Anyone Prefer AM Radio Over FM Radio For Music And Information?

[Carmine5]

Here in Los Angeles, the only music stations on AM are Hispanic.

Just ask Bill Norman with his station WNMB in Myrtle Beach which broadcasts oldies in stereo. He's always getting complements from listeners on the quality of his audio, "better than FM", they say on his website.

Which of the 11 listeners says that? The station has not shown in the ratings for at least 6 or 7 years.

I no nothing about WNMB's ratings but, from the few times I've spoken to Bill, he has told me that his station is very successful given the small market he's in. So much so that he can employ a full-time staff and is in the process of buying another AM station.

I do know that he cares a great deal about the quality of product his station puts out and in serving the community.

C5

 

[4dude]

I also prefer .53 to 1.7Mhz because of the range of stations you can get @ night......

Lately its becoming harder though to enjoy what i used to (Garbage Tuners,IBOC,etc)

 

[OBC_Music_Radio_15AM]

If i have the opportunity to listen to a good music station on AM or FM (by good I mean Full air staff, good music choice, and good engineering), I will usually tend to gravitate towards the AM side. As for a reason why? I guess, for me at least it has to do with the AM medium in general. Being 20 years old (a 20 year old who listens to AM radio, whats next!) I did'nt grow up to the AM Top 40 powerhouses of WLS, WABC, CKLW etc, but my parents did. When I was a little kid, I used to play with my dad's old portable radio, which was AM only, and I remember being amazed at being able to pick up stations as far away as New Orleans, New York, Toronto, Chicago (from my home in saginaw, MI) and AM radio took on mythical proportions in my young self. I soon discovered tapes my dad made when he was growing up of WLS in the 70's and thought how much better radio in general was back then, in regards to talent.......Ever since then when I think of radio, AM is what comes to mind. See music on am CAN sound good, its just somewhat of a challenge. Its mostly in the recievers, and at least to me, I appreciate a reciever that gives AM its full potential, such as the Carver tx-11a which decodes am stereo with audio bandwidth exceeding the 15khz brickwall of FM! AM at least on a good oldies/classic hits station brings back the sound of the original, which i think could be done succesfully with the proper on air staff and sound. Nostalgia sells, and with some songs, AM is the way the were meant to be heard. But like I said, it doesnt ahve to sound bad, but in most cases it does due to poor reciever standards. The sound of music skipping accross the skywaves of night, with clever and whitfull DJ's bringing the local sound of a community 100's or 1000's of miles away, is somthing I and i think many others would and still enjoy. Lets face it, the same old boring syndicated talk show that you can hear on 20 stations at night isnt exciting, why not try somthing that makes you stand out to the curious ears of the nightime highway driver pushing their seek button? I know i would listen, would you?

 

[klutch00]

I like AM for the following reasons: the range is much better particularly with the higher power stations. I hilly terrains, the signal can better reach into areas where an FM signal cannot reach (I'm sure if you ask someone who lives around San Francisco or Seattle, they'll confirm this). AM propogates better than FM over water. If the AM band is ever 'weeded out', I'd suggest that the majority of remaining channels be clear channels while keeping about twenty channels for lower power stations (1,000 watts or less). Personally, I'd say the expanded band might make for a good set-aside for community broadcasters (at 50 watts or less). Give schools (colleges and others) an incentive to broadcast in the band. For the remaining clear channels, no more than two 50,000 kilowatt stations per channel at night and no more than one non-directional 'powerhouse' per channel. Allow limited-time powerhouses on clear channels only east of the Mississippi River (e.g Chicago's old WJJD).

I feel that if you have a quality transmitter (even if it is analog) the quality of even an AM signal can be enhanced. If you offer programming that FM stations won't touch with a twenty-foot pole, you'll have people tuning in your station over an FM (this is where college radio comes in). I think that electrical providers should work to limit their interference to radio waves, and that radio manufacturers can offer units which repel some of the static.

Be sure to check out http://www.sstran.com/

 

[FredRichards]

Radio is in a content crunch. A lot of problems stem from the fact that the average person doesn't have their needs addressed, and go to other sources to satisfy their needs. So I don't see it as AM is better than FM, or the other way around.

But think of it, we're technically more competitant that we have ever been in the history of our industry. We have tools at our disposal that our predecessors could only dream about. Yet radio sounds technically bad at times, especially AMs, but I'm not counting out FMs in my area.

 

[johnbasalla]

In Lorain county, west of Cleveland Ohio there is a great AM oldies station WDLW, 1380 AM. You are guarnateed to hear occasional songs that you haven't heard in years on the radio. A true breath of fresh air. Their programming/business model of going deep in "the library" gives them a unique sound that has strong appeal to the large baby-boom generation. They play 1950s, 1960s and the first few years of the 1970s.