AM RADIO

[klutch00]

This has as much to do with the state of AM itself as the inability of qualified buyers to get financing, although why you'd scrap it instead of just selling it for $250K is a good question. Maybe the accountants stepped in and said they can take a bigger write-off doing it this way. CC's history would also indicate that they would rather eliminate the facility than let a potential competitor have it.

Several points here: Yes, the state of AM radio has been deteriorating for several decades now. With that said, the band doesn't have to be ENTIRELY put out to pasture! Nor does it have to be relegated to news/talk/sports/religion/ethnic formats. It can be a service for formats that may not have a great deal of commercial potential yet do have audience potential. There are several formats that FM stations won't touch with a 20' pole that could be viable on AM if promoted, programmed and managed properly. I also might suggest if the format is avant-garde enough that alternative forms of income be considered. This includes asking for donations/doing for-profit promotions, etc. to keep the station on the air. Another consideration is to utilize a hybrid revenue model where the station survives on donations/promotions/events,etc. as well as advertisement for revenue.

 

[wrsg915fm]

Natural selection-along with government tax breaks-needs to prune the herd, allowing viable stations more elbow room, and also allowing STEREO broadcasting. They also should be given preference in allocating translators.

Heck, even 1170 (WWVA) is almost unlistenable in the morning, and it's 50,000 watts.

Smarter folks than me should certainly be able to figure out ways to make AM a contender. Formats such as alternative country, or the vast majority of music found on YouTube that doesn't make a regular playlist should be given consideration. Non-music offerings should also be encouraged. Again, AM STEREO should be revisited. What a shame that ball was dropped.

 

[Parttimer]

We could still be listening to 8-tracks too, but we aren't.

You're never going to attract young listeners back to AM. The only AM-capable device most people under 40 own is their car radio and maybe a clock radio. Smartphones, iPods and tablets are the devices these folks use, even in the car.

So a limited number of AM's might be able to survive a bit longer as part of multi-platform packages, but the technology is obsolete and it's time to move on.

 

[wrsg915fm]

Very good points, Parttimer. You suggest there is no more viability for AM. So, in the 21st century, should we simply abandon it? Surely there has to be SOME use for it. Maybe small-station owners can turn in their licenses, if they can't get a translator, and get some kind of break. Let the big boys increase power, and eliminate anything that can interfere with the signals. Otherwise, as you suggest, it will simply die because of irrelevance.

 

[Parttimer]

There are two positions that still have viability in AM... the legacy big signal like KDKA, WBZ, WABC, etc.... and the small town outlet in remote areas where there's no other local media (or very little).

What's on the endangered species list are the local stations, on small signals, under major-market umbrellas. There is only so much they can offer. So it comes down to whether an owner is smart (Bob Stevens) or clueless (WKZV) as to whether an individual property can remain viable for maybe another 10 years until their remaining listeners age out or pass on.

 

[KeyTimes950]

I will grant that Parttimer has good points. Last night I was scanning the AM dial as I was driving from Natrona Heights to North Versailles. I found the "Legend," WSM-650, doing classic country, as well as a fairly clear WGY-810. Admittedly, there isn't much on AM radio at night, so I admire the unique stations I do find, such as WSM or KYW-1060, a station I pre-set, as it may be the best radio news operation in Pennsylvania (I also pre-set KDKA-1020, KQV-1410, WWVA-1170, WJAS-1320 and, for some of its daytime programming, WEDO-810).

AM radio is dying but it isn't dead. WKZV-1110 is hardly the only station in the "clueless" category, but I also believe there are quite a few stations out there that do have a clue, even in Western Pennsylvania. One is Uniontown's WMBS-590, a throwback in many ways, but with a wide variety of programs and local talk and sports plugged in with CBS news, AP rip-and-read and a syndicated MOR format. The fact that it is an AM-only operation further impresses me.

WCNS-1480 became AM-only when WLCY-106.3 was sold to Renda Broadcasting. Perhaps, so far, WCNS does for Latrobe what WMBS does for Uniontown. Its local news might be a step above WMBS, but NBC Radio probably is a step down in the respect department from CBS. All in all, another good example of AM radio amid the clueless.

Bob Stevens keeps a full-service operation going in WANB-1210, even if he replaced a full-power 103.1 in Waynesburg with an FM translator. His efforts in Western Maryland had one interesting result, the extension of Harrisburg's WITF to the South-Central region of Pennsylvania. Some say he envies Tony Renda, but the one operator hurt the most by what he's done in North Versailles is WEDO, which is in desperate need of some sort of transfusion. The worst thing that happened to that AM 810 is its failure to realize it could make great use of the Glassport-Clairton FM 94.1 that Mr. Stevens wishes to move to Calvary Cemetery.

By the way, what Stevens has done with FM 103.1 as a Mt. Pleasant station isn't too far off what Mr. Renda has done with FM 107.1 in Greensburg, except that he doesn't run high school sports on WKVE and WHJB does. Both are commendable efforts that bridge a gap for radio between the Pittsburgh and Johnstown stations.

 

[Pratte4Life]

The problem I have with calling AM technology "obsolete" is that when I travel, I can hear the big 50KWers all over at night and I cannot do that with FM.

Granted, you can hear whatever you want anywhere on the internet now, but I can't hear WDVE on my radio out of town.

To me, that means something.

