NYT: A Quest to Save AM

[raccoonradio]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/u...its-lost-in-the-static.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

A quest to save AM radio. It says AM can be heard at long distances (but many stations are weak). Pai of the FCC says AM is localism, it can be relied on it times of emergency (there's still FM). Art. says talk radio (often conservative) has kept it alive (so has religious, ethnic, etc). Pai urges AM to go digital (you'd have to get new radios--no static; but HD FM radios can rebroadcast AM signals like Boston's WBZ, WXKS, etc). Some AMs are rebroadcasting on FM...like Fitchburg MA's WPKZ 1280, on 105.3...

One of the comments to the article says AM's localism is no longer a given. Many are automated stations and there's no-one to break in to a broadcast when a tornado strikes etc.

 

[FredLeonard]

Raccoon: You missed the key point. Pai is a Republican. He holds a Republican seat on the FCC. He wants to save AM. AM is the home of right-wing talk. And pay to play preaching by the religious right. This is all about politics because clearly this guy is clueless about radio.

AM radio's audience is geriatric. You think the Medicare crowd is going to like being required to buy new receivers to keep listening to Rush or their favorite preacher? Post Boomers don't listen to AM, never did and never will. Millennials don't listen to broadcast radio, period.

Keeping AM radio alive on life-support for a major disaster every 20 years or so is about the stupidest argument ever made. That qualifies as the world's worst business model. But radio people like disasters because they can still feel relevant.

 

[raccoonradio]

The article said he denied doing this to save conservative talk...some cons talk has landed on FM but mostly it is indeed on AMs.
Talk in general (commercial) is losing bigtime with PPMs.

>>AM radio's audience is geriatric. You think the Medicare crowd is going to like being required to buy new receivers to keep listening to Rush or their favorite preacher?

Yes--Ancient Modulation

>>That qualifies as the world's worst business model.

True and I will add there are more than a few news- or news-talk stations on FM (99.1 in DC, NPR affiliates etc.)

>>But radio people like disasters because they can still feel relevant.

Like what happened with a train derailment in N.D. I think, and Clear Channel was on autopilot.

 

[FredLeonard]

The article said he denied doing this to save conservative talk...some cons talk has landed on FM but mostly it is indeed on AMs.
Talk in general (commercial) is losing bigtime with PPMs.

>>AM radio's audience is geriatric. You think the Medicare crowd is going to like being required to buy new receivers to keep listening to Rush or their favorite preacher?

Yes--Ancient Modulation

>>That qualifies as the world's worst business model.

True and I will add there are more than a few news- or news-talk stations on FM (99.1 in DC, NPR affiliates etc.)

>>But radio people like disasters because they can still feel relevant.

Like what happened with a train derailment in N.D. I think, and Clear Channel was on autopilot.

Clear Channel is bean counters, not radio people. The radio people still working love it when they get a reason for "wall to wall, team coverage, exclusive...." And ND is one of those instances radio people like to trot out to show they are indispensable. It happened at 2:30am. How many people were listening to the radio? Even if they had local news people, how many small market local news departments are or ever were staffed at 2:30am?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

And ND is one of those instances radio people like to trot out to show they are indispensable. It happened at 2:30am. How many people were listening to the radio? Even if they had local news people, how many small market local news departments are or ever were staffed at 2:30am?

You raise a good question. If the FCC came up with new rules, new policies, would local small market step up to the plate? I can't answer that, but when in included in your question "were they EVER staffed at 2:30 A.M." I can tell you that I was News Director for a station that had all kinds of relationships with the Weather Bureau and the local police and fire departments that they would get me and the station owner out of bed at 2:30 in the morning when it was appropriate.

Been there. Done that.

Does that happen today? I hope so. It should happen.

 

[davideduardo]

Like what happened with a train derailment in N.D. I think, and Clear Channel was on autopilot.

The Minot urban legend surfaces again.

The problem, in brief, was that a train car spilled dangerous chemicals at 2 AM. The authorities did not know how to activate the EAS alert system, which would have been relayed on all stations on the air in the market. Station's don't activate the EAS in such circumstances.

Were the Minot stations not in an automated, cluster operation, the probability is that none would have even been on the air at that time of the night in a market that size.

Further, consider how many people in a community of that kind might actually be up listening to the radio at 2:30 AM.

Very, very few stations ever had anyone on the air (if they were even on) at 2 AM capable of handling breaking news. As Mr. Goat says, someone would have had to be called... and in the case of a chemical spill, that would have been too late. The whole idea of the EAS is to cause emergency notifications to be instantly broadcast without going through calls, notification of staff at stations, etc. In this case, the EAS originator was untrained and unprepared.

 

[davideduardo]

...there are more than a few news- or news-talk stations on FM (99.1 in DC, NPR affiliates etc.)

Or, perhaps, WTOP (FM) in DC, the nation's highest billing radio station.

 

[TheBigA]

Clear Channel is bean counters, not radio people.

The people who work at Clear Channel are radio people. The people who pay for it are bean counters. They have lots of employees, and they don't all count beans.

As for Minot, the REAL question Americans should ask is why was this train carrying hazardous cargo passing through a populated area in the middle of the night? If just ONE of the people who wrote books on that story asked that question, I think you'd understand why the Congress stopped their investigation, and never brought it up again.

 

[FredLeonard]

I notice congress didn't investigate when networks stopped feeding after 11pm, most stations were off at midnight and all you could hear was American Airlines "Music 'Til Dawn" on a few clear channel (small "c") stations. Insomniacs in Minot would be listening to WCCO, WHO or even CBW.
Much, much later I worked for a self-described "news station" (although half the schedule was right-wing talk) which bragged about it's large news staff and 24/7 coverage. The news department overnight was a board op running Bohannon. The boss hated computers and convinced himself a board op was cheaper, and offered 24/7 coverage. While running the board, no way to monitor police radios (the boss kept that in his office). No way to answer anything other than the hotline. Until the morning editor came in, nobody checked the wire. The evening editor left copy and carts for the overnight guy to use during breaks on Bohannon but unless he started coughing on the air, no way anybody would know about a toxic gas cloud over the city. Almost no radio stations, anywhere are equipped to deal with disasters in the off-hours; few are at any time. Even in major markets, you may have one news station, Metro which takes care of everybody else and maybe a public radio station doing some local news (or maybe not). About five years ago, a big storm came through and knocked out a lot of people's lights - overnight Saturday-Sunday. The all news stations had a skeleton crew, as usual. The weather service fed weather reports. But since the power company didn't call or send outage reports, no mention was made of anybody without power. No live shots. No warnings about flooded roads. No big deal; except it was.