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AM Radio bright future

H

hypwr

The new RADIO WORLD arrived yesterday and has several articles re AM. These are "wistling in the dark articles", as each writer is ignoring reality. One does make a point though. He explains how AM in the Midwest is the primary source of weather info, especially for tornados.

However, like most noisy band broadcasters, they fail to notice that newspapers, such as the PG list at least 15 to 20 AM former listeners in their daily death notices'.
 
And your point is what exactly? We all know that AM is not NEW technology. Maybe since Rush is on FM in Pittsburgh this has somehow clouded your perspective. There are still thousands of very successful AM operations nationwide, providing programming to key demos like 25-54. I own/operate 3 that all do well ratings and revenue wise. It is all in the programming, promotions, community service, and willingness to embrace and utilize the new technology like streaming audio from our web sites. You know the biggest growth area for twitter is one foot away from your obits. Show some respect!
 
Be honest, you have an agenda. Numerous AM licenses have been handed back to the FCC the last couple of years. Hundreds more generate very small income streams or no income at all. If you look at the ratings in major markets there typically are no more than 2 or 3 AMs that stil pull numbers, and in most cases it's a heritage big-stick signal (carrying Rush) and a sports station.

"Successful" is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. There are a few folks on this board who who be happy to own a facility that billed $10K a month. Personally that decimal point would have to shift at least one place to the right for me to be interested.

Glad you're doing well (and you're doing well because you're doing it right), but many are not (doing well or doing it right).
 
To put the original poster's referenced articles into perspective, you should realize that they are responding to a previously published article.

Specifically, they are reacting to this statement: "From clear-channel (not the company) powerhouses to small rural stations that still feature a grain report, the news for owners on the U.S. AM radio band is fairly grim."

The responders make the point in several articles that AMs are very often neglected. Owners throw a satellite feed on there, do nothing to promote it, and use other means ("they simulcast with their FM by putting a microphone in front of an FM receiver. You could listen to the background noise in the studio quite often.")

I don't see a bright future for AM radio myself. I hate it because for 24 years I worked at..AM radio stations. Both stations where I previously worked now have satellite feeds (one is horribly distorted and has been that way for months). Out of the 5 local AMs in our market, one is Fox Sports, one is a Christian insirational/preaching, one is EWTN Catholic satellite feed and two and black gospel satellite feeds. A rimshot black gospel station with local DJs
is the only one to show in the ratings besides Fox Sports.

I don't listen to any of them so if they all shut down today I probably wouldn't even know it for a while!
 
amradioiii said:
And your point is what exactly? We all know that AM is not NEW technology. Maybe since Rush is on FM in Pittsburgh this has somehow clouded your perspective. There are still thousands of very successful AM operations nationwide, providing programming to key demos like 25-54. I own/operate 3 that all do well ratings and revenue wise. It is all in the programming, promotions, community service, and willingness to embrace and utilize the new technology like streaming audio from our web sites. You know the biggest growth area for twitter is one foot away from your obits. Show some respect!
Click to expand...
I am not being disrespectful. I have worked with AM since 1953. I started with an AM/FM combo and both are doing rather well even today. However, I suspect that they will be sold when the economy improves since they probably won't grow in value as the listener base continues to drop.

Do you, or will you, install IBOC at your stations? If so, will you use this system at night? We get creamed by an out-of-town station because of the digital side band.
 
To answer the IBOC question: the jury is still out on that one for us. I love listening to ESPN 1250 in HD, I think that there is a marked improvement for "in market" listening for AM IBOC. There is a trade off and the IBOC hash is something I could do without. Right now there are not enough receivers in our markets to make it a worthwhile investment for us. Personally, I would rather see an expanded band FM for some 1kw AM's to migrate to, and thin out the dial a bit for some of the big sticks.
 
Ten years ago the idea that the FCC would make all of the analog TV stations in the US go away would have sounded like pure and total insanity. Thus the idea that the FCC would in the next ten years do the same with the AM band might sound equally daft, but I suspect this too shall come to pass. Whether it dies because the bandwidth could be better used for some as of yet uninvented technology or gets eaten up by the continued explosion in personal communications I don't know. But AMs days are very numbered.
 
Snafu said:
Ten years ago the idea that the FCC would make all of the analog TV stations in the US go away would have sounded like pure and total insanity. Thus the idea that the FCC would in the next ten years do the same with the AM band might sound equally daft, but I suspect this too shall come to pass. Whether it dies because the bandwidth could be better used for some as of yet uninvented technology or gets eaten up by the continued explosion in personal communications I don't know. But AMs days are very numbered.
Click to expand...

If one buys an AM today, it will probably not increase in value since overall listenership will continue to drop. However, one could make a stab at it for a few years and then sell for a long-term capital loss or donate it to some non-profit.
Some AM operators are placing their bet on digital. However, IBOC, at least on AM, is the Somalia of technology and will probably fail.
 
Agreed... there are enough distressed properties out there that could be acquired a bargain-basement prices, and then if the programming is improved (which frankly wouldn't take much in a lot of cases) they could make a profit for maybe 5-7 years. The whole key is to not overspend for the properties, between purchase price or taking on situations like WKZV that are 6-figures to fix.
 
Unfortunately, AM radio is as doomed as rotary dial telephones.
Indeed, each market MIGHT have ONE AM station in the Arbitron Top 10 ... and that's usually the ONE
with the BIG signal and a heritage in news or a sports franchise. Have you noticed how many "AMs" have started simulcasting on FM? Remember the days when we felt we were "wasting" an FM signal
by dumping our AM programming on FM? Look how many stand-alone "AMs" are putting on FM translators!
Indeed, there ARE major market "AMs" that ARE top revenue producers. We seek THEM for news, sports, and talk.
Inside THOSE stations, even THEY are pondering, "Isn't there a way we could do THIS on FM, too?"

Talk to ANYONE under 30 and they only have a VAGUE recollection or understanding of
what AM radio is! They're NOT listeners. FUTURE of AM radio? A definite oxymoron.

I grew up on AM radio. Was INSULTED when at my first job in the business was asked
to host a daypart on the co-owned FM station. What did I do wrong? Why was I being
demoted? This was 1969. A dinosaur era of evolving technology.

Times have changed. FM is the player today ... and even THEIR cards are on a shaky table.
Satellite? Internet? WiFi? Cellular? All part of the FUTURE for SMART earth-based, already-licensed RADIO broadcasters.

Sure, I long for the GREAT days of KQV, WIXZ, CKLW, WLS, WCFL, and other suppliers of the music and entertainment of my generation. But, they're gone. Thankfully, they survive as a GREAT, lasting memory.

Let's FOCUS on how the successful stations of TODAY can be guaranteed a place of listenership for TOMORROW. When someone MUCH SMARTER than ME figures THAT out, please alert the media! I'm placing a sad (but realistic) bet it WON'T be via AM radio.

(And, PLEASE! Do a MUCH BETTER JOB than what was done for QUADRAPHONIC and HD Radio.)
 
Along those lines, I'm reminded of how insulted O'Brien and Garry were when they were "demoted" and moved to FM to make room for Bogut on WTAE in 1983.
 
Those stories remind me of the late Douglas Edwards, CBS newsman, member of William L. Shirer's famed War Correspondent team, and a popular fixture on radio. In 1948 CBS management informed him that he was being transferred over to anchor the daily newscasts on their recently launched venture, CBS television. If I may paraphrase an interview he gave about this event years later...

"I thought, what a crummy break! Here I am, well-established on radio, growing audience, my career is going well, and all of a sudden I get shunted off to this silly toy where I'll never be heard from again".
 
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