Ancient Modulation

[raccoonradio]

1) On a Facebook group called You Know You Work in Radio When..., someone mentioned talking to a thirty-something at a live remote. "You know how to find us on the dial right?"--"I'll hit search till I hear your voice."-- "We're at 1440 AM"--"AM..that's like,for old people, right?"

2)Radio Ink http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2711986&spid=24698
(WGN looking to re-negotiate with Cubs):
>>Across our country, there are AM stations that once were highly-listened to, but are now infomercial-loaded relics of what they once were. This would be WGN in 3-4 years after they lose the Cubs, if that happens. Under-50 year olds, could care less about AM, and their geritol talk shows. Somehow, many radio people are in denial of this. Sports play-by-play is about the only thing keeping AM relevant at all, in many top markets.

3) Though I will say at least one spot on the radio dial is for younger people. The ones who aren't quite old enough to drive yet and hope Mom and Dad will take them out for ice cream.
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4719976956626628&pid=15.1

 

[KeithE4]

I'm 58, and if it wasn't for sports, I wouldn't listen to AM either. I listen to more sports on my PC and smartphone than I do over the air.

And I'm willing to bet that most of those kids that listen to Radio Disney do so the same way I listen to most sports. And that is not on Ancient Modulation.

 

[Silkie]

What's Geritol?

 

[raccoonradio]

Geritol, probably a Lawrence Welk sponsor...I listen on AM to Howie Carr and maybe WJIB. AM does still have some sports incl ESPN and Red Sox in Spanish..and yes more than a few of our teams have some AM affiliates in some places.
Good home for foreign and religion. It can still make money but those under 50 or under 40 tune in to FM and apps on smart phones and computer.

AM will still be around with select flamethrowers and yes it'll have some listeners but times change and younger people will think of it less..other than some of the examples above, MAYBE. If you live in Burl VT your Red Sox are on 101.3...Yankee fans must rely on 620.

 

[frnkp2000]

Are kids really listening to Radio Disney? Seriously?

 

[TSBench]

........And I'm willing to bet that most of those kids that listen to Radio Disney do so the same way I listen to most sports. And that is not on Ancient Modulation.........

OTOH, did you ever stop to consider that the standard FM formats are more susceptable to technological predation than the AM ones.

Regards,
TSB

 

[MarcB]

Are kids really listening to Radio Disney? Seriously?

One of my friend wasn't even aware it was on 1550 AM Hartford (now it's religion) and 1560 NYC. He has satellite radio in his GMC Envoy. That's how he would put Radio Disney on for his daughter when she was younger.

 

[CTListener]

Good home for foreign and religion. It can still make money but those under 50 or under 40 tune in to FM and apps on smart phones and computer.

And the only reason those formats are on AM is because they wouldn't make significantly more money by being on FM. Larger advertisers don't want anything to do with ethnic radio in areas where the ethnicities being targeted are still largely an underclass, rather than the large, multilayered Hispanic communities of Southern California, Texas and New York City. There just isn't a large enough Hispanic population in Boston to have a large enough middle and upper class for big advertisers to target, IMO. The Portuguese community in the New Bedford/Providence area is of interest to advertisers, which is why WJFD is on FM and doing well.

Religious stations don't need advertisers. Churches and evangelists pay for airtime, and their listeners donate money.

 

[CTListener]

One of my friend wasn't even aware it was on 1550 AM Hartford (now it's religion) and 1560 NYC. He has satellite radio in his GMC Envoy. That's how he would put Radio Disney on for his daughter when she was younger.

And apparently kids are listening in great enough numbers that Sirius XM is adding a third children's channel to its lineup tomorrow, joining Radio Disney and its in-house Kids Place.

 

[CTListener]

AM will still be around with select flamethrowers and yes it'll have some listeners but times change and younger people will think of it less..other than some of the examples above, MAYBE. If you live in Burl VT your Red Sox are on 101.3...Yankee fans must rely on 620.

