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WABC’s PSA for Saving AM Radio

Ex-RadioTV

Ex-RadioTV

This would be ironic, if it weren’t so stupid.
WABC is currently running a locally-produced PSA to “save AM radio”. It includes a sound-byte of former VP Mike Pence (no kidding) and the station voice imploring you to “GO…to saveAMradio dot com.”
So if you GO—- to saveAMradio.com, it’s a landing page from domain host GoDaddy, which has a link for you to “Get This Domain”, and otherwise states that the domain is “parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com”. A Whois search shows the domain registration will expire (unless renewed) next month.
WABC produced this PSA a while back after they had a visit from VP Pence, who recorded some scripted lines for it. After taking a hiatus, the PSA is now back in frequent rotation.
Is anybody at WABC paying attention?
 
Internally, the place is very dysfunctional. It starts at the top (hobbyist billionaire owner with a clear agenda), goes through the GM or whatever he's called (who ran WABC into the ground under previous ownership but kissed enough tuchus to stay employed under the new regime), and trickles down to those unfortunate enough to work for them. And there are really good and talented folks there.

Said owner (🐱) has been promoting this for over a year. Remember, the last bill failed to make it past the finish line during the waiting days of the last congressional session. This time, things could be different.
 
There is another version of WABC’s SAVE AM RADIO campaign that gives a webpage within the wabcradio.com site. That address forwards to a change.org page. The petition link there has about 30 comments, some going back a year.
To paraphrase STAR TREK’s Dr. McCoy, “It’s dead, Jim.”
 
Nathan Obral said:
If you were to tell me this was an actual advertisement for a radio station in market #1 in 2025, I would not believe you. Yes, Cats operates with nothing but a blatant political agenda, but this crosses the line over into self-parody.
Click to expand...
Mr. Cats owns/runs a chain (or two) of supermarkets. The ad resembles a weekly mailer for a supermarket. (Or the front cover of the National Inquirer, sold at most supermarket checkout stands.) So it is self-parody, whether intended or not.
 
General tenor of the ad's typography and layout: "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING SO I'M GOING TO YELL AND YELL AGAIN UNTIL YOU DO!!!!!!!!" Sheesh, WABC, lighten up on the Helvetica Extra Bold and learn that you don't have to center every line of text.

Nathan Obral said:
If you were to tell me this was an actual advertisement for a radio station in market #1 in 2025, I would not believe you.
Click to expand...
Somebody get a graphic designer...stat!
 
Mark Roberts said:
General tenor of the ad's typography and layout: "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING SO I'M GOING TO YELL AND YELL AGAIN UNTIL YOU DO!!!!!!!!" Sheesh, WABC, lighten up on the Helvetica Extra Bold and learn that you don't have to center every line of text.
Click to expand...
What gets me is the "WABC WILL BE PUBLISHING THE LIST OF CAR COMPANIES NOT OFFERING AM RADIO IN THEIR CARS" line, like, don't threaten me with a good time lol
Mark Roberts said:
Somebody get a graphic designer...stat!
Click to expand...
"Never interrupt the enemy when they are making a mistake."
 
[stepping onto soap box]

Big Apple Media fell for the trap. They forgot they are not entitled to an audience.

Sure, back in the 1900s, owning an AM radio station meant having a government-sanctioned monopoly to be one of a dozen stations in a car. That meant a guaranteed right to a share of the captive audience. It meant a government-sanctioned printing press to sell out ad inventories. It meant an appreciating asset you could eventually flip and sell (even though the airwaves belong to the public, so tax payers really should be making that windfall, but I digress).

But...

It's 2025. Nobody under the age of 75 is listening to AM radio. And it's not because AM radios are slowly disappearing. It's because the AM audience is disappearing.

It's 2025. People under the age of 75 got darn tired of a radio format that said anybody under the age of 75 (rolling age, since 1989) was "politically correct" and "a feminazi" and "woke" and whatever scapegoating to blame us for the cause of all of America's problems. So, we left and never came back.

