Airwaves: February 15, 2008
Radio Waves Causing Problems?
It's called the Automotive Bermuda Triangle: a five-block radius surrounding
New York's Empire State Building where cars stall, won't start, or the keyless
fobs do nothing.
An urban legend? The building's managers say so. But others, including nearby
tow truck drivers and doormen insist it's true. "We get 10 to 15 cars stuck
near there every day, said Citywide Towing manager Isaac Leviev to the New York
Daily News. "You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and
it starts right up."
What could cause this effect? One guess is radio waves.
The Empire State Building has long been an important part of radio and television
broadcasts, dating back to 1931 when RCA installed a transmitter to test television
broadcasts. But the building became more of a radio frequency hotbed after the
9-11 attacks caused numerous stations to move from their destroyed broadcast
home to Empire. Now 13 television and 19 FM radio stations call Empire home.
Further, with digital broadcasts on both television and radio frequencies, the
level of constant RF has increased compared with the old all-analog days.
Radio frequency radiation can do lots of fun, interesting ... and dangerous things.
I was an intern at Magic 106 when I visited the KMGG (now KPWR, Power
106) transmitter site with Chief Engineer Tom Koza. As we approached the site,
I recall that every warning light and chime in the truck started going on ...
and stayed on even when he turned off the key.
I also remember stories of residential water pipes vibrating to the sounds of
the original KDAY (now KBLA, 1580) on houses in the shadow of KDAY's 50,000
watts of directional amplitude modulation in the 1970s.
So it doesn't surprise me that the super RF of the Empire State Building could
be causing problems with cars, especially modern cars with computers that need
good clean signals within themselves to run. Certainly it is possible that the
radiation is causing some sort of interference in those computers or sensors.
Consider yourself warned ...
Tuna Tuner
Charlie Tuna is back on the air on KRTH (101.1 FM) for weekends
and fill-ins. That's 9 AM to 2 PM Saturdays and 10 AM to 3 PM Sundays, in addition
to taking over for any vacationing jocks.
Too bad KRTH moved back to Wilshire Boulevard. Had they stayed in the old KHJ studios
at 5515 Melrose, it would have been like a homecoming for Tuna, who made his
Los Angels debut on KHJ (930 AM) when they were in those studios back in 1967.
More is Less
Clear Channel Communications, the evil empire that owns far too many of
the radio stations that broadcast on our airwaves, recently gave testimony to
the FCC asking for even more relaxed ownership rules that would allow a company
like Clear Channel to own even more radio stations.
The argument? That radio needs consolidation to fend against alternative entertainment
sources such as the internet, iPods, and satellite radio.
Excuse me? The only reason the internet, iPods and satellite radio are viable
alternatives to traditional radio is because major media companies, led by Clear
Channel, bought up huge numbers of stations and destroyed them. They took the
soul out of radio and gave people a reason -- a force -- to find their entertainment
elsewhere.
There is a reason radio is in trouble, and thy name is Clear Channel and its
ilk. The FCC must refrain from further relaxation of ownership rules and must
instead tighten them up, forcing companies to sell off most of their stations
to independent broadcasters who will use the airwaves to actually compete again.
Only then will radio recover from the mess it has gotten itself into.
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Copyright © 2008 Richard Wagoner and Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
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