AM broadcasts mostly have either ethnic listeners who are more likely to have an AM radio, or more senior members of the public.
Caroline will attract listeners who remember the old Caroline of the 60's and 80's, but those listeners are more likely to remember the popular format. The album track listeners and new listeners who don't know about Caroline's past would more likely go for better quality options for listening.
With this in mind is it wise to go down the root of ever diminishing returns in seeking more and more power for AM? 
Previous Message
That was my interpretation too, that both bandwidth and power are up for negotiation and if you dont ask you dont get. That said the effect of widening the bandwidth will be lost on many modern AM receivers with a fixed 9khz channel spacing and a brick wall IF filter. An older analogue tuner would be great as you can use the old 'tune off to one side' trick to get the extra few khz of audio. Further to that, my hearing peters out at about 10k anyway so Im not missing much Previous Message
Read on a bit Tom, & your get QUOTE:
"If any existing AM licensee wishes to increase transmission power,
they can make a proposal for a licence variation. Ofcom would consider such requests taking
into account matters such as interference to other services, the UK’s international
agreements and the circumstances of the original licence award." Unquote.
Yes there is a lot about wider bandwidth - it seems widening it to 9khtz, is the only worthwhile change, & that would depend on adjacent channels that are in use.
Reading between the lines - OFCOM are seeing a big loss of income from the "Big boys" no longer using MW - so they "have to be seen" to make MW attractive to any new users, otherwise it will look like OFCOM - who have a duty to make good use of the whole spectrum (EG sell as many licences as they can, within technical constraints)
I'm sure Caroline would not mind one little bit, in being a guinea pig in this aim, with 9khtz & 10kw.
OFCOM really have no excuse now the Big Boys have abandoned MW. Their big mistake in my opinion, as overall, MW goes much further with just one TX, for a given power, than FM or DAB ever will.
Those systems are OK in big towns & Cities, but are pretty useless in Hilly & woodland areas - I speak from personal experience, living in Thetford forest ! - OK AM does not have the high quality, but at least MW is mostly a solid signal & does not go silent or start Gurgling - as DAB is very good at ! Previous Message
I say chaps, aren't we confusing power and bandwidth? Bottom of page 3 of report states:-
" AM radio audio bandwidth
We will adopt the proposals set out in our consultation whereby Ofcom will consider, on a
case-by-case basis, requests from licensees to adopt wider audio bandwidth on their AM
radio transmitters . Such requests will only be granted where technically feasible, and where
they will not cause a significant increase in interference to other spectrum users. "
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Analogue Radio Technical Code - Dave Martin 22/6/2024, 14:16:45
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