If Howard Stern returned to terrestrial radio, and went to AM instead of FM, he is the only one who could help AM radio's demos. He carried the rock radio stations that went away after he went to satellite radio.
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Is Howard Stern the only one who could help AM demos?
- Thread starter TTalkradio1
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I ask you: How old is Howard? How does a 60 year old white male help the AM demo? And his audience is aging with him.
Second of all, estimates range that only 3-5 million people subscribed to Sirius because of Howard. Nationally, that's not a substantial number.
Third of all, Howard has been offered all kinds of money to return to OTA radio, and he's turned it all down. So this is really speculative, given Howard's own actions.
My view, and I've stated this a lot, is that programming can't help AM. In fact, Howard's OTA show was on some AM stations in the 90s, and they were never significant. It was the powerhouse FMs that built Howard into the King of All Media.
Second of all, estimates range that only 3-5 million people subscribed to Sirius because of Howard. Nationally, that's not a substantial number.
Third of all, Howard has been offered all kinds of money to return to OTA radio, and he's turned it all down. So this is really speculative, given Howard's own actions.
My view, and I've stated this a lot, is that programming can't help AM. In fact, Howard's OTA show was on some AM stations in the 90s, and they were never significant. It was the powerhouse FMs that built Howard into the King of All Media.
What can help AM radio then? I know Howard doesn't want to come back. When Howard Stern was 50, he was huge on FM stations. If the powerhouse FM stations built Howard, then why did they fall once he left? The next biggest hosts who do that kind of radio, such as Opie and Anthony and Tom Leykis couldn't keep those stations going. You're saying that the stations built Howard? Subscribing to Sirius doesn't have to do with who would listen if he was on terrestrial radio. He didn't leave it, due to a lack of listeners.
Nothing. Howard was 50 when he left for Sirius, declaring broadcasting is dead. Howard left broadcasting for bigger money at Sirius, and to get away from the FCC. Pay radio is still more lucrative than broadcasting. The next big thing will be pay radio owned by Comcast.
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Howard would not work on AM or FM in the PPM world. Howard's show was successful based on relatively low cume and enormous TSL. In the PPM, TSL's are shown to be considerably less than what was written in the diary. Doing the math on NY and LA, Howard would have been perhaps 10th or 11th had the PPM existed... and not #1 or #2.
I also meant to say, if he is the only one who could help their billing.
U
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Guest
I would agree that AM's days of mass appeal are numbered but that does NOT necessarily spell the end for AM radio. AM radio CAN survive financially as a media serving niche markets which has been demonstrated time after time by religious and foreign groups.
The US does not really need 10,000 mass appeal radio stations. The big companies can't even figure out formats for half the FM station main channels much less their HD channels, SCAs, and translators.
It is doubtful that AM will ever once again become a major factor financially, or in terms of listeners. What have we lost?
"Niche markets?" You must be joking. Even religious groups don't want AM stations. They prefer starting their own low power FMs from scratch. Foreign broadcasters prefer to run pirate FMs than legal AMs. That should tell you all you need to know.
U
Unregistered
Guest
Salem seems to think AM is still viable. They have paid big $$$ for AM sticks and my assumption is that they do better than break even.
I agree that,given a choice, most would choose FM over AM for OTA service. You can not deny the fact that AM listening cumes are getting smaller every year.
I think they're really struggling.
With John Gambling and Don Imus starting the day for the last few years, how would they attract good demos?
Who would pay him the $100 million per year he's making now? Certainly not a web stream. This idea that the internet is as lucrative as radio is ridiculous.
G
Guestus Maximus
Guest
Salem buys because of their political agenda - not to win in the ratings.
U
Unregistered
Guest
Stern supposedly brought 3 million subs to XM radio.
IF....half of those subscribers paid $13.00 monthly for Howard's internet service that would be $19.5M MONTHLY. That's almost $235 million per year.
Costs would be.......overhead for studios. Salaries for cast of characters. No SoundExchange fees because there's NO music. Any music bed will be unlicensed to avoid SESAC, ASCAP, and BMI.
So the big "IF" is could Stern sign up 1.5 million subcribers? I think it's a definite *maybe.*
I'm telling you. It's a definite NO.
The biggest podcasters in the world need day jobs.
I believe SoundExchange still charges a fee to talk shows for what it calls "incidental music."
Not exactly. Salem buys to make money, and they have a specific philosophy on how to do that. Like any public corporation, they answer to shareholders and a board of directors, too.
David, maybe this should be a separate thread but it's clear Salem is more interested in advancing its Evangelical Christian political agenda on its AM Talk stations. If they make a little money or break even, great. If they don't, they get propped up by the Religion stations, and in some markets Contemporary Christian FM stations. That's where Salem makes its money. Yes, they have to answer to shareholders, but many of them hold their same philosophy. While the paid religion station rakes in the bucks in a given market, if that Talk station on the other side of the building bashing Obama and the modern world doesn't make much money, who's gonna know?
When Arbitron was still listing non-subscribing stations, there was often no Salem Talk station in any sizable market getting even a one rating. Sometimes the Salem Talk station in Phoenix, KKNT, 5000 watts at 960, would go up to a 1.1 or 1.2. But that's it. Terrible ratings on WNYM NYC, KKLA LA, WIND Chicago, etc. They're not on fulltime Class A 50,000 watt signals but those are not terrible signals either. And they all get bad ratings. Same for Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, etc.
And even if PPM may have changed the ratings landscape a bit, to say Stern would only be #10 or #11 all those years he dominated morning ratings is a stretch. Yeah, maybe his fans were writing in their diaries that they listened more than they did. But I'm sure listeners to other stations did the same. I don't think we can go back and say Diary Ratings cannot be trusted to the point where the #1 morning guy really was the #10 morning host. When People Meters were introduced, some stations dropped a bit, some went up a bit but there wasn't such a dramatic change.
When Arbitron was still listing non-subscribing stations, there was often no Salem Talk station in any sizable market getting even a one rating. Sometimes the Salem Talk station in Phoenix, KKNT, 5000 watts at 960, would go up to a 1.1 or 1.2. But that's it. Terrible ratings on WNYM NYC, KKLA LA, WIND Chicago, etc. They're not on fulltime Class A 50,000 watt signals but those are not terrible signals either. And they all get bad ratings. Same for Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, etc.
And even if PPM may have changed the ratings landscape a bit, to say Stern would only be #10 or #11 all those years he dominated morning ratings is a stretch. Yeah, maybe his fans were writing in their diaries that they listened more than they did. But I'm sure listeners to other stations did the same. I don't think we can go back and say Diary Ratings cannot be trusted to the point where the #1 morning guy really was the #10 morning host. When People Meters were introduced, some stations dropped a bit, some went up a bit but there wasn't such a dramatic change.
Here's what their website says about them:
Salem Communications Corporation is the largest commercial U.S. radio broadcasting company that provides programming targeted at audiences interested in Christian and family-themed radio content, as measured by the number of stations and audience coverage.
Salem Communications Corporation is the largest commercial U.S. radio broadcasting company that provides programming targeted at audiences interested in Christian and family-themed radio content, as measured by the number of stations and audience coverage.
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