What is "IBOC-DAB"? EXAMPLE: RICHMOND VA MAY LOSE UP TO 20 RADIO STATIONS: Station Destroyed--by-->This Station (notes) ------------------------------------ 106.9----------------->106.5 101.5----------------->101.1 100.1<-------------->100.3 --- *<>* 97.5------------------> 97.3 96.9------------------> 97.3 96.9------------------> 96.5 93.1<---------------> 93.5 93.5<---------------> 93.7 ---*$* 91.1------------------> 91.5 90.1<---------------> 90.3----*<>* & note *$* 90.3<---------------> 90.5----*$* 89.5<---------------> 89.7----*<>* & note *$* 89.5<---------------> 89.3----*<>* & note *$* 89.3------------------> 88.9 And on AM band: 1450 WCLM and 1430 WHAN AM will jam each other's audience. ------------------------------------ [NOTE: Only includes reliably accessible signals] This chart understates the actual situation as there are stations that occasionally come in such as Techno-Dance (a genre rarely heard in Richmond) Hits 96.1 that will never be heard again following IBOC. [To read this Chart:] The station on one side that has the arrow pointing away (typically the left column) is disrupted for Richmond listeners by the closer and/or more powerful station to which the arrow points. If the arrow points BOTH ways, then the stations are roughly equal in power or closeness for a large portion of Richmond listeners and thus will essentially wipe each other out.] [*<>* footnote:] Both stations signals are weak for most of the Richmond area resulting largely in the loss of both stations for many Richmond listeners. [*$* footnote:] These stations have no buffer space between, yet are commonly receivable in Richmond now. After IBOC they will substantially overlap, completely obliterating each other's signal for many Richmond listeners This shows how 18 FM signals out of Richmond's 33 FM station market will be significantly disrupted if not completely jammed by the expansion of the larger station's signals with IBOC rules mandating a doubling of their width.

The FCC commissioned several studies as directed by the 1996 Telecom Act. These studies were supposed to tell us what was going to happen if restrictions preventing monopoly consolidation were to be relaxed and large corporations could buy up and program even more media outlets than they already do.

However; on October 10th, 2002, in the time since those studies were done, the FCC changed the radio landscape upon which those studies were based!

And as in the fable, "The Emperor Has No Clothes", no-one is yet talking about it.

What's to talk about? Well Since the FCC admitted on video during their public meeting on 10/10/02 that IBOC would cause interference, this means that some radio stations that now provide competitive outlets for listeners, advertisers, content producers and people seeking an outlet for dissent WILL NO LONGER BE HEARD. Even if those stations are heard, they will be much less listenable due to admitted interference caused by IBOC-DAB!

So Here's Your Chance To Be The Hero, announce the studies have been made irrelevant by the technology that the monopolists themselves pushed for! Speak Out Against Monopoly and Censorship by Consolidation and IBOC-DAB Jamming!!

The FCC is requesting public input. That's You. Look to the right side bar level with this text for "How To Submit Comments". Please scroll down looking on the right side bar for action item #3 "Comment To FCC" and follow the instructions to comment on the three related dockets.

For more information on events related to these hearings in Richmond, see the news page on Radio Free Richmond.











Straight from the horses mouth, the industry's own studies show that new IBOC Digital Audio Broadcasting will jam some of your favorite stations!

The below chart from the latest studies of "IBOC-DAB" (In-Band, On-Channel, Digital Audio Broadcasting) show that those listening to weak stations immediately next to ("adjacent") a strong IBOC-DAB station sound worse than they do without the IBOC signal turned on!

UPDATED 3/5/03 VCPP more detailed analysis on 7/11/02 (in Adobe format)

Yet if you read the comments by the  proponents, they conclude (in contrast with their own study results) that there is no damage to those stations adjacent to their IBOC transmitters on the dial.

Click here or on the chart below to go to our initial 2/19/02 comments that we submitted to the Federal Communication Commission critical of IBOC-DAB.
 
