J Alex Bowab said:
How do you begin to get the target audience to realize AM exists?
For Disney, it's easy: there was a time when they were pushing Radio Disney via their Disney Channel on TV. They kept up a station list online. The kids might not've known about AM but the parents sure did and from what I understand, Radio Disney was actually doing pretty well for itself for a while in the late 1990s or early 2000s. They had a pretty captive audience since most commercial stations don't program to children under 12. Radio Disney does. And they also happen to have a stable of perfectly groomed pop-lite artists under the Disney umbrella whose songs could be heard on the Radio Disney stations somewhat exclusively.
At one time, RD was on a 50 kW AM'er in Birmingham and I actually heard people playing it in cars and stores a few times. I can honestly say it was the only music on AM I remember hearing others listening to up until I moved to Foley and heard a local antique store playing WABF.
I think this was a situation that only a megacompany like Disney could have pulled off, though. I also remember the failed Radio Aaahs that mostly thrived on AM stations.
Disney has decided to get rid of the RD stations since kids today are more inclined to stream music online or get it through other means, and once again AM radio is left behind. But it was a good idea while it lasted, and it no doubt helped Disney sell a mess of tween pop records for a few years.
I'm probably in the minority here when I say 'good riddance' to some of these underperforming stations. The AM band is too crowded as it is, the herd needs to be thinned considerably so the rest of the band can survive into the 21st Century.
