AM and FM Broadcast?

Question

I understand the difference between AM and FM in terms of the carrier wave, but is there a difference in the way that they are broadcast?

I mean just in terms of the properties of the wave, but do they both just use towers? Are the towers of similar height? Is the wave directly recieved by your radio or is one reflected off of something... those sorts of things.

Answer 1

Very different. Just the RF aspects:

AM:
wavelength 200 - 600 meters
antenna: single vertical element or multiple phased vertical elements, made from towers
propagation: groundwave only during daylight, range to 150 miles or so, ionospheric skip at night, thousands of miles
minimal effect from buildings, since the wavelength is much larger than the building dimensions

FM:
wavelength 1.9 - 3.4 meters
antenna: usually a phased collinear array mounted on a tower
propagation: groundwave only, line of sight, 100 miles or so
affected by multipath by reflections from buildings and hills

Answer 2

If you understand the whole carrier wave thing, than the answer to your questions is, not really.