The FCC has posted a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding the ability for AM broadcast stations to be able to have their programming heard on FM translators under certain conditions. This was proposed by the NAB. A copy of the NPRM can be found here.

REC asks readers to be careful when they notice footnote #32 where it states that REC "supports the NAB petition for stand-alone AM stations" as this may get mis-read as overall support for the proposal.

Please read our comments in RM-11338 for our exact position on AM Translators. In a nutshell, REC would support AM use of translators under the following circumstances:

It is with deep regret that we report today on the death of veteran KTLA newsman Hal Fishman. As someone who has grown up in Los Angeles since the mid-1970's, I considered Hal Fishman as the voice of Los Angeles news. His delivery was in a method that addressed authority and did not advocate fluff. Even though I have been living in Phoenix since 1995, I still continue to watch KTLA to this day via satellite. KTLA and Fishman are my link to my true home in Southern California. Hal has always been welcome in my house every night at 10PM PT and he will be missed.

Michelle A. Eyre
for REC Networks

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6478949

As a former Qwest employee and stockholder, I am satisfied with the prison sentence and fines that have been levied on Mr. Nacchio as a result of the criminal acts that committed against the shareholders, the employ of Qwest and the overall public trust. The prison sentence is being called the stiffest so far.

Under Nacchio, Qwest was driven to the point of skirting backruptcy while employees (both management and occupational) lost their faith in the company as a result of Nacchio's actions. Many unecessary risks were taken, many jobs (both management and occupational) were lost and entire centers were closed and sent to vendors during Nacchio's tenure.

REC supports civil litigation by the shareholders to attempt to recover losses.

The use of news helicopters was very much pioneered here in the Phoenix market, mainly because of our large general aviation community and great flying weather. What happened today was a spectacular tragedy. I have done my share of crying over the incident. I will be looking forward to the outcome of the investigation and any new rulings the FAA may come out with. It's very rare that you hear of incidents like this and this is because of the processes that have been put in place (again, many pioneered here in Phoenix) that allow these choppers to communicate with each other. It is fortunate however, this took place over Steele Indian School park on a business day, just a few feet to the south and they could have hit the 4041 N.

The FCC has issued the long awaited 74 page Report and Order on Digital Audio Broadacsting (DAB) and specifically confirms that the FCC's choice for DAB standard is the iBiquity In Band On Channel (IBOC) system that is marketed under the name HD Radio. LPFM starts at paragraph #56.

While iBiquity supports LPFM stations having the option of going digital, they do note that it may not be efficient for LP-10 stations to convert as they will produce a signal that will be under the noise floor and would be difficult for the DAB receiver to detect. However, according to iBiquity, would not be the case with LP-100 stations.