AM/MW RADIO AND THE CASCADIA 'BIG ONE' -- The Importance of a Dying Broadcast Band During Major Earthquakes & Other National Disasters

As you probably know, I listen a lot to the MW/AM band at night. I have several posts on nighttime, long distance AM band listening, and a few posts on radios that work well on the AM band (as MW is known here in the U.S.).

I also listen to FM, usually when I'm doing stuff around the house -- I have my radios' presets set to the four prominent rock stations in the area here (KVRQ, KISW, KFOO and KNDD), as well as three of the pop stations (KBKS, KQMV, and KPWR).

But AM radio listening is a hobby for me because it's kind of like fishing: a challenge. At night, when the skip is rolling in, you never know what you're going to hear. It's also the only way I can hear California on the radio, being that many stations in the US now geo-block.

Although the AM band in the US is mostly a haven for Sports Talk, News Talk, religious programming and ethnic music and programming, it would be vital during national disasters, because of its long distance capabilities. During a massive power outage or major earthquake, high-performance and low power consumption radios like the once pictured (a Realistic DX-375) would be useful for receiving emergency information.

IT'S A DYING BAND -- NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT

The AM band is slowly dying. It's a fact. In the 1970's, radio listenership in the US was maybe 30-40 percent AM, and the rest was FM. Today AM listenership is about 16 percent at best. The demographics listening to AM are older. The younger demographics listen to FM only, or don't listen to radio at all.

In many other parts of the world, AM is gone. There are no AM stations in Scandinavia, aside from two longwave broadcasters (in Iceland and Norway) that are there to serve local mariners. Europe's MW stations are disappearing. Even in Mexico the AM band is being depopulated as stations move to FM.  Here in the US AM is still alive because of sports talk and ethnic broadcasters -- this is because the FM band is full in most major markets. But newer demographics aren't tuning in very much, if at all. They use their smart phone.

Now, every generation has their favorite technology, and they all make their choices. For example, CD's and DVD's were a terrific technology. Now they are going the way of the Dodo, being replaced by internet streaming. It's just the way things progress. It's much the same in radio.

Mini-boomboxes like this Sangean would be good for disasters because of their excellent long-distance capabilities. One would need a couple extra sets of C Batteries for this radio, however, if the power stayed off for longer than a couple weeks.

AM RADIO'S NATIONAL IMPORTANCE

However, the dying AM band has a use that can't be replaced easily: in cases of national disasters or emergencies, where there are issues with infrastructure or massive power outages, AM is the only dependable means of broadcasting. Unlike FM and TV stations, which are line of sight and are vulnerable in the case of earthquakes or severe storms, a powerful AM/MW station can cover several states easily, especially at night. Unlike the internet, which is wireline technology, where the cables can be broken by earthquakes -- and computers and smartphones are highly dependent on the electrical infrastructure -- AM stations can operate using generators and most AM radios will run for a couple weeks on a good set of batteries.

Location of NW US volcanoes in relation to Cascadia Fault. (Courtesy US Gov't)

I recently read a chilling report on the Big One, the Cascadia Fault earthquake that geologists and seismologists tell us is due to occur. When it happens, it will devastate the Western half of the Pacific Northwest, from Southern BC Canada to the Northern reaches of California.

The Cascadia Fault line is a 900 mile long fault that runs along the Juan De Fuca Plate subduction zone. It is the reason there is a string of volcanoes 200 km east of the Pacific beaches -- that's where the colliding Juan De Fuca and North American plates heat up the molten rock enough that it rises upwards towards the surface of the Earth.

THE CASCADIA FAULTLINE

The Cascadia Fault, like many such faults, has a tendency to lock in place for about 300 years before letting loose with a Big One, a 9 point Earthquake, similar to the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 and several large ones that hit Chile, Japan, and the one that hit Indonesia in 2004.

A diagram showing the mechanics of the Cascadia Fault, and its proximity to the Northwestern US and SW Canada. (Courtesy USGS)

Both State and Federal authorities are aware that the Big One is due to strike. They are preparing for it, but how can you adequately prepare for a massive jolt that will take down most of the power to a 900 mile long, 150 mile wide swath of territory populated by 8 million people, including major cities like Vancouver and Victoria, Canada; Seattle; Tacoma; Olympia; Portland; Salem; and Eugene? According to estimates, powerlines will go down, broadcast stations will go off the air, cell systems will crash or run out of power, numerous bridges will be damaged or collapse, port facilities will be damaged, rail lines will be severed, and vital highway links will be damaged in many places. Some buildings may collapse, especially close to the ocean.

