Can Anything Save AM Radio in Austin?

[amisdead]

Not with that attitude... and user name.

My immediate dismissiveness in the last post was a kind of joke. And my user name is somewhat ironic because I listen to AM quite a bit and I grew up listening to sports and talk on AM. I have a fondness for the band.

But, let's define "save". If you define it by making enough money to pay the bills then I suppose the answer is yes. If you define save by having a tiny, but loyal audience then the answer, at least for the foreseeable future, is also yes.

However, if you define it by relevancy and likelihood of future relevancy, the answer is a very bold no. In Austin, AM listening accounts for about 10% of total radio listening. But, 10% is actually misleading, because more than two thirds of that AM listening goes to a single station. All those other AM stations fight for tiny scraps. Also, that 10% is of the total pie, not 10% of the sellable demographic. And the situation gets worse with each passing year as the market sprawls further out, engineering gets sloppier, radio receivers get worse and new people are born who likely won't ever even know what AM is nor have any desire to find out.

 

[LiveLocal]

I used to engineer 103.1 in Copperas Cove and it will never upgrade enough to get into Austin. It is totally boxed in, it is amazing they got the ok to go to 8kw which they run now. Back in the late 70s, 80s, to mid 90s that station made a ton of money playing country and we only had 980 watts ERP. We barely covered Cove & Killeen. It was great local radio though.

It is amazing how well some of these early FMs did in the late 70s into early 80s with really low power. KIXS 93.3 Killeen was #1 in the Killeen/Temple market for years with about 1kw. 106.3 in Belton is up to 11kw now but ran less than 1kw for most of the 60s, 70s, & 80s. Always had good numbers and made money. The hills in Central Texas can really hurt these lower power FMs on short towers (Class A). Seems most have upgraded these days.

Although I don't care for the music or the owners, the format of 103.1 in CC would probably do well in Austin/Central Texas, it would be a good choice for a marginal FM (please no more Spanish) but I doubt it would work on AM.

 

[fredcantu]

In recent years formats and stations failed simply because they were sold. The owner/operator can make a go of it, but nothing sinks a formerly profitable operation like the debt from buying that station.

 

[longhorn2004]

I used to engineer 103.1 in Copperas Cove and it will never upgrade enough to get into Austin. It is totally boxed in, it is amazing they got the ok to go to 8kw which they run now. Back in the late 70s, 80s, to mid 90s that station made a ton of money playing country and we only had 980 watts ERP. We barely covered Cove & Killeen. It was great local radio though.

It is amazing how well some of these early FMs did in the late 70s into early 80s with really low power. KIXS 93.3 Killeen was #1 in the Killeen/Temple market for years with about 1kw. 106.3 in Belton is up to 11kw now but ran less than 1kw for most of the 60s, 70s, & 80s. Always had good numbers and made money. The hills in Central Texas can really hurt these lower power FMs on short towers (Class A). Seems most have upgraded these days.

Although I don't care for the music or the owners, the format of 103.1 in CC would probably do well in Austin/Central Texas, it would be a good choice for a marginal FM (please no more Spanish) but I doubt it would work on AM.

You must be talking about the old KOOV. I thought most of the staff from this former country music station went over to 105.5 or something like that.

The new owners who brought in the urban music format was perfect in timing. The other R&B station went hiphop (92.3 KIIZ which for years was on AM 1050. Remember it going off the air at 530 PM) and left a market unserved just as Austin is right now in the R&B segment. !#1 station in the central Texas with a syndicated morning and evening show and three live DJs.