Robert Orban typed: > But the compatibility issues killed Dolby FM before that > could happen. ExACTly what I've been predicting for the digital transition in all my 'tech-talks' with my clients. I'm expecting that the compatibility phase of the transition will be MUCH shorter than many are expecting, because many listeners will just give up on radio because of the increased background noise and the reduced usable coverage areas, and avail themselves of the plethora of new options in the marketplace for entertainment. When the terrestrial broadcast industry finally flips the switch on the majority of transmitters so that we are in an all-digital mode, we'll have to fight an uphill battle to get back the listeners we've lost due to the signal degradation during the 'hybrid' phase. This is analogous to what happened to AM when FM finally reached critical mass, and AM audio quality was starting to nosedive because of the 'fight' between receiver manufacturers and station engineers' audio processing, as well as the fight over AM stereo systems. If the only thing we terrestrial broadcasters have to offer is localism, the NAB is correct to fight tooth-and-nail with XM over this issue. They are, however, destined to lose. The FCC may have, in the short term, lost sight of it's primary goal of improving service to the public, but in the end, when they rediscover their primary function, there _is no argument_ that preventing XM from providing localism is in the public interest. It is only in the interest of protecting terrestrial broadcasters' market share. What terrestrial broadcasters do in the next couple of years will carve their destiny in stone. Much of the control they had has already slipped out of their hands. Down the road, I see a migration of niche programming from AM to FM (such as news/talk and foreign language), as the mainstream FM formats lose market share to alternative delivery systems. A new strata of programming will appear on AM, probably fed by those presently disenfranchised by the economics of present- day broadcasting, but the reality of this new economic environment for AM owners will cause many of the high- operating-cost stations (such as high-power, multiple-tower, difficult-to-maintain DA's) to no longer be economically viable, and they'll be shut down or reduced in coverage to simplify the technical plant so that they can be operated on a lowered cash flow. This will most likely lead to a re-purposing of some portion of the AM band, or possibly a loss of some or all of the AM spectrum to other services. At 55 years of age, I'm hoping that the crest of the fiscal wave I'm riding as a contract engineer to (mostly) locally owned AM's will not crash upon the shoreline of reality until I retire in (maybe) ten years. Am I depressed? Naa-aah. Just practical.