I am not in any way, shape, or form suggesting that 1210 should or will change anything. I barely listen to terrestrial radio and I never listen to the AM band so for all I care, they can turn off the transmitter right now or they can continue blasting that format until long after I've left this world. haha. But I do wonder if there's really nothing they could simulcast on 1210 AM that would justify eliminating the costs associated with running it as the stand-alone operation that it is. It can't be cheap to run a station like that, can it? I mean, I really have no idea. Just wondering whether it is and will continue to be worth the cost.
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I am not in any way, shape, or form suggesting that 1210 should or will change anything. I barely listen to terrestrial radio and I never listen to the AM band so for all I care, they can turn off the transmitter right now or they can continue blasting that format until long after I've left this world. haha. But I do wonder if there's really nothing they could simulcast on 1210 AM that would justify eliminating the costs associated with running it as the stand-alone operation that it is. It can't be cheap to run a station like that, can it? I mean, I really have no idea. Just wondering whether it is and will continue to be worth the cost.
Did you not read the post you quoted? The answer to your question is in the last sentence.
You might eliminate some costs but also lose the associated local income. Right now, what they're doing (roughly 9 hours weekdays of local, 15 syndicated) seems like about the best one could expect to make a decent enough little profit off an AM station. So justifying such a move? Maybe someone could make an argument, but that doesn't mean it's a good one as we sit here today and into the foreseeable future.
Did you not read the post you quoted? (The "and will continue to be" part?)
That's what I was thinking. I'm sure as soon as it stops being profitable, it'll be gone. But I don't know if I see that as a reasonable expectation any time soon. (Sorry!)
Funny...I'm reading your post as I'm listening to the Anthony Scaramucci press conference, and he's talking about "hypotheticals." That falls into that category.
We all can see what's happening to AM radio. It's not growing, regardless of format. As noted in post #83, the station is only doing 9 hours of local talk out of a 24 hour day. In my view, that's a prudent strategy, and keeping the talk local in key sales dayparts. That's how you keep a station relevant to the community, and that's how you keep a station profitable in an environment when AM as a whole is declining.
I think a bigger target, in terms of expense and profit is KYW. That is a station that's 24/7 local. They don't even run national news at the top of the hour. I think, as an outsider, that would be the AM station that is more likely to change in some way than WPHT. However, my view is they will need to transition to FM at some point, because it's obvious that listeners love the content, but it may not be on the most listenable band.
This. A hundred thousand times, this! It's amazing to me that it isn't on FM yet but I guess so far, CBS has thought that a second CHR and now a second AC are more worthy of a frequency!
Also, KYW has managed to stay in the Top 10, despite the consumer move to FM. But each book, they continue to fall, and none of it is related to content. It's all related to the weakness of AM. So I think they're getting closer to the point when this change will have to happen.
The public 6+ ratings
J
Jul
Guest
Please, please feel free to post any rumors and news that you, the posters may have regarding 1210 AM WPHT, in this thread. With the Entercom merger near, anything can happen with this station.
J
Jul
Guest
My point is, give listeners a reason to tune to 1210 AM. To me the image of the station has declined since they took WCAU off the air 27 years ago. It is a miracle that the current format has lasted 21 years and still making money, given the various mistakes they made with programming and talent and the fact that most people, including me doesn't like the current format.
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"Most people" don't have to like it. They serve, and serve well, the audience that does want conservative talk. That's no miracle, it's running a successful business given the realities in front of them. Your dislike is, honestly, irrelevant.
As it is with nearly all AM stations (and very sadly because I love AM) is that there's a count down clock till when the folks, mostly all elderly who still listen to AM are going to soon pass on, and quite frankly with them goes AM radio. WPHT will eventually either change formats in its death throws and then eventually turn off for good.
