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CBS all-newsers on AM band: their longer term fate

brettbutlerisok said:
It seems that every big AM station covers it's metro and then some, around here. I really did not consider the possibility of the AM station having problems covering the metro area.
Click to expand...

Much of California is endowed with relatively good ground conductivity and many of the markets have several good, full coverage facilities. However, several of the largest CA markets don't have a complete day and night coverage station. San Diego does not, and the Riverside / San Bernardino market does not. Even some smaller markets like Oxnard / Ventura, Santa Barbara, Monterrey / Salinas and Santa María / Lompoc don't have a single really good AM signal covering the whole Nielsen defined market.

In the rest of the country, this is even more dramatic. Of 1680 AMs that are home to the top 100 markets, only about 160 have signals that cover at least 80% of the market both day and night. That's just over a station and a half in each major market.

Even some of the 50 kw AM clear channel stations don't cut it... WSB in Atlanta is an example of a station with a great facility but poor coverage due to terrible ground conductivity.

Some markets, like DC, Miami / Ft Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Houston have perhaps one station that comes close to full coverage but most are not competitive. In these same markets, there are a dozen or more FMs with total market coverage.
 
Avid Listener said:
Not everyone in the house knows that the radios even have a AM band setting, and even if they do, not everyone knows which AM station has news, which one has sports talk, and which ones have brokered "dollar-a-holler" preachers. I know where the button to switch my car radio to AM is located. Care to explain to me where the radio tells me which frequency has to be tuned in to hear news, other than just surfing around the dial?
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I really do think the Greater New York area is the exception to that line of thinking.

WCBS and WINS are institutions. I'm not saying the "kids" prefer to listen to WCBS and WINS. I'm just saying they know where to find it because things like "Traffic & Weather Together" are part of the culture. These two stations are very much embedded in New Yorkers' DNA, and have been for decades, that they're presence is part of the scenery, so to speak.

I wouldn't begin to think this holds true for other metros. Just the NYC Area.\

Doesn't mean people are listening to them. They just know that they're there.
 
NewsStud said:
I really do think the Greater New York area is the exception to that line of thinking.

WCBS and WINS are institutions. I'm not saying the "kids" prefer to listen to WCBS and WINS. I'm just saying they know where to find it because things like "Traffic & Weather Together" are part of the culture. These two stations are very much embedded in New Yorkers' DNA, and have been for decades, that they're presence is part of the scenery, so to speak.

I wouldn't begin to think this holds true for other metros. Just the NYC Area.\

Doesn't mean people are listening to them. They just know that they're there.
Click to expand...

I really think that what happens in New York is so different from the rest of the country that it is meaningless. The movers and shakers who live in New York get a very, very skewed impression of what things are all about, resulting in decisions based on misconceptions.
 
NewsStud said:
I really do think the Greater New York area is the exception to that line of thinking.

WCBS and WINS are institutions. I'm not saying the "kids" prefer to listen to WCBS and WINS. I'm just saying they know where to find it because things like "Traffic & Weather Together" are part of the culture. These two stations are very much embedded in New Yorkers' DNA, and have been for decades, that they're presence is part of the scenery, so to speak.

I wouldn't begin to think this holds true for other metros. Just the NYC Area.\
Click to expand...

Trying to make NYC different from other markets in this respect fails. WTOP, KYW, WBBM, KNX, KCBS and WWJ are all examples of heritage, successful AM all news stations that are local institutions.

The first all-newser in the US was Xtra 690 targeting the LA market.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Trying to make NYC different from other markets in this respect fails. WTOP, KYW, WBBM, KNX, KCBS and WWJ are all examples of heritage, successful AM all news stations that are local institutions.

The first all-newser in the US was Xtra 690 targeting the LA market.
Click to expand...

You're right.

I meant the majority of other metros, which don't have those heritage AM's with news formats.
 
Avid Listener said:
I really think that what happens in New York is so different from the rest of the country that it is meaningless. The movers and shakers who live in New York get a very, very skewed impression of what things are all about, resulting in decisions based on misconceptions.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry I'm not being more clear. All I'm saying is that New York City AM's, due to their heritage and power, have a better chance at being known by yoenger people in the Metro than the AM's in a different city.

I should not have said NYC is 'Unique"
 
DavidEduardo said:


Much of California is endowed with relatively good ground conductivity and many of the markets have several good, full coverage facilities. However, several of the largest CA markets don't have a complete day and night coverage station. San Diego does not, and the Riverside / San Bernardino market does not. Even some smaller markets like Oxnard / Ventura, Santa Barbara, Monterrey / Salinas and Santa María / Lompoc don't have a single really good AM signal covering the whole Nielsen defined market.

In the rest of the country, this is even more dramatic. Of 1680 AMs that are home to the top 100 markets, only about 160 have signals that cover at least 80% of the market both day and night. That's just over a station and a half in each major market.

Even some of the 50 kw AM clear channel stations don't cut it... WSB in Atlanta is an example of a station with a great facility but poor coverage due to terrible ground conductivity.

Some markets, like DC, Miami / Ft Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Houston have perhaps one station that comes close to full coverage but most are not competitive. In these same markets, there are a dozen or more FMs with total market coverage.
Click to expand...
Whatever happened to KOGO? They used to cover LA pretty well, let alone San Diego!
 
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