 
SOURCE: The December 3rd, 2001, National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC), report from the Evaluation Working Group of the DAB Subcommittee of the NRSC entitled Evaluation of the iBiquity Digital Corporation IBOC System , Part I – FM IBOC. 
THe NRSC is sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

As you can see in this chart, the study subjects reported that the quality of the sound of a regular station immediately next to (adjacent) to an IBOC-DAB station suffered a dramatic loss in sound quality with the IBOC-DAB signal turned on. The white columns are the subject's rating of the sound quality of that regular station suffering interference from the IBOC-DAB digital carriers. The shaded columns show what rating they gave that station without the IBOC-DAB interference from the other station.

Not Just Bad Sound  Lost Listeners As Well! In our test of the effect of test-IBOC station (WJFK106.7) on a usually reliably recievable adjacent station (WWMX106.5) we found that WWMX's recievable range dropped from 58 miles down to a mere 25 miles!! That is less than half their usual range. WWMX106.5 is only 40 miles away from the test IBOC station at 106.7 ... and yet millions of Washington DC residents lost WWMX as a choice for programming when WJFK turned on their IBOC transmitter. Is your favorite station also similarly right next to a local powerful station on the dial but geographically distant? How many stations in your area are threatened this way? How many of those threatened smaller and/or more distant stations serve a community of culture or listeners that is totally unserved by any other station in your area? (Yellow arrow indicates WWMX's typical 58 mile range for listeners if it not molested by WJFK's IBOC sideband transmitters. Black arrow indicates 25 mile range for WWMX 106.5 after interference caused by WJFK106.7 IBOC sideband transmitters. Test done with a Mustang aftermarket car radio mounted in an early 80s Toyota Tercel.

and click HERE to read about and HEAR what Digital Sounds like! Clicking on the headline above takes you to one of our testimonies to Congress on threats to a democratic "fourth estate". Look to the right side sidebar for a description of what you are hearing. This is an actual recording of an actual car radio near the intersection of I-66 and I-495 during the IBOC test transmission on WJFK106.7FM.
 
 
 

What can I do?  See Right-Hand Sidebar

 
 
 
 

Basic Background:

 

A coalition of the  Big Broadcasters lead by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) successfully pressured the Federal Communication Commisssion (FCC) to choose a standard for "Digital Audio Broadcasting" (DAB).

In the "Land of the Free" you will be forced to buy ex$pen$ive new DAB receiver$.
 
 

And if your favorite  radio station cannot afford the new $60K-$200K  DAB transmitter ... they might be bought out by the developing monopolies  or be run off the air into bankruptcy!!!!

LPFM,  College,  High School,  Community,  small religious  or  independent  commercial station)

Why would Broadcasters Be willing To alienate so many people? (hint: Wireless .........Internet) Different View

Was that the one station that spoke to your soul? 
Too Bad, So Sad.
 

 

In the 1930s Hitler gave away 9 million AM radios to the German public, all calibrated to one channel. People who listened to forbidden stations such as the BBC were sent to concentration camps. Every single radio blared the Nazi  party line, you could not escape it anywhere.  The Effect of the current proposed version of a mandatory Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) format conversion  is like the Nazi radio giveaway because it destroys by regulation our ability to receive weaker or more distant signals without replacing that with local competition ... further concentrating power to edit our perceptions of reality (via the media) into the hands of the few. Brooke Saunders reviewing the effect of IBOC for the fans of the independent musicians of the Floating Folk Festival in Style Magazine

EVEN WORSE: YOU MAY LOSE YOUR ABILITY TO HEAR
YOUR FAVORITE STATION LONG BEFORE EVEN THAT SAD DAY!

The Big Broadcasters want  a version of DAB that would make reception of that one weak station that speaks to your soul that more difficult when the 100,000 watt (now double-wide) monster next over stomps your favorite station's signal! 

EXAMPLE: WAUQ stomps WHRV
EXAMPLE: WJFK stomps WWMX

The current plan calls for doubling the width of FM stations so that many stations will end up with overlapping signals. 

There is no radio made that separates overlapping signals.