 

[xm41]

AM radio at this point is very much like your beloved grandparents. They've lived long remarkable lives and did a lot of important stuff along the way but they're entering their twilight years.
While they still get around great, driving, shopping, gardening, taking care of the grand kids when needed, taking exercise classes and maybe even jogging. The sad truth is that they have a very limited future. You hope they stay viable as long as possible but you know the end is close at hand.

 

[cingram]

AM radio at this point is very much like your beloved grandparents. They've lived long remarkable lives and did a lot of important stuff along the way but they're entering their twilight years.
While they still get around great, driving, shopping, gardening, taking care of the grand kids when needed, taking exercise classes and maybe even jogging. The sad truth is that they have a very limited future. You hope they stay viable as long as possible but you know the end is close at hand.

This reminds me of an experience in another market where I signed to program an FM station and
there was a little AM station I inherited along with it. The AM had been something once, but when
I heard it the jingles were stepping on the songs, the "magicalls" were stepping on the satellite DJ
breaks, etc. The format was Oldies.

I met with the guy who was running the AM at that time and said "Just because the station is in a
nursing home doesn't mean we can't treat it with respect and dignity."

We cleaned it up, added in the station's old PAMS jingles, added some live shows on the weekend
(one of which I did myself!), and damn if that thing didn't go from a 0.3 to a 2.0 share in the first
six months.

Then a 5,000-watt competitor went Oldies and we were right back where we started, but it was a
lot of fun while it lasted.

C.

 

[trefdawg]

Same here, circa 1987 I was transfered to run 1060 WMCL McLeansboro/Mt. Vernon Illinois. 2,500 watt daytimer (250 pre sunrise 2.5 watt pssa). Had a staff of 5, station was billing $9k a month, surrounded by FM's and full time AM's in Southern Illinois. The first day I arrived I got together with the staff and said let's have some fun. We cleaned the sound up, got the sales staff of 3 educated and by golly we had billing up to $25k a month in no time at all. The community fell back in love with the station and we had a blast.

 

[Boss Radio]

Same here, circa 1987 I was transfered to run 1060 WMCL McLeansboro/Mt. Vernon Illinois. 2,500 watt daytimer (250 pre sunrise 2.5 watt pssa). Had a staff of 5, station was billing $9k a month, surrounded by FM's and full time AM's in Southern Illinois. The first day I arrived I got together with the staff and said let's have some fun. We cleaned the sound up, got the sales staff of 3 educated and by golly we had billing up to $25k a month in no time at all. The community fell back in love with the station and we had a blast.

And then?

 

[klutch00]

Natural selection-along with government tax breaks-needs to prune the herd, allowing viable stations more elbow room, and also allowing STEREO broadcasting. They also should be given preference in allocating translators.

Maybe some of the smaller stations - especially daytimers - could be voices for disenfranchised listeners. I do agree that many clear channels need to be 'cleared' again!

Smarter folks than me should certainly be able to figure out ways to make AM a contender. Formats such as alternative country, or the vast majority of music found on YouTube that doesn't make a regular playlist should be given consideration. Non-music offerings should also be encouraged. Again, AM STEREO should be revisited. What a shame that ball was dropped.

I agree with you on all points here! I would go as far as to consider underground/free-form formats on some smaller affiliates. In addition to AM stereo, I feel a high-quality, ANALOG transmission standard needs to be considered.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Really? I always found ground conductivity to be quite good when I lived up there. I assumed because
the place was so swampy (once went for a walk in the woods near Fenton and sunk in almost to my knees).
I could routinely get stations like 500 watt Honey Radio down in Monroe as far out as Saginaw. And until
KFB moved to 770 I could get WJR at my house here in the Burgh 24/7.

Perhaps it's better in southeastern Michigan, but don't forget Honey Radio was at 560 and even at 500 watts was a blowtorch, and 760 was at 50k. I'm talking about the ones further up the dial and at lower power. Those were up north. A good example was 1230 WGRY in Roscommon. A Class C, it was almost unlistenable in Houghton Lake.

Another one was WSNQ 900 in Gaylord. Even at 101 watts at night, it was almost unlistenable outside of town! At a thousand watts during the day, it wasn't much better.

So many of those stations have now been silenced. They've got so many high-powered FMs up there and THEY have trouble making money these days. I look for more of those AM's to fall silent.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I think you may have something there. Southeast Michigan is pockmarked with small lakes and
land that never seems to totally dry out. I moved just an hour or so away across the region, and
when I got where I was going I had taken out so many mosquitoes that you could no longer read
the word U-Haul on the front of my truck.

Up North, totally different scenario. Particularly on the U.P.

 

[StageFright]

You mean these liberal heavyweights couldn't make 1310 in Dearborn/Detroit a raging success?


Thom Hartmann
Ed Schultz
Stephanie Miller
Alan Colmes

What is the world coming to?

 

[cingram]

You mean these liberal heavyweights couldn't make 1310 in Dearborn/Detroit a raging success?
Thom Hartmann
Ed Schultz
Stephanie Miller
Alan Colmes
What is the world coming to?

The short answer is: the station hasn't had good ratings in at least 30 years, the six-tower directional
array was old and difficult to maintain, and somebody at CC decided it would be easier and less costly
to tear the thing down.

Just for the record, it was a 5,000-watt, full-time station in market #11 that covered over four million
people.

C.

 

[PHIL Z]

I Agree that Clears Should Be Clear At Night. It was Nice to hear KDKA in Fla, Omaha, DC, Va Beach. Now Most AM are all Networks ie ESPN, Fox Sports, Talknet ect. Not Local;