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the world where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early 1920s and lasted through the 1950s, when television gradually superseded radio as the medium of choice for scripted programming, variety and dramatic shows.
Today’s listeners, who use radio largely as a background to do other things, might wonder how radio could hold a listener’s interest for several hours at a time.
There’s a one-word answer: imagination.
Not being “troubled” by the spelled out details in pictures, the people of the era could and did imagine what the people and situations looked like.
After its golden era, the AM Radio persistently on decline and now is on crutches.
AM is dying for a lack of listeners. Only 10 to 20 % of all radio listeners listen to it, and that depends upon the locale. It may be less that 10 % in some places. If stations can’t get listeners, they cannot get the advertising that keeps them alive. Most of the listeners moved on to FM or other radio sources. These other sources include satellite and Internet radio, along with things like iPods or smartphones loaded with songs and podcasts. Satellite radio is now in most vehicles.
It is also a reality that AM Radio has faced closure all around the world including in UK, France, Germany, Italy and India because of many multiple competitive sources of content like FM and Digital Broadcast, AM is also failing because of technical problems inherent in the AM process, along with some unyielding regulations. For example, AM stations lose listeners at night because the FCC makes them cut power or shut down completely to avoid interference to other stations on the same frequency. AM signal propagation in the 535 to 1,705 kHz range changes drastically from day to night.
FM had been quite popular among listeners and now digital broadcasting is a green technology which has many advantages over analog viz. FM like clear reception, more than one program on same frequency, program related text information, value added text containing news, traffic information etc.
As of 2021, DRM claimed a reach of 600 million predominantly in the AM and SW bands, while DAB claimed a coverage of 420 million and HD Radio of 400 million.
Range of digital broadcast is very large compared to FM, which is limited to city only. Early warning signal feature is also available to alarm for any disaster viz. earth quake, flood, storm etc. digital receiver automatically selects another channel when goes out of range. It is four times more channels are possible within the same frequency which can provide more options to listeners; the technology is broadcast-centric and hence there are no data charges for consumers and it provides a better listening experience than analogue transmission – across both audio quality and user interface
As of 2021, DRM claimed a reach of 600 million predominantly in the AM and SW bands, while DAB claimed a coverage of 420 million and HD Radio of 400 million.
Globally, 1.4 billion people can access digital radio services
UK, US, China, Australia, and many European countries transitioned to digital radio almost a decade ago and there are around 2,700 HD Radio stations across the US, Canada and Mexico, 1,700 DAB/DAB+ radio stations in Europe and parts of Middle East (Tunisia, Kuwait, Qatar), 560 CDR radio stations in China, 139 DAB+ radio stations in Australia and 33 DRM radio stations in India operate in AM; trials conducted for FM.
One the other hand Pakistan has been lagging behind despite direction of Planning Commission, in 2020 Radio Pakistan prepared “Digital Radio Migration Policy – Adoption of Digital Radio Standard” which is a three phase policy.
In India, digital was radio launched over 10 years ago but is languishing because digital radio has not been rolled-out on FM transmitters and has no private participation, some 600 million people are covered at present by DRM digital signals due to AIR’s transmissions using 35 MW transmitters. More than 1 million new cars are on the Indian roads today, all equipped with DRM radios, which come at no extra cost to the owners. Currently in India, digital radio is available 3 hours per day across a few cities using DRM technology, HD Radio has been tested and evaluated for the FM band in the cities of Delhi and Jaipur and DRM radio has been evaluated and tested for AM band in Dhanbad in 2007 and for the FM band in Delhi and Jaipur.
One the other hand Pakistan has been lagging behind despite direction of Planning Commission, in 2020 Radio Pakistan prepared “Digital Radio Migration Policy – Adoption of Digital Radio Standard” which is a three phase policy.
Under these phases, transmitters at Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan will be upgraded for operation on simulcast mode as well as pure digital mode. The biggest 1000-Kilowatt DRM Medium-wave transmitting station of state-run Radio will be set up at Fort Monroe hill station in Dera Ghazi Khan. Five DRM+FM transmitters of 10-kilowatt each will also be installed in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad and Multan in the existing Radio Stations. Besides, eight DRM+FM transmitters of five kilowatt each will be installed in Quetta, Peshawar, Gilgit, Skardu, Gwadar, Mirpur (Azad Kashmir), Khairpur and Narowal in the existing Radio stations.
Nevertheless, we will see an increase in digital media platforms in the coming years. To those who are capable of using them, there are definite benefits. You can listen to music catered to your own tastes, skip or change the songs you don’t like, and for the most part, avoid the majority of advertisements.
Traditional AM/FM radio will still be around. But to those who have accessibility, there will be a better option, and therefore AM/FM radio listeners will dwindle away.
___________________
The Writer is Free-Lance Journalist