It's 2025. There are far better options for in-car entertainment. Why listen to a crackly version of Glenn Beck when you can stream it directly from him on the iHeartRadio app, on demand, anytime you please? Or, for those of us under 75, actually listen to content that does not constantly villify us or — heaven forbid, may not be political content at all! (My favorite podcast recaps every episode of The Simpsons ever. Because I'm tired about hearing about "Hillary's emails" in 2025)

It's 2025. Go, fight, win. Really compete for every listener they get. If their content is good, listeners will find WABC via phone/bluetooth, no matter what car they own. (If it's just grabbing stale political crap off the satellite, then they might as well shut off the transmitter, sell the license, and walk away)

And Big Apple Media need to put on their grown-up pants and act like mature adults. It's 2025. Not 1995.
 
henry said:
Sure, back in the 1900s, owning an AM radio station meant having a government-sanctioned monopoly to be one of a dozen stations in a car. That meant a guaranteed right to a share of the captive audience. It meant a government-sanctioned printing press to sell out ad inventories. It meant an appreciating asset you could eventually flip and sell
Click to expand...
Not quite as absolute as you indicate. Even in the mandatory FCC annual station financial reports in the 60's we saw that nearly 50% of all stations did not make a profit. Sure, some small market stations paid the owner a salary and, thus, had no "doubly taxed" corporate profit, but still the idea that all stations were a "printing press" to make money is not accurate.

My first job was at a 27,000 watt station in Cleveland in 1959. We could run for months with no paid ads.
henry said:
It's 2025. And Big Apple Media need to put on their grown-up pants and act like mature adults. Go, fight, win. Really compete for every listener they get. Or else, shut off the transmitter, sell the license, and walk away. If their content is good, listeners will find WABC via phone/bluetooth, no matter what car they own.
Click to expand...
WABC seems to be billing adequately and serving the purpose intended for its owner. In fact, the owner, who is a multi-billionaire, even participates in some station programs. And, irrespective of age, WABC is in the 10 most listened to stations in the market.
 
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An AM station promoting AM radio. Talk about self-serving. Talk about preaching to the choir. Something about grocery store owners. It was another grocery store owner who was behind black listing in the 50s.
 
As I think about it, it does not seem the bit WABC is running can be considered a PSA (public service announcement). Maybe a promo but that's stretching things. Closer to an editorial. Whether manufacturers should be required to put AM in car radios is an issue before congress and a federal regulatory agency, which makes it a political issue. One more reason to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
 
henry said:
[stepping onto soap box]

Big Apple Media fell for the trap. They forgot they are not entitled to an audience.

Sure, back in the 1900s, owning an AM radio station meant having a government-sanctioned monopoly to be one of a dozen stations in a car. That meant a guaranteed right to a share of the captive audience. It meant a government-sanctioned printing press to sell out ad inventories. It meant an appreciating asset you could eventually flip and sell (even though the airwaves belong to the public, so tax payers really should be making that windfall, but I digress).

But...

It's 2025. Nobody under the age of 75 is listening to AM radio. And it's not because AM radios are slowly disappearing. It's because the AM audience is disappearing.

It's 2025. People under the age of 75 got darn tired of a radio format that said anybody under the age of 75 (rolling age, since 1989) was "politically correct" and "a feminazi" and "woke" and whatever scapegoating to blame us for the cause of all of America's problems. So, we left and never came back.

It's 2025. There are far better options for in-car entertainment. Why listen to a crackly version of Glenn Beck when you can stream it directly from him on the iHeartRadio app, on demand, anytime you please? Or, for those of us under 75, actually listen to content that does not constantly villify us or — heaven forbid, may not be political content at all! (My favorite podcast recaps every episode of The Simpsons ever. Because I'm tired about hearing about "Hillary's emails" in 2025)

It's 2025. Go, fight, win. Really compete for every listener they get. If their content is good, listeners will find WABC via phone/bluetooth, no matter what car they own. (If it's just grabbing stale political crap off the satellite, then they might as well shut off the transmitter, sell the license, and walk away)

And Big Apple Media need to put on their grown-up pants and act like mature adults. It's 2025. Not 1995.
Click to expand...
It's **RED** Apple Media, not Big.

Otherwise, a spot-on assessment.
 
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