KSLZ: ANALOG VS.
DIGITAL
More
spectrum waste from radio’s Public Enemy Number One. KSLZ (107.7 MHz), a Top 40
station since 1997, has a morning show aimed at people who can barely pass the
entrance exam to kindergarten (M.J.), plays music that isn’t really music at
all, and has had a series of program directors with negative attitudes about “homegrown”
talent and radio personalities over 30 years of age. Now, they’re the most
spectrally inefficient FM radio station in
Frequency Before KSLZ went digital After
KSLZ went digital
107.1 MHz WEAI
107.2 MHz Clear Wiped out by KSLZ digital sidebands
in some areas
107.3 MHz
107.4 MHz Clear Wiped out by KSLZ digital sidebands
107.5 MHz
107.6 MHz Analog
sidebands from KSLZ Wiped
out by KSLZ digital sidebands
107.7 MHz Center
channel Center
channel
107.8 MHz Analog
sidebands from KSLZ Wiped
out by KSLZ digital sidebands
107.9 MHz KLTE
108.0 MHz Upper
limit of FM broadcast band Wiped
out by KSLZ digital sidebands
108.1 MHz Lower
limit of aviation radio band Wiped
out by KSLZ digital sidebands
KSLZ’s
conversion to digital could potentially cause problems for FAA licensed pilots
as well; the wasteful sidebands extend into the lowest frequency authorized by
the FCC for the Aviation Radio Service. 108.1 MHz is set aside for aviation
interests, not for commercial or non-commercial analog or digital radio
broadcasting. With the waste of spectrum space as far as 600 kHz away from the
main channel, this is the most wasteful of all FM digital operations, in terms
of spectrum space, with 1 MHz of space wiped out.