McIntosh MR78 upgrades?

kennythekey

Cerrot - I read a rumor, and I think it was here on Audiogon, that one of the Scandinavian countries has eliminated FM altogether? ... l wonder, if by the time I get my act together with roof/rotor/antenna, will there be a signal!!!

It's not just a rumor - Norway has shut down almost all analog FM. But that's easier to do in a tiny country such as Norway than in a large one such as the U.S. FM radio remains a huge industry in the U.S. and it's not likely to go away anytime soon.

lewm

cleeds, I am not in any way challenging your statement that FM radio is a "huge industry" in the US, but with all respect can you explain the why and how that works?

Sure, @lewm .
There are more than 10,000 FM radio stations in the US and more than 6,500 of them are commercial operations. There are also about 10,000 translators. Total annual revenue, including the non-comms and about 4,700 stations on the aging and struggling AM dial, is about $20 billion.

Radio station ownership has undergone substantial consolidation since the FCC changed the rules in the mid-90s. Just a handful of owners - iHeart (which used to be Clear Channel) , Cumulus, Entercom and Townsquare - own the bulk of the major stations. And some of the non-comms are also owned by sophisticated and well-funded entities.

So even though the industry is facing many challenges to its profitability, including the impact of Covid on ad sales, FM is big business, and it relies on the huge installed base of analog FM radios, especially in cars. Many of these listeners are "casual listeners" who enjoy FM for convenience. The industry couldn’t get them much interested in so-called "HD Radio" and that may help explain why no one seems to have any appetite for fiddling further with FM.

The AM side is another story altogether though, and there it is possible that it could evolve over time into a digital-only band. There is a pending FCC rule that would allow the first steps towards that.