F.C.C. Plans Sweeping Changes to Bolster AM Radio

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission, seeking to revive the sagging fortunes of AM radio, has proposed removing or updating regulations that station owners believe have left many AM channels on the precipice of death.

The commission is seeking public comment on numerous changes, required before it adopts its final rules. The proposed changes, supporters say, could salvage a technology that once led Americans to huddle around their radios for fireside chats and World Series broadcasts but that has now been abandoned for the superior sound of digital and online music and news outlets.

Because of interference caused by consumer electronics, smartphones and the like, AM radio often seems to deliver mostly static. The AM audience has fallen to 15 percent of all radio listeners, down from 50 percent as recently as 1978. While the FM audience has fallen as well, it draws more than five times the audience of AM.

Still, five of the 10 largest generators of advertising dollars among radio broadcasters are AM stations, among them WCBS in New York and KFI in Los Angeles.

The revival of AM has been a priority of Commissioner Ajit Pai, the senior Republican on the F.C.C. While acknowledging that the proposals, announced late Thursday, “will not be an immediate panacea for the difficulties facing the AM band,” Mr. Pai said he believed they could make “a substantial positive difference to numerous AM stations.”

Normally the F.C.C. tries not to indicate which way it is leaning when it puts new rules out for public comment, but in this case the proposal indicates the agency is prepared to take several concrete steps.

Among them is eliminating a regulation that requires stations to prove that any new equipment decreases interference with other stations — a requirement that is expensive, cumbersome and difficult to meet.

The F.C.C. has also proposed eliminating or loosening rules that govern nighttime transmissions by AM stations. Those regulations currently require many AM stations to reduce their power or cease operating at night to avoid interference with other stations.

AM radio signals travel as ground waves during sunlight hours, but once the sun goes down, the same signals bounce off the ionosphere and back to earth, often hundreds of miles from where they were broadcast, causing interference with other stations. That is also why travelers crossing the Arizona desert at night might pick up the transmissions of, for example, a Chicago AM station.

The current regulations make it difficult for AM stations to locate towers where they will not interfere with nearby stations at night. They also put conflicting requirements on stations, mandating that they still cover most of their broadcast territory even while operating at reduced power.

The proposed new rules, the commission said, aim at keeping more stations on the air at night.

David Honig, president of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, said the F.C.C.’s proposals were “a major step forward in ensuring the sustainability of this essential service.” Roughly two-thirds of all minority-owned radio stations broadcast on the AM band.

“AM radio is vital to public service, public safety, minority entrepreneurship and democracy,” Mr. Honig said in a statement. “The overhaul of the AM radio rules will promote diversity and competition, ease the path of entry for minorities, and help remedy many of the present effects of past discrimination.” 

The National Association of Broadcasters also welcomed the F.C.C. action. “We strongly endorse the revitalization proceeding and stand ready to work with the F.C.C. to develop meaningful solutions,” said Gordon Smith, president of the broadcasters’ association, a lobbying group. “AM radio is a cultural touchstone and jobs generator in cities large and small.”

In another part of the proposed regulations, the F.C.C. said it was ready to make available to current AM stations what are known as FM translators — empty spots on the FM dial where AM stations can broadcast. Those are particularly valuable in urban areas, where buildings with steel frames or aluminum siding can block AM signals, degrading reception.

By the end of the year, the F.C.C. expects to raise the number of authorized FM translators to 7,300, a 28 percent increase in 12 months, said Mignon L. Clyburn, the acting F.C.C. chairwoman. The proposed regulations would also permit the wider use of methods to limit power consumption by broadcasters and modify antenna efficiency standards, which could increase the use of shorter antennas.

Ms. Clyburn, who will soon be replaced by Tom Wheeler, confirmed as the new chairman this week by the Senate, said the new proposals were “the next significant step in our effort to buttress AM broadcast service and ease regulatory burdens on AM broadcasters.”