When and why did FM stations replace The AM stations?

Question

I was wondering why and when did FM replace AM.

Was it the same thing thats happening with XM and FM now?

Do you think some day XM will replace FM in the future?

Answer 1

FM has around since the thirties. It's a long, sordid story that, rather than me reprinting it or pasting into this answer, you can easily link to and it is much better told here (and other web sites like Wiki, etc):

http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv020...

The above article explains how RCA and it's CEO, David Sarnoff (hero or villain?) basically kept FM from the public because they didn't want to dilute the success of their AM stations. You'll read of some unbelievable dirty tricks that essentially kept FM from Americans for 30+ years.

As to FM replacing AM, that hasn't happened. AM is a very resilient medium and very successful still in many markets with talk, sports and other programming - usually where fidelity is not an issue (the exception is Radio Disney which is mostly music and mostly on AM, but that's another story).

FM did become very popular starting in the early '70s and finally surpassed AM listeners in about 1985. The true emergence of FM was the popularity of Rock 'n' Roll and the preference for long album cuts - music requiring the fidelity (quality of sound) that FM offered. Yes, radio, in a way, owes its current success to a bunch of Hippies - AND soldiers returning home from Vietnam with incredible sound systems they bought on the cheap in Hong Kong and from the PX.

If you've read the article that the link takes you to, you may by now realize that it's not really the same as the relationship that XM and FM have today. Very big companies have zillions of dollars invested in local AM/FM radio stations and just for the localism alone, commercial broadcast radio as we know it will be around for quite a while yet.

Good question.

-a guy named duh

Answer 2

Fm has been around since the 30s but was originally around 44MHz (they are now at 88-108). That was one of RCAs tricks was to have the FCC move the FM band up in frequency making some FM radios bought useless.

The biggest issue was AM radios were cheap, plentiful and could carry long distances. Fm radio cost much more and with no one to listen due to the cost of the radios, few were built and usually simulcasting the am station until the FCC told them not to and they wound up with weird formats such as the album rock most posters talked about.

Radios in the 1960s and 1970s were getting cheaper with FM radios coming out on portables and car stereos becoming cheaper and cheaper, meaning people were now looking for stuff to listen to.

Radio realized a problem with Am years ago with noise and the fact most stations had to turn off at night. FM could go on for 24 hours a day and was not as affected as well as had a better sound (surprise surprise) so in the late 1970s we saw many stations add simulcasts on FM after the FCC dropped it's simulcast rules, or we saw new top 40 and other stations sprout up on Fm where 20 years previous the FCC was giving them away basically going for a few million now.

as others also pointed out, the conversion finally finished in the mid 1980s with Am becoming the also ran status Fm had for years previous.  Am is still going but it's not a top of the mind thing that it was in the 1970s. People are now trying to find marketable sounds on AM to make people re tune into them now, and usually it turns back to either nostalgic formats such as oldies or country, ethnic or the winner news talk ... Formats that people won't care about the sound as much as the content.

will XM and/or Sirius replace FM.... I think on that you will see more of a cable tv relationship on that one. What I mean is people pay for cable tv to enjoy more variety but still tune into their local channels for entertainment ,local news and weather..stuff that xm and Sirius can't possibly do. So radio will still be a local medium to people but not as much listenership than it had say in the early 1970s

Actually the next think I see is wi-max ... or wireless internet over a broad area. with the amount of niche stations coming onto the internet all day and the almost free prices of most of it, look for xm and Sirius to be reduced as a major player I think in 5-10 years as the niche stations on wi-max will overrun a lot of the satellite fans who are already getting tired of sat radio and sat radios adding more ads into programming to help with the bills as they have been in the red for 10+ years already.

Answer 3

Better quality sound for music, more stations, but less range.

Nah I don't see XM or Sirius totally replacing FM anyday soon. I would never pay to listen to radio.

Answer 4

FM broadcasting in the U.S. began in the 1930s. The use of FM radio has been associated with higher sound quality in music radio. W1XOJ was the first FM radio station, granted 2 a construction permit by the FCC in 1937,  On January 5, 1940 FM radio was demonstrated to the FCC for the first time. FM radio was assigned the 42 to 50 MHz band of the spectrum in 1940.

After World War II, the FCC moved FM to the frequencies between 88 and 106 MHz on June 27, 1945.The change in frequency was said to be for avoiding possible interference problems between stations in nearby cities and to make "room" for more FM radio channels. However, it has been alleged that the FCC was influenced by RCA chairman David Sarnoff, and that the change had the covert goal of disrupting the successful FM network that Edwin Armstrong had established on the old band. Radios built for the original FM radio band could be retrofitted with converters, but many were just replaced. The greater expense was to the radio stations themselves that had to rebuild their stations for the new FM radio band. The move of the FM band, an organized campaign of misinformation by RCA (a company that competed with FM radio by focusing on AM radio and the emerging technology of television), and adverse rulings by the FCC severely set back the development of FM radio. On March 1, 1941 W47NV began operations in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first modern commercial FM radio station. However, FM radio did not recover from the setback until the upsurge in high fidelity equipment in the late 1950s.

During the 1970s, FM radio experienced a golden age of integrity programming, with disc jockeys playing what they wanted, including album cuts not designated as "singles" and lengthy prog rock tracks.

Answer 5

Hello love, I love this question! FM Stations Started to take over the Am air ways back in the late 70s.around  late 78, and 79. It really became prominent in the 80s. It was between 81 to 83... I do feel that XM radio will eventually take the place of FM stations. The main reason for this is because people are tired of the type of music that there constantly  playing. On most stations, the music has no meaning,  let alone substances, and when you turn the station, you hear the same thing on every channel you turn too. I personally am tired of hearing "SUPERMAN"......Bessings to you,            Zaria