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It's not the stations that fix the ratings.
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Classic Hits on AM
- Thread starter MarioMania
- Start date
It's not the stations that fix the ratings.
Oh really? Who? The Great Pumpkin?
Oh really? Who? The Great Pumpkin?
Listen! I hear black helicopters!
Please, as someone who obviously has never dealt directly with Arbitron / Nielsen and the MRC, tell us who fixes the ratings and why.
No, just a troll.
I just read the comments here to see who will blame Obama first!! LOL 
I just read the comments here to see who will blame Obama first!! LOL
Is that the new version of Godwin's Law?
alt.black.helicopter.gov
Ah, someone else who remembers usenet.
I was actually addressing the sub-point that Spanish language stations are a niche. I don't think Regional Mexican stations are a niche in most of the country but other Spanish speaking formats, like Classic Hits or Contemporary AC, are because they only work in certain areas. I was not referring to AM but I can certainly agree that an AM can only do well, if there's no FM on the same format. Several years ago, my city had several small Regional Mexican AMs and one fairly large one that was in the three share range. When an FM went on(Salem, no less),they dropped off to almost nothing. Regarding your first sentence, it absolutely amazes me that music that sounds 400 years old to my ears, could possibly attract a younger audience or any at all, given that no average English speaking 65 year old would ever listen to an English speaking version of the same music! It seems odd that there could be that much difference in cultures, since American music is so highly favored in so many non-English speaking countries.
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This thread is titled "Classic Hits on AM". It is in the forum "80s/90s Variety Hits". How much of a pedantic nitpicker does someone have to be to require that those facts be included in a statement for clarification? Just how many stations exist that play Classic 80s/90s Variety Hits on the AM band in Farsi or Korean or Russian or Chinese? Can you name a single one? Can you name a single Classic 80s/90s Variety Hit song that is in Farsi or Korean or Russian or Chinese?
The Asian language broadcasters, like the Russian and Farsi stations, all tend to play older music that would be familiar to someone who began listening to music "in the old country".
Not by memory. But I can call friends at stations in those languages and get plenty of titles... classic hits are generally the basis for that kind of station.
I can't imagine ANY AM that would play the classic hits of the 1980s or 1990s. If any AM is playing music, it would be locally programmed with a deep playlist or satellite-fed.
I think you are right about 80's and 90's. The music is too recent, and appeals to folks who grew up 100% on FM.
But AM is a place where some oldies stations can continue to make a decent living.
These stations where they exist tend to be in much smaller markets or at the fringe of large markets. An example would be WMTR in Morristown, NJ. A decent biller with a definite older demo lean.
Yes, older leaning meaning plenty of 1970s, 60's and even late 50's music. WW1's True Oldies or Scott Shannon's True Oldies is for AM. Anyone who enjoys 1980s and 1990s doesn't even know AM exists, lol.
What if a market doesn't have a Classic Hits station on FM? Would it be worth it for an AM station to try a 70s-80s based station?
Where I grew up and visit regularly, Allentown, PA, market, there are 5 full-market FM signals, one rim shot FM on the eastern side of the market, and two stations from Reading, PA, that cover Allentown pretty well. Out of those 8 FMs, there's no classic hits. There's a Classic Rock station. That's it. The AC station promotes that it plays 80s, but during most hours that's only one or two songs per hour (the exceptions being the 80s-90s lunch and two hours of all 80s on Saturday nights). No one is playing 70s pop (non-rock songs that would not be on the Classic Rock station) on FM.
Meanwhile, there are three AMs that are devoted to mostly syndicated sports talk, and most of the time these AMs get less than a 1.0 in the 6+ ratings.
I know ... music on AM isn't a wonderful prospect. But still ... some people might really be missing pop music from the 70s and 80s. Could running a syndicated Classic Hits format on AM be that much worse than getting less than a 1.0 rating with syndicated sports talk?
OK, I'm ready for someone to shoot this down. Fire away. ;-)
Where I grew up and visit regularly, Allentown, PA, market, there are 5 full-market FM signals, one rim shot FM on the eastern side of the market, and two stations from Reading, PA, that cover Allentown pretty well. Out of those 8 FMs, there's no classic hits. There's a Classic Rock station. That's it. The AC station promotes that it plays 80s, but during most hours that's only one or two songs per hour (the exceptions being the 80s-90s lunch and two hours of all 80s on Saturday nights). No one is playing 70s pop (non-rock songs that would not be on the Classic Rock station) on FM.
Meanwhile, there are three AMs that are devoted to mostly syndicated sports talk, and most of the time these AMs get less than a 1.0 in the 6+ ratings.
I know ... music on AM isn't a wonderful prospect. But still ... some people might really be missing pop music from the 70s and 80s. Could running a syndicated Classic Hits format on AM be that much worse than getting less than a 1.0 rating with syndicated sports talk?
OK, I'm ready for someone to shoot this down. Fire away. ;-)
That's ultimately an ownership question. An owner looks at the marketplace, and sees what his best format option is. There's a thread on the LA board about making money with sports talk isn't tied to ratings. That could be why there are so many in your town. The big problem with music on AM is there's less chance someone will find it there. Folks are so conditioned to view AM as talk only. So you could be doing this format for a long time before you get that 1 share.
I am NOT in the radio biz so take what I say with a grain of salt.
I had a son who lived in Allentown for the past five years and on multiple visits to him I didn't see many older white people in and around the city center but rather tons of young Latinos. That would tell me the market for an oldies type station would be rather limited although it might be able to get better ratings than sports talk considering the competition.
The other thing to consider is signal coverage over the Lehigh Valley instead of just metro Allentown. The valley is a very highly populated area and with a good signal perhaps it would work to the suburbs. In summery, I think you have some homework to do instead of just focusing upon format.
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It has been reported in this forum, in many different subfurms, by many, many people the myriad reasons why the sound quality of Amplitude Modulation Radio in the 21st century totally sucks. Blame bad transmitter equipment, bad receivers, too much RFI, or any other factor you want. The simple truth is that the sound quality on AM radio is so bad that it's almost unlistenable for music for the average radio listener. Therefore, no matter what kind of music you put on AM, not many people will be willing to endure the totally shitty sound quality in order to listen to it. I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but reality is what it is.
Now, if you regard running an AM radio on a threadbare shoestring, with mostly volunteer or ultra-low paid staff, as a semi-hobby operation for someone who is bored with retirement and would rather run a hobby radio station instead of playing with model trains as a "success", then yes, such a station can be that kind of success.
Check out the new WZUM in Pittsburgh sometime. That's pretty close to what I'm describing, though they play old music that didn't sound that good when it was new, so being on AM doesn't matter as much.
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