preferred range for services with automated traffic, weather, and tourist information. Sound quality The 9/10 kHz channel stepping on MW requires limiting the audio bandwidth to 4.5/5 kHz because the audio spectrum is transmitted twice on each side band. This is adequate for talk and news but not for high-fidelity music. However, many stations use audio bandwidths up 10 kHz, which is not Hi-Fi but sufficient for casual listening. In the UK, most stations use a bandwidth of 6.3 kHz. With AM, it largely depends on the frequency filters of each receiver how the audio is reproduced. This is a major disadvantage compared to FM and digital modes where the demodulated audio is more objective. Extended audio bandwidths cause interference on adjacent channels. Propagation characteristics Wavelengths in this band are long enough that radio waves are not blocked by buildings and hills and can propagate beyond the horizon following the curvature of the Earth; this is called the groundwave. Practical groundwave reception of strong transmitters typically extends to , with greater distances over terrain with higher ground conductivity, and greatest distances over salt water. The groundwave reaches further on lower medium wave frequencies. Medium waves can also reflect off charged particle layers in the ionosphere and return to Earth at much greater distances; this is called the skywave. At night, especially in winter months and at times of low solar activity, the lower ionospheric D layer virtually disappears. When this happens, MW radio waves can easily be received many hundreds or even thousands of miles away as the signal will be reflected by the higher F layer. This can allow very long-distance broadcasting, but can also interfere with distant local stations. Due to the limited number of available channels in the MW broadcast band, the same frequencies are re-allocated to different broadcasting stations several hundred miles apart. On nights of good skywave propagation, the skywave signals of a distant station may interfere with the signals of local stations on the same frequency. In North America, the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) sets aside certain channels for nighttime use over extended service areas via skywave by a few specially licensed AM broadcasting stations. These channels are called clear channels, and they are required to broadcast at higher powers of 10 to 50 kW. Use in North America Initially, broadcasting in the United States was restricted to two wavelengths: "entertainment" was