In 1940, Armstrong had predicted that FM would supplant AM in five years. Actually, it would take until the 1970s for it to catch on, and until the 1980s to reach the popularity of AM.13 It cannot be denied that the emergence of television at the same time took some of the wind out of FM’s sails. It is likewise true that wholly replacing one technology with another does take time. But the studied efforts of the AM industry and the complicit restrictions imposed by the FCC, even if occasionally well-meaning, certainly retarded FM, preventing it from developing into anything more than AM in
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