The Yankees will be on WFAN 660 in 2014. It's the Mets fans, if there are any in Burlington, who'll be SOL as their team is going strictly FM.

 

[KeithE4]

The Yankees will be on WFAN 660 in 2014. It's the Mets fans, if there are any in Burlington, who'll be SOL as their team is going strictly FM.

Gameday Audio is $15 for the entire season, with no blackouts. Every team is available everywhere, nationwide.

 

[CTListener]

Gameday Audio is $15 for the entire season, with no blackouts. Every team is available everywhere, nationwide.

I was thinking of those fans who want to listen on a conventional AM/FM receiver and pay zero dollars a season to do it. WFAN is audible in Vermont, New York City FMs aren't. Maybe there aren't enough Mets fans up there to matter, but I'll bet there are more of them than fans of teams that are still on other blowtorch AMs. It will be interesting to see what the Mets do about Connecticut beyond Fairfield County, where there are measurable numbers of Mets fans. They've been leaning on WFAN's signal for years and refusing to build out their network; they're not thinking big if they decide to cut off the hinterlands now. I definitely recall Mets fans coming out of the woodwork up here in central CT during their World Series runs in 1986 and 2000.

 

[SixtiesGuy]

What's Geritol?

Geritol, which apparently is still being sold, is a tonic marketed as a dietary supplement of vitamins and iron. As you can tell from its name, it was/is primarily aimed at the elderly: geri- as in geriatric. As someone else pointed out, IIRC they, along with Poli-grip (helps keep your dentures from falling out), were a big sponsor of Lawrence Welk in the '50's and '60's, as well as other programs thought to be favorites of older viewers (Gunsmoke, Lucy, etc.). I think you get the picture.

 

[iyiyi]

WEPN moved from 1050 AM to 98.7 FM. WEEI moved from 850 AM to 93.7 FM. WFAN 660 AM added //101.9 FM. Can any person show even the slightest ratings improvement for any of these AM to FM efforts? I don't believe that WEEI has beaten 98.5 one time since abandoning 850. I will agree that the WXYT AM and WIP AM's moves to FM provided ratings increases over the tight directional patterns of 1270 and 610 respectively.

Someone could cite WTOP's success. Reality seems to indicate that the majority of AMs adding or moving to FM have been extremely unremarkable ratings-wise.

If the station sucks on AM it will suck on FM. Period. This "FM or die!" mania is simply becoming more and more unfounded and ridiculous.

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[KeithE4]

I was thinking of those fans who want to listen on a conventional AM/FM receiver and pay zero dollars a season to do it. WFAN is audible in Vermont, New York City FMs aren't. Maybe there aren't enough Mets fans up there to matter, but I'll bet there are more of them than fans of teams that are still on other blowtorch AMs. It will be interesting to see what the Mets do about Connecticut beyond Fairfield County, where there are measurable numbers of Mets fans. They've been leaning on WFAN's signal for years and refusing to build out their network; they're not thinking big if they decide to cut off the hinterlands now. I definitely recall Mets fans coming out of the woodwork up here in central CT during their World Series runs in 1986 and 2000.

If there aren't enough Mets fans in Vermont to matter, no station will bother with them. If there is enough of a demand, then I'm sure that some station in the area will contact the team and work out an affiliation deal (or however these things work).

AFAIK, there is nothing in the MLB rules preventing a team from affiliating with a station in any part of the country. IIRC, there is a Yankee affiliate in the Tampa area, so even if there is a local team, it's OK.

 

[CTListener]

WEPN moved from 1050 AM to 98.7 FM. WEEI moved from 850 AM to 93.7 FM. WFAN 660 AM added //101.9 FM. Can any person show even the slightest ratings improvement for any of these AM to FM efforts? I don't believe that WEEI has beaten 98.5 one time since abandoning 850. I will agree that the WXYT AM and WIP AM's moves to FM provided ratings increases over the tight directional patterns of 1270 and 610 respectively.

