FCC Needs Full Record on Reducing Skywave Protections, iHeart Says

Reducing skywave protection for Class A AM stations could drive listeners from that band, said iHeartCommunications in a Sept. 29 meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 13-249 Thursday. The draft order on AM revitalization includes a Further NPRM that seeks comment on reducing skywave protections, broadcast industry officials have told us. The AM stations that would be most affected by such a rule change are also the stations that listeners tune to the AM band to hear, iHeart said, comparing the Class A stations to “an anchor commercial tenant in a retail development.” Discouraging listeners from using the AM band is counter to the goal of the AM revitalization, iHeart said. The FCC needs a “full and balanced” record on the issue and should find out what reducing skywave protections for Class A's would do to the AM band, emergency alert system warnings and other AM stations, iHeart said.