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Why did some AM stations leave the airwaves??
- Thread starter doug41160
- Start date
WFRO went off so another station at Flint could move its signal into Detroit. WGLX Am went off at the decision of the then owner. The Sydney station went off after their three tower array lost a tower and they didn't want to rebuild it. I don't remember why the fourth station went off.
The most interesting of these is the purchase and closing of an AM in Little Rock so that WINS in New York City could let out its night pattern a bit.
WADO 1280 in NYC bought a Long Island station on 1290 and closed it to enable a power increase. 1600 at Egg arbor on Long Island was bought and closed to let WWRL improve its metro coverage area.
Generally, these cases are big stations wanting to improve coverage by eliminating smaller stations that they have to protect.
as mentioned above some AM's are shut down to allow co-channel or first adjacent stations in other markets get a technical modification for better signal.
Other reasons?
Loss of tower lease, too expensive to renew ( WMEX 1510 Boston under the previous owners), although after it went dark Ed Perry bought the license, re-located it, down graded the signal, and is using it as the basis for a translator.
Some AM tower arrays were built in the middle of nowhere 50+++ years ago, and now that suburbia has expanded they are now sitting on some high dollar real estate that is worth multiples of what the station is.
If the station is not making $$$, you sell the land and walk away.
Some AM's have HUGE electric bills (again WMEX) that make the station unprofitable.
Some AM's you can't give away so they go dark
The list goes on, but the deck is stacked against AM stations, and you are going to see more of this happening IMHO unless the spectrum goes all digital and even then the small stations are going to be hard pressed to compete in a world where radio is becoming more and more irrelevant
Other reasons?
Loss of tower lease, too expensive to renew ( WMEX 1510 Boston under the previous owners), although after it went dark Ed Perry bought the license, re-located it, down graded the signal, and is using it as the basis for a translator.
Some AM tower arrays were built in the middle of nowhere 50+++ years ago, and now that suburbia has expanded they are now sitting on some high dollar real estate that is worth multiples of what the station is.
If the station is not making $$$, you sell the land and walk away.
Some AM's have HUGE electric bills (again WMEX) that make the station unprofitable.
Some AM's you can't give away so they go dark
The list goes on, but the deck is stacked against AM stations, and you are going to see more of this happening IMHO unless the spectrum goes all digital and even then the small stations are going to be hard pressed to compete in a world where radio is becoming more and more irrelevant
Now that FM translators connected to AM stations have past the four year limit ( maybe it was five ) designated by the FCC for the minimum number of years they must similcast the AM on the translator many of those AM stations have signed off for good while the translator is now being fed from a HD channel on some full power FM the owner of the AM has. In Fort Myers Florida three AMs shut down and turned in their licenses a few weeks ago when the minimum term ended. The translators remain on using HD feeds . This will only increase.
The story about WMVR's towers blowing down is true. Since they owned and still own the property, I'm not sure why they didn't rebuild, though the 3-tower pattern was very directional, not even reaching parts of Shelby County (you could see the towers to the west and not hear the signal). Couple that with only a partial pre-sunrise authorization tied to sunrise at WTIC. Anyway, the FM is more than doing fine on its own.
Especially if the licensee doesn't own the tower site. A daytimer in Iowa announced it was shutting down...Iowa AM Station Returns License, Programming Continues on FM – Upper Midwest Broadcasting
The property where the AM towers were still house the studio and WMVR-FM's transmission facility. I suspect that the tower that now supports WMVR-FM was originally part of the AM array.
I'm not entirely sure. It was the case when I worked there some in the mid 70s...I'm wondering if they moved somewhere taller. Yes, same studio building as it's always been.
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