Tuesday, January 22, 2008

FORMER COUNCILLOR HERBERT OPPOSES CBC MOVE

FORMER COUNCILLOR HERBERT OPPOSES CBC MOVE

Hi All, below in bold is a post former City Councillor, Alan Herbert, sent to CBC on its proposed move from AM to FM--Jamie Lee.

The move of a talk station to FM makes no sense at all. FM signals are the ones that are inconsistent suffering interference from as little as the swaying of tree leaves. AM is powerful, it carries hundreds of miles during the day, and thousands of miles at night because the ionosphere freezes and bounces the signals. It does not bounce FM or TV signals. In the old days (I am old) stations like KNX, KABC, KFI and KNBC from Los Angeles; KGO and KCBS from San Francisco plus KING, KOMO, KVI and KIRO from Seattle, all of them broadcasting on AM, were listed in the daily program listings of the Vancouver Sun.

All of those stations and about a dozen more still can be heard clearly any night of the year … the Seattle ones during the day as well.

Those were the days of network radio. FM stations have never been listed because their signals do not carry over long distances and to underscore that ‘inconvenient truth’ the CBC has had to apply for a series of ‘Radio One’ rebroadcast transmitters for the Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island just to fill in the geographical gaps that an FM transmitter in Vancouver cannot cover. That is not necessary with AM – the job is done without rebrods.

FM is for music. It does yield superior sound but so what, that is for music, not talk, news or information. Further, the audience is greater on FM only because there is a large audience seeking music. But the number one and number two stations in the market remain, as they do in Seattle , News-TALK stations on AM.

The move to FM makes no sense. If they want Radio One on FM, install a rebrod to do that and leave 690-AM alone.

Alan

Alan Herbert
(604)736-3990
ahbbl@shaw.ca

SAY NO to CBC RADIO ONE REQUEST

Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC

SAY NO to CBC RADIO ONE REQUEST


CBC Radio One is making a request to the CRTC that they be allowed to transfer over to FM.

This transfer if approved would make it extremely difficult for many residents of SRO's and other lower income folks in the Oldtown area who can't afford higher-tech radios and still rely on the older radio models, including the transistor type.

It would be an absolute shame if lower-income citizens become disengaged in public affairs as a result of CBC being successful with its application.

Why CBC can't move forward on pushing to improve AM technology is something which needs answering and as yet they haven't explored this angle.

CBC states they want to convert to FM for the following reasons:


- AM reception is poor in the core of Vancouver. Making the move to FM is the only way to ensure that all of the people of Vancouver are able to receive Radio One's unique and distinctive service.


- CBC carried out a survey of Radio One listeners in Vancouver (Foundation Research, 2004) that told us that almost 40% of respondents experienced signal reception difficulties (often or occasionally) with CBU either at home, at work or in their car.

-Tuning to the AM band is in decline and has been for years. Four out of ten Vancouver radio listeners do not listen to the AM band at all. Making the move to FM is an investment in Radio One's future. It's about being relevant and staying connected to the people of Vancouver.


- Radio One is currently available on FM in every major city in Canada except Vancouver. This transition to FM is long overdue.

Please dear reader, let the CRTC know that a move by CBC Radio One to FM will disenfranchise many poorer citizens of the Metro Vancouver region and this would be tragic.

In a world where more and more citizens are being left behind, the move by CBC, if successful, would put another nail in the coffin of those already struggling to survive. Engaged citizens create a much healthier society and for the betterment of society, to prevail, we don't want citizens to become disengaged .

The deadline for contacting the CRTC is Wednesday, Jan, 23, 2008 (tomorrow).

Please act immediately and contact CRTC. Go directly to the form on the CRTC website at http://support.crtc.gc.ca/rapidscin/default.aspx?lang=en and click on the button *#2007-18*. Then, check the box beside *#200714239* (in the list, this is the second CBC application) and go to the bottom of the page and select *Next

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com