"AM Radio, What's That?" Moving talk AM signals to FM

[TheBigA]

I would contend the biggest difference
now, is that most of the current/more recent music
just plain sucks.... What is really needed is better content...

Well there's not much we can do about that, because we're in the radio business, not the music business. We don't make music. We make radio. That's why we can do a better job in content control with non-musical content. Radio grabbed on to music in the 50s because it provided cheap quality content. That's not the case any more. So as you say, we need to adapt, and move on to something people want that we own, which is news, talk, and sports.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

It’s funny, because while 98.5.3 is always consistent here, WBZ actually sounds far better in HD on 1030 than on the FM. For one thing, there’s the whole one minute or so delay. However, there’s something in the audio processing on HD 3 where I have to turn up the volume up quite a bit just to make out what is being said. No such problems on 1030 HD. In fact, it’s the same deal with 93.7.3 - which is less consistent than WBZ’s FM HD, but still shows about 80% of the time - where the audio is just off. Now, I know HD 3 stations are in mono, but isn’t 1030 AM mono? So, why the huge discrepancy in sound quality? But I digress...

WBZ (1030) HD is stereo, with stereo programming elements such as sounders, beds, and spots, just as 1030 was back when it was analog C-Quam AM stereo.

WBZ-FM HD3, like all HD3's, is mono, and HD3's are low bandwidth. I'm not sure if they're lower bandwidth than AM HD, but I think they are.

 

[4CX1000A]

I would contend the biggest difference
now, is that most of the current/more recent music
just plain sucks.... What is really needed is better content...

Well there's not much we can do about that, because we're in the radio business, not the music business. We don't make music. We make radio. That's why we can do a better job in content control with non-musical content. Radio grabbed on to music in the 50s because it provided cheap quality content. That's not the case any more. So as you say, we need to adapt, and move on to something people want that we own, which is news, talk, and sports.

We don't own the news any more than we own the music. But we can, in fact, "make" music, for some values of "make". At WCRB, we aired Boston Symphony concerts live (as our successors still do), and we used to record and syndicate the New York Philharmonic as well (at least until the sponsor went away).

WUMB regularly airs live music, and I believe WXRV does too.

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

I don't believe the FCC would approve the move of WBOQ to Boston assuming they got Northeastern to silence their station.

Departure of WBOQ would leave Gloucester without local service, which they would never do.

 

[TheBigA]

We don't own the news any more than we own the music.

No one charges us royalties for it. News coverage is owned by the company that covers it. So a station's coverage can be spread over multiple platforms for the same cost as on air.

At WCRB, we aired Boston Symphony concerts live (as our successors still do),
WUMB regularly airs live music, and I believe WXRV does too.

I recorded symphonies and jazz bands and there were always release forms that were pretty specific in terms of rights and usage. We're also talking about putting those performances on the internet and mobile phones. Professionals are usually in the union, and the union expects certain fees to be covered. Sure you can put some amateur musician on the radio, and he probably won't care. But the audience probably won't either.

 

[RedWingCJS278]

WBZ (1030) HD is stereo, with stereo programming elements such as sounders, beds, and spots, just as 1030 was back when it was analog C-Quam AM stereo.

WBZ-FM HD3, like all HD3's, is mono, and HD3's are low bandwidth. I'm not sure if they're lower bandwidth than AM HD, but I think they are.

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Eli. I have to believe they probably are lower bandwidth. 1260 and 1430 on HD also have much greater fidelity than the the various HD 3 music formats in town, so I'm thinking you're correct there.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Whether FM is "suitable" for talk vs. music is irrelevant.

In our area, we've had a genuine AM-style local talk radio station on FM since 1981 - it had been doing at least one daypart of talk since 1974! - and it's been highly rated nearly the entire time.

Of course, the ratings are only part of the story...revenue is the big part of the story, and whether you like some of the Boston area FMs mentioned as possible talk flip candidates here at all, it doesn't matter...if they're making money, which I believe they are, they're not likely for a flip to FM talk.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Sorry, 'dumber than a box of hair,' that station, to put it bluntly, sucks, I don't care what the ratings - which may or may not be accurate - say in one particular demographic. It's a tired, washed-up, pitiful excuse for a rock station that needs to be out to pasture. WZLX is the only rock station in Boston worth listening to, and the only one that we need. I could be wrong about the prospect of WRKO succeeding on FM (WEEI would be a no-brainer), especially considering their weekday line-up needs some tweaking. Still, I think Howie Carr alone brings a station more listeners and revenue than Slipknot, followed by fart jokes, followed by J. Geils followed by Weezer, followed by ten minutes of commercials for strip clubs and the like, followed by Dropkick Murphys, followed by some God-awful new band nobody has ever heard of, followed by more inane chatter, etc. etc. etc. So, maybe you sacrifice some 25-54 males for a larger gain in the overall ratings (which, again, may or may not be accurate.) There are some people under 55 that aren't shallow morons and do care about the issues of the day. Yeah, I could be wrong, but why doesn't Entercom try this and we can all find out for sure. Of course, I'm only a listener, who cares what a peon like me thinks, right?

If you're so convinced it could work, then do it. Put your money and efforts where your mouth is. Make it work.

It's so easy to be an armchair program director when you don't have to do the heavy lifting...like, for example, remembering that this is a business. When you run a business, and you find something that works (and whether you like it or not, WAAF is very successful), you don't tamper with it. "Why doesn't Entercom try this" is nothing more than the same old tired argument we've heard a hundred times before on this board. Never mind that it makes no business sense at all. "I want it" is apparently all that matters. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[RedWingCJS278]

If you're so convinced it could work, then do it. Put your money and efforts where your mouth is. Make it work.

It's so easy to be an armchair program director when you don't have to do the heavy lifting...like, for example, remembering that this is a business. When you run a business, and you find something that works (and whether you like it or not, WAAF is very successful), you don't tamper with it. "Why doesn't Entercom try this" is nothing more than the same old tired argument we've heard a hundred times before on this board. Never mind that it makes no business sense at all. "I want it" is apparently all that matters. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Gee, man, sorry you took that post to heart, apparently. I certainly understand radio is a business - for better and worse - but I'm not Entercom or CBS, etc. Okay, so I'm an armchair program director, so be it. But seriously, I was being sardonic rather than defensive or anything. Still believe that they'd be better served with the two big AMs on the current WAAF frequencies, though. Take care.

 

[raccoonradio]

>>a genuine AM-style local talk radio station on FM

guessing you mean "the talk of Akron, W-N-I-R"!

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

>>a genuine AM-style local talk radio station on FM

guessing you mean "the talk of Akron, W-N-I-R"!

Indeed, you are correct. The midday host (Howie Chizek) has been on the air in the very same time slot since 1974, a full 7 years before the rest of the station went talk around him.

Oddly enough, an interesting problem for the whole idea of "FM news/talk"...WNIR's audience has been aging over the years, even being on FM. As I said, it's a traditional AM-style talk station that just happens to be on FM.

 

[raccoonradio]

Yes, used to get airchecks of Howie. I know they also had Joe Finan (who died a few
yrs ago) etc. I do listen when I visit Akron/Kent