On the same page, I note with interest (under the headline Newberry Takes NAB Radio Board Top Slot) that both the radio and TV boards of NAB decided to adopt a resolution opposing the use of Channels 5 and/or 6 for radio broadcasting.
Here we have 12 MHz of prime VHF spectrum that will become largely vacant next February, a band where existing AM stations could simulcast their digital signals and avoid the nightly IBOC skywave disaster. VHF would also be easier to incorporate into mobile phones (as discussed in the preceding article), but NAB doesn't have the foresight or common sense to investigate the Channel 5/6 proposal further.
I think a plan to add only channels 5 and 6 as radio spectrum would have some serious holes in it. In many markets it wouldn't add any available room at all. (Nashville, Memphis, Philadelphia, Albany just to name a few) While a lot of TV stations are indeed leaving these channels, some are staying.
And it's way too late to tell them to go somewhere else. At least one has already completed its channel 5 DTV facility & tested it on the air. Moving these stations would have a "domino effect", forcing other stations to move as well. It would postpone the DTV transition for at least a year and cost millions of dollars. It won't happen.
What *could* be done is to allot the entire 2-6 band for radio *on a secondary basis to DTV*. Some of this spectrum should be available pretty much everywhere.