One of the things people need during such emergencies is information. With the internet, local FM, TV, and AM broadcasters and cell systems all down, the only reliable source of information is long distance AM radio. Many people believe that the National Weather Service stations would be important emergency stations, and although that may have some merit, most people in this region don't have weather radios and chances are very high that weather stations would be off the air in the coastal regions which would be most adversely damaged.

Diagram showing how the Cascadia Subduction zone is responsible for the volcanoes in the NW US. (Courtesy USGS)

'CASCADIA RISING'

A recent report entitled "Cascadia Rising" admits this fact: when the Big One hits, local broadcasters may be knocked off the air for possibly a couple weeks or more. And the big city, inland FM and TV stations remaining on the air won't reach much of the area that will be most highly damaged (and probably without electric power): the Pacific Coast.

Here is a link to the Cascadia Rising report:
https://huxley.wwu.edu/files/Cascadia_Rising_high_0.pdf

It says that AM radio may be the only broadcast media available for a while to those in the coastal areas of Washington and Oregon, which may be most heavily hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

This is where AM radio's importance comes in to play. AM radios are cheap, run well on a few batteries, and at night even low cost AM radios can pick up major regional stations.

I have several used Walkmen I got at a thrift store. They all will pick up KFBK and KGO in California, KBOI in Idaho and KSL in Utah -- all four of them are 50 kilowatt news-talk stations that are audible nearly every night in Western Oregon and Washington. CBR in Calgary, Canada also comes in very strongly (although with some interference from local KOMO on the next channel). Several lower powered stations from Eastern Washington and Oregon also are audible with strong signals nearly every night of the week: KBND from Bend, Oregon; KUMA from Pendleton, Oregon; KGA from Spokane, Washington, and KIT from Yakima, Washington. Several other news stations from areas that would be unaffected by a Cascadia quake (CFFR Calgary, KOH Reno, CBK Saskatchewan) also come in on my Walkmen with decent signals nearly every night.

Small headset radios like Sony Walkmen make for excellent disaster radios. Sony Walkmen usually have good MW/AM band performance and are easy on batteries. Some of them are available fairly cheap at thrift stores or online. The Sony Sports Walkman in the lower left of this picture pulls in distant AM stations decently, is easy on batteries, and was purcased at a thrift store for $2.99. When shopping for walkmen radios, whether new or used, name brands like Sony, Sangean, and GE seem to work best on AM.

The FCC and Federal authorities are well aware of the AM band's importance in US national emergencies. That apparently is one reason they are interested in keeping the band on the air. Other countries and regions perhaps don't have same level of risk of natural disasters that the US has: for example, Europe doesn't have hurricanes, tornadoes, or as many massive earthquakes (aside from Italy) as we receive. Europe is more densely populated and perhaps the emergency infrastructure is more concentrated than we have here in the US -- especially in the Western US, where there are more earthquakes and volcanoes.

The Sony ICF-38 is an excellent emergency radio -- it works great on AM, pulls in a lot of stations every night, it's very good on FM, and is very easy on a set of AA batteries. A set of AA's can last a couple weeks or more if you listen at moderate sound levels.

Either way, the AM band is vital for national emergencies, and I hope those in power in the Federal government continue to see its value. It is very difficult to completely disaster-proof the communications infrastructure: as several massive power blackouts during the last decade have shown, sometimes it doesn't take much to wipe out power in several states for days at a time. For example, one major blackout that occurred in the NW US during the 1990's happened because several power lines heated up and drooped into some trees during some warm weather, down near the Oregon border. This triggered a series of shocks to the electrical grid that caused a regional blackout.

A major earthquake could possibly wreak more havoc with the grid than that.

Even though AM stations also run on electricity, the fact the MW band has a long distance nighttime capability, and the receivers are readily available and fairly cheap, is an important factor that hopefully the authorities won't overlook.