I really wish we could find a fool proof way to get younger folks to have a damn good reason to tune to AM radio- but as long as profit rules radio, AM will die. Widen the allowed bandwidth to make music on AM sound impeccable and lower QRM is a start, but still profit rules radio (someones gotta pay the electricity!) AM will remain a band of noise, jesus freaks, spanish, and 80 year old conservatives ranting about the gay agenda. It's no wonder no cares about AM radio, who listens to anything on for enjoyment? I only like it for DXing and the smooth jazz station in philly.
I think something that could be tried out are community ran projects. Solar powered radio stations on AM- maybe 250 watt daytimers, or even maybe 100 at night too that have full power to air whatever they want. meaning they can really broadcast what people think and say. think about it. the internet has no boundaries and people love flocking to it for real views and thoughts. the radio needs to start reflecting that. they can make money by selling airtime as usual, but also all the other ways stations can make cash, ads on websites and such. just a thought.
I really wish we could find a fool proof way to get younger folks to have a damn good reason to tune to AM radio- but as long as profit rules radio, AM will die. Widen the allowed bandwidth to make music on AM sound impeccable and lower QRM is a start, but still profit rules radio (someones gotta pay the electricity!) AM will remain a band of noise, jesus freaks, spanish, and 80 year old conservatives ranting about the gay agenda. It's no wonder no cares about AM radio, who listens to anything on for enjoyment? I only like it for DXing and the smooth jazz station in philly.
I think something that could be tried out are community ran projects. Solar powered radio stations on AM- maybe 250 watt daytimers, or even maybe 100 at night too that have full power to air whatever they want. meaning they can really broadcast what people think and say. think about it. the internet has no boundaries and people love flocking to it for real views and thoughts. the radio needs to start reflecting that. they can make money by selling airtime as usual, but also all the other ways stations can make cash, ads on websites and such. just a thought.
I think a lot of that already exists, but the bigger issue is how to pay for it. I saw where a restaurant in Cincinnati has started a Part 15 AM station, which is a 10 Watt, 2-1/2 mile range AM station that will broadcast local bands from their bar. That's an idea that has money attached to it. That's what it takes, because it costs money to run transmitters, to comply with FCC regulations, and keep all the equipment maintained and operating, not to mention any staff.
The issue with sound quality is far less one of transmission than reception. The NRSC working committee of some years back that studied reduced bandwidth for the implementation of IBOC found that the average consumer AM radio started rolling off severely at about 3,900 kHz and was down something like 12 db by 6 kHz.
The NRSC standard of a 10 kHz brick wall for audio is due to the FCC having licensed too many AM stations which were causing heterodyning all over the nation, particularly at night.
Even if AM stations were to widen bandwidth, nobody is going to replace their radio... particularly car radios... to hear something they perceive they don't need. Most people will say, "I can already get everything I want with FM, Spotify and Pandora.
Then add in the increasing man-made noise on AM, where it now takes over 10 mV/m of AM signal to overcome the buzzing and junk on the band, and few AM stations even cover their own markets and most have not done so for decades due to urban sprawl even before the noise started increasing.
And, with 54,000,000 Hispanics in the US, even more Christians, what is wrong with faith-based programming or formats in Spanish? And I sample AM talk with a certain regularity and I seldom if ever hear gay bashing or talk about whatever your "gay agenda" statement might mean.
Part 15 stations can not deliver 10 watts to the antenna (and there are rules on the radiation efficiency of the antenna itself).
The FCC's guideline is "On the AM broadcast band, these devices are limited to an effective service range of approximately 200 feet (61 meters). See 47 CFR Sections 15.207, 15.209, 15.219, and 15.221. "
The rules specify 1/10th of a watt input to the final RF stage. Or, per one hobbyist site, "Unlicensed AM (540-1700 Khz) radio broadcasts are limited to one-tenth of a watt transmitting power as opposed to licensed stations, which range from 500-50,000 watts... "
Then maybe it's not Part 15. Here's the story I was referring to:
http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/no...-artifact-to-launch-local-music-radio-station
It's obviously some kind of low power station, since it has a range of 2-1/2 miles.
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