Someone could cite WTOP's success. Reality seems to indicate that the majority of AMs adding or moving to FM have been extremely unremarkable ratings-wise.

If the station sucks on AM it will suck on FM. Period. This "FM or die!" mania is simply becoming more and more unfounded and ridiculous.

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The move probably doesn't help conservative political talkers, as their base is 55+ white male and just putting the talk on FM isn't going to attract younger, more diverse ears. But I wouldn't be surprised if the sports talkers you mention are seeing improvement in the coveted 25-54 demo on FM, even if the 12+ numbers look stagnant or worse. But since nobody allows that info to be made public, it will remain a mystery.

And no matter how "ridiculous" the FM trend may seem to you, Madison Avenue has bought into it 100 percent. As always, money talks, and the money for AM is drying up, no matter what stations put on the signal.

 

[iyiyi]

The move probably doesn't help conservative political talkers, as their base is 55+ white male and just putting the talk on FM isn't going to attract younger, more diverse ears. But I wouldn't be surprised if the sports talkers you mention are seeing improvement in the coveted 25-54 demo on FM, even if the 12+ numbers look stagnant or worse. But since nobody allows that info to be made public, it will remain a mystery.

And no matter how "ridiculous" the FM trend may seem to you, Madison Avenue has bought into it 100 percent. As always, money talks, and the money for AM is drying up, no matter what stations put on the signal.

WRXP V1.0 had a 2.6 rating when they blew it up and Madison Avenue had WRXP consistently among the top 25 billers in the country. Where has 101.9 appeared billing wise since then? WFAN 660 has always been high on billings. What has the addition of //101.9 increased for WFAN's billings? Money talks. I wonder what the money has been telling 101.9's revenues lately? Let's listen...

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[dumber than a box of hair]

Can any person show even the slightest ratings improvement for any of these AM to FM efforts? I don't believe that WEEI has beaten 98.5 one time since abandoning 850.

Those are two different questions. WEEI has better ratings on FM than they did on AM, even though Sports Hub is still beating them.

This "FM or die!" mania is simply becoming more and more unfounded and ridiculous.

No, what's unfounded and ridiculous is writing off the entire concept because of three examples out of 12,000+ radio stations in the US of A. What you've obviously not considered is that in order to attract a listener, you have to get them to sample you first. Yes, programming will *keep* them listening, but the automatic reaction of the under-50 crowd to an AM station is: "I won't even bother." A station owner who's interested in keeping his business intact ignores such reactions at his own peril.

 

[iyiyi]

Those are two different questions. WEEI has better ratings on FM than they did on AM, even though Sports Hub is still beating them.



No, what's unfounded and ridiculous is writing off the entire concept because of three examples out of 12,000+ radio stations in the US of A. What you've obviously not considered is that in order to attract a listener, you have to get them to sample you first. Yes, programming will *keep* them listening, but the automatic reaction of the under-50 crowd to an AM station is: "I won't even bother." A station owner who's interested in keeping his business intact ignores such reactions at his own peril.

You may want to check a few past Books and get back to me on those WEEI AM and WEEI FM #s. I do not recall WEEI FM taking one Book from 98.5 since dropping the AM. If so, much less than a handful.

I also cited three examples AM to FM worked well. WIP, WXYT and WTOP swapped compromised AM signals for powerful FMs and got solid numbers improvement as results. 850's signal is NOT challenged, is and has always been a major player in the entire Boston market and Book.

So the concept, applied realistically, works for some AM to FM moves.

Suggesting WGN "needs" to go to FM to survive? I don't know...

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[JaneChristo]

You may want to check a few past Books and get back to me on those WEEI AM and WEEI FM #s. I do not recall WEEI FM taking one Book from 98.5 since dropping the AM.
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You didn't seem to comprehend his point.

WEEI is doing better on FM reaching more people than they did on AM.

Whether or not they "beat" 98.5 is not the point. They immediately picked up more bodies and more people with their move to FM.