Aging talk hosts, listeners; AM dying

[raccoonradio]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/talk-radio-ryan-seacrest-howard-stern-carson-daly-362825

>>Thanks to iPods, podcasts and hundreds of satellite stations, radio audiences are getting older (more than a third of talk-radio listeners are 65 and older) and the personalities are aging out of relevance...It's a grim outlook that radio industry observers long have dreaded, where centralized programming rules

Talk radio hosts (Geraldo: 68, Rush: 61, Howie: 60; Savage, 70; Ed Schultz, 58 ) and their listeners are aging and people
are fleeing to other elec. devices. "(Tom) Leykis predicts many AM stations will simply cease to exist in the coming years."

It mentions some up and coming hosts like Andy Dean (31; some say he sounds like he's 14)

Hosts, listeners age. AM dying. Let's run some comedy, shall we?

 

[raccoonradio]

And CC buys WOR in NY--and while many think it's a new home for Rush they are hinting...
Sports. (maybe buy Yankees rights?) Younger trending demos for sports over politics.

 

[CTListener]

How long till our medium wave band goes the way of Canada's? Stations just shutting down and moving to FM, fewer and fewer takers for the vacated frequencies until finally the band goes silent?

 

[raccoonradio]

Don't know though maybe it'll have pirate radio, some local stations doing the equivalent of local access cable, etc. Maybe some blowtorches like WBZ may stick around but even then who knows?

 

[raccoonradio]

I do believe in companies making money but running comedy bits (1200) or old hits (Harbor 101.7) with no local DJs or hosts, no ties to the community, just "computer in a closet" just isn't right, and they wonder why people are turning OFF radio

 

[JIBGUY]

True, talk-show hosts are aging, but it's almost a necessity, as with age comes the wisdom required to host such shows. I do imagine, though, that there are some younger folks who could do the same, but not TOO young that they haven't spent time in jail first, which is beneficial to the chances of them getting a talk-radio gig.

AM radio is only dying because of who the owners are. Put compelling programming on AM and it works well, and will continue to work well.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

And CC buys WOR in NY--and while many think it's a new home for Rush they are hinting...
Sports. (maybe buy Yankees rights?) Younger trending demos for sports over politics.

There's no way that CC's purchase of WOR is anything but finding a home for CC/Premier syndicated shows. It's a no-brainer. Unlike what they did in Boston (put Rush et al. on a crippled signal), WOR has arguably the best coverage of the NYC metro of any AM signal, so Rush, Hannity et al. will be there just as soon as the contracts with WABC run out.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

WOR has arguably the best coverage of the NYC metro of any AM signal, so Rush, Hannity et al. will be there just as soon as the contracts with WABC run out.

Based on my analysis of Radio-Locator.com's signal maps, I'd give WOR-710 the third-best daytime AM signal in New York (in terms of how far it reaches) behind WFAN-660 and WCBS-880.

Where I am, 14 miles southwest of Boston, I can get WFAN and WCBS during the daytime on my better AM radios. On those radios, if I turn the volume up all the way, I get WOR during the day. I seldom can get any other New York AM station during the day.

WOR transmits from New jersey and the first 20-25 miles of it's signal travels between there and Boston travels over land. On the other hand, WFAN and WCBS transmit from High Island on the western end of Long Island Sound and the first 40-50 miles of their signals between there and Boston go over salt water.

 

[CTListener]

WOR has arguably the best coverage of the NYC metro of any AM signal, so Rush, Hannity et al. will be there just as soon as the contracts with WABC run out.

Based on my analysis of Radio-Locator.com's signal maps, I'd give WOR-710 the third-best daytime AM signal in New York (in terms of how far it reaches) behind WFAN-660 and WCBS-880.

Where I am, 14 miles southwest of Boston, I can get WFAN and WCBS during the daytime on my better AM radios. On those radios, if I turn the volume up all the way, I get WOR during the day. I seldom can get any other New York AM station during the day.

Except he was talking about the NYC metro. There are plenty of stations around the country that delight out-of-market listeners but have signal problems at home.

 

[KeithE4]

AM radio is only dying because of who the owners are. Put compelling programming on AM and it works well, and will continue to work well.

AM has been slowly dying for close to 45 years - almost half of its 92 years of existence. Once rock stations started up on FM (1968), that was the beginning of the end. You have to be older than 50 to have grown up with your favorite station being on AM. I'm 57, and other than sports, there is nothing on the AM band for me anymore, and there hasn't been for many years. Of course, since I'm now too old to be in the Sacred Sales DemoTM, there's little on FM that interests me as well. My smartphone with the TuneIn, Radio.com, and MLB apps (plus my own music collection), Roku box, and Grace Digital internet radio are what I listen to now.

So what "compelling" programming do you think would work on Ancient Modulation? Sports will still be there for some time to come, but it's moving to FM as well - that's where the money is. Windbag-talk is dying of old age, both the hosts and audience. Adult standards? The WW2/Korean War generation is almost gone, and this format will go with it. What's left? Specialized ethnic (other than Spanish-language) & religious programming will be there, but those are not for general audiences.

The big stations like WBZ, KFI, and WGN will still be around in some form, but only because they have the signals to cover their entire markets well. The smaller stations will probably shut down (it's already starting to happen), moving to FM if they can. If you can't cover your market, you probably won't be around much longer.

AM was saved twice. When entertainment programming moved to TV in the '50s, somebody invented the disk jockey and rock & roll. Once the rockers moved to FM in the '70s and '80s, the void was filled by Limbaugh and his ilk. Now the talkers and their audience are aging out of the mainstream, there's nothing to replace them with. National sports networks? Comedy? Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath. I just don't see much of a mainstream future for AM.

 

[CTListener]

There's nothing that says the band can't be abandoned. Listen to the marine band from 2.0 to 2.8 (I think) mhz. Forty years ago it was jumping with signals: ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore, phone patches. Now almost all that activity has moved to VHF or satellite. The frequencies have no value to the telecomms so what have we got today? Pretty much a dead band.

 

[thetheo]

I do believe in companies making money but running comedy bits (1200) or old hits (Harbor 101.7) with no local DJs or hosts, no ties to the community, just "computer in a closet" just isn't right, and they wonder why people are turning OFF radio

Amen. 24/7/365 Automation is just sad.

 

[KeithE4]

There's nothing that says the band can't be abandoned. Listen to the marine band from 2.0 to 2.8 (I think) mhz. Forty years ago it was jumping with signals: ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore, phone patches. Now almost all that activity has moved to VHF or satellite. The frequencies have no value to the telecomms so what have we got today? Pretty much a dead band.

The entire shortwave spectrum, other than the ham and CB bands, is being abandoned because it is obsolete. Broadcasting is all but dead now, most of the fixed services are gone, and I think marine and aircraft frequencies are used only for backup now, for the most part.

 

[grover]

Hi
JUST bought a HIGH END AM/FM radio from C. CRANE...$79.00 Dollars
What a Radio!!!!
Here in BUCKSPORT MAINE..After Dark
YOU should hear the AM Radio stations on the DIAL
TALK...NEWS...MUSIC...OLD RADIO SHOWS
Now thats a Fun thing..LISTENED to an EPISODE
Of the LONE RANGER from 1953 with Commercials
and JACK BENNY from 1945...Last night from TORONTO AM 740
You can Even hook up an Outside Antenna with this Radio
SURE is a FUN thing at night when you can't sleep Instead of TV

 

[NHRadio]

The problems with the AM band were driven home to me yesterday afternoon as I was driving listening to a 5000 watt ND oldies station. A scant 5 (!!) miles from the transmitter I started to get power line interference. It got so bad you could look up and predict where the interference would start and stop.
Either AM stations need very large daytime power increases or the FCC needs to crack down on unintentional radiators. They've already got a big hard-on for CATV system leakage, why is this any different?

 

[turkeydance]

it's broadcast TV, too:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire...11/04/State-of-the-Media-2011-TV-Upfronts.pdf
quote:
American watched 34 hours 39 minutes of TV per week in Q4 2010, a year-over-year increase of two minutes. The heaviest users of
traditional TV are adults 65+

 

[KeithE4]

The problems with the AM band were driven home to me yesterday afternoon as I was driving listening to a 5000 watt ND oldies station. A scant 5 (!!) miles from the transmitter I started to get power line interference. It got so bad you could look up and predict where the interference would start and stop.
Either AM stations need very large daytime power increases or the FCC needs to crack down on unintentional radiators. They've already got a big hard-on for CATV system leakage, why is this any different?

Or eliminate directional antennas other than to keep the signal out of the ocean, Canada, or Mexico where required.

That's a good part of the problem - a station being so directional that it can't cover its full metro area due to the growth of the past 60 years. Many markets only have a few AM stations that can fully cover their areas 24/7. Here in Phoenix, we have only two, and even then they're iffy in the outlying areas. I would guess Boston has a few of those directional sticks as well - is WBZ the only Class A in the market?

 

[aaronread]

Or eliminate directional antennas other than to keep the signal out of the ocean, Canada, or Mexico where required.

The physics aren't going to support that. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of directional Class B signals that would drop from the equivalent of 50,000 watts to maybe 500 watts if they had to run omni. I know WRNI 1290AM runs 10kW day/night (two different patterns) today, but back in the day as a non-directional it was 500 watts day and 20 watts night, I think.

 

[CTListener]

The problems with the AM band were driven home to me yesterday afternoon as I was driving listening to a 5000 watt ND oldies station. A scant 5 (!!) miles from the transmitter I started to get power line interference. It got so bad you could look up and predict where the interference would start and stop.
Either AM stations need very large daytime power increases or the FCC needs to crack down on unintentional radiators. They've already got a big hard-on for CATV system leakage, why is this any different?

Or eliminate directional antennas other than to keep the signal out of the ocean, Canada, or Mexico where required.

That's a good part of the problem - a station being so directional that it can't cover its full metro area due to the growth of the past 60 years. Many markets only have a few AM stations that can fully cover their areas 24/7. Here in Phoenix, we have only two, and even then they're iffy in the outlying areas. I would guess Boston has a few of those directional sticks as well - is WBZ the only Class A in the market?

It has a bunch of them, thanks to the presence of many heavily populated and heavily radioed areas to its south and west, and even a few to its north. I can get WEEI and WWZN faintly here in central Connecticut at night, WBZ somewhat better, but even 'BZ isn't the blowtorch at night that WLW and whatever that station at 1210 in Philadelphia calls itself these days are. (And that WBAL used to be before WTIC's HD buzz eliminated it.)

 

[KeithE4]

...but even 'BZ isn't the blowtorch at night that WLW and whatever that station at 1210 in Philadelphia calls itself these days are. (And that WBAL used to be before WTIC's HD buzz eliminated it.)

WBZ won't have the ground wave coverage that WLW has because of their dial position (700 beats 1030 hands down), although I could pick them up regularly at night when I lived in the midwest. But when I used to visit family near Amherst MA back in the '80s, WBZ was always strong, while WRKO and then-WHDH (WEEI) were barely audible during the day and not at all at night.