Did "FM" kill AM radio?

[firepoint525]

And by "FM", I mean the movie FM. Something about the incongruity of hearing its title song "FM, No Static at All" played over AM radio stations! I never saw the movie FM (maybe I should!), but I know that it came out in 1978, and the beginning of the end for AM radio was the late '70s. Even in my rural area, FM had overtaken AM in popularity by the early '80s!

(I don't think I ever heard "FM, No Static at All" played over AM radio stations, except for when it aired during Casey Kasem's countdowns!)

 

[davideduardo]

And by "FM", I mean the movie FM. Something about the incongruity of hearing its title song "FM, No Static at All" played over AM radio stations! I never saw the movie FM (maybe I should!), but I know that it came out in 1978, and the beginning of the end for AM radio was the late '70s. Even in my rural area, FM had overtaken AM in popularity by the early '80s!

Nationally, '77 was the year when FM had more listening than AM.

But the issue was not necessarily quality... in most markets it was more stations and more formats, plus less talk and fewer commercials. Which some would say is what streaming offers today.

 

[firepoint525]

And by "FM", I mean the movie FM. Something about the incongruity of hearing its title song "FM, No Static at All" played over AM radio stations! I never saw the movie FM (maybe I should!), but I know that it came out in 1978, and the beginning of the end for AM radio was the late '70s. Even in my rural area, FM had overtaken AM in popularity by the early '80s!

Nationally, '77 was the year when FM had more listening than AM.
But the issue was not necessarily quality... in most markets it was more stations and more formats, plus less talk and fewer commercials. Which some would say is what streaming offers today.

I lived in a rural area at the time, and where I lived, FM didn't overtake AM until about 1980-1983. The FM station in that town was "beautiful music," country, and assorted other similar formats during the late '70s, so almost no teenage listeners for them back then!

 

[amfmxm]

The movie was irrelevant, since by that time FM was well on its way to leaving AM in the dust on the strength of two strong catalysts: the perception of better audio for music programming (clearly apparent for some listeners... not so much for others--dependent on so many varying factors) and the reality of vastly superior local night reception in most markets (aside from the old 1A Clears and a handful of big regionals, AM was--and still is--a jumble of stations that drop power or use directional rigs at night). If you can't hear it, you can't listen to it. FM was always there, day & night.

The other huge issue of the time that is rarely heard today: AM stations were the cash cows--and many, many, many radio companies were scared to death at the prospect of killing off their AM money machines in order to develop the FM tucked in a closet. The textbook case: ABC.

 

[OldNumber7]

The movie was irrelevant, since by that time FM was well on its way to leaving AM in the dust on the strength of two strong catalysts: the perception of better audio for music programming (clearly apparent for some listeners... not so much for others--dependent on so many varying factors) and the reality of vastly superior local night reception in most markets (aside from the old 1A Clears and a handful of big regionals, AM was--and still is--a jumble of stations that drop power or use directional rigs at night). If you can't hear it, you can't listen to it. FM was always there, day & night.

Good points. Unsaid here, but a big part of the reason for the sudden growth of FM in 1976-77 was simple demographics. More and more people were living, working and shopping in the suburbs and AM signals with city-grade coverage were no longer reaching the people they needed to reach. Flight from the cities that began at the end of the 1960s (and continued through the 70s) drove FM growth. If it hadn't been for the recession of 73-75, FM would have taken off a little earlier. Also, around 76, the kids born during the late 50s peak of the baby boom were coming of age with lots of disposable income to buy stereos. Lastly, by this time, more car manufacturers were adding FM tuners as standard or a low-priced option.
The movie didn't drive anyone to FM (did very mediocre box office); rather it was a reflection of the new FM culture that had already arrived. For those who didn't see it, it isn't really very good: Spoiler alert: FM Abrams' Superstars-type AOR gets huge following, corporate suits want to add intrusive commercials, DJs fight back -- and win! Like that would really happen.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Part of the reason FM grew as it did is because the FCC mandated limits to simulcasting of AM stations. That meant that FM owners had to originate programming during the majority of the day. It was often cheaper to hand the station over to a bunch of starry-eyed kids than plant canned content on the stations. Those kids created programming that related to an audience that was turned off by the high-power AM presentation - and offered better music fidelity.

Car manufacturers made AM/FM receivers standard. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Car manufacturers made AM/FM receivers standard. The rest, as they say, is history.

Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but somewhere in that time frame didn't the FCC mandate that receivers sold at retail (and that would include car radios) would INCLUDE FM whether the producer or buyers wanted it or not. I think the auto industry was PUSHED.... they did not PULL the market.

 

[John FL]

The movie and the song really reflected the growing trend of the time. If the song never existed, the music listening exodus from AM to FM would have continued on course.

Especially among teens and those in their 20s, being apart of what is trendy is what it's all about. Perhaps I wasn't a typical teen but I learned the importance of being cool among your friends. I was the guy in the group who had wheels and I can still remember the ribbing I got for having AM on. So when they were in the car, I was the "anti-nerd" and when I was alone AM got the majority of my ear. Being apart of what is new and trendy is a strong power and one reason some today have moved on to other things never to look back.

But what I recall was AM did loose it's magic because they became scared to death. It seems AM suits held on to the corporate safe singles like their life depended on it. But we began to hear specialized music on FM and we didn't need a song to remind us that the music did sound better on FM.

I believe we can draw comparisions to how owners operate today. They act like 1978 AM execs. Competition is growing and people are checking alternatives out but there are those who don't take a chance, don't really understand what listeners really want and just seem content in reaching today's budget goals with little thought about tomorrow.

I'm not sure when all cars had FM but I had a 1980 Chevy (new at the time) that only had AM but then it was a cheap car.I added whatever that device was called back then to receive FM. I won't say what model in fear of loosing whatever credibility I have.

 

[KeithE4]

Car manufacturers made AM/FM receivers standard. The rest, as they say, is history.

Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but somewhere in that time frame didn't the FCC mandate that receivers sold at retail (and that would include car radios) would INCLUDE FM whether the producer or buyers wanted it or not. I think the auto industry was PUSHED.... they did not PULL the market.

I think that it was the mid '80s before AM-only car radios went away. My 1983 Plymouth Reliant had an AM-only radio as standard equipment (it lasted about 4 days until I bought an after-market stereo).

 

[davideduardo]

Part of the reason FM grew as it did is because the FCC mandated limits to simulcasting of AM stations. That meant that FM owners had to originate programming during the majority of the day. It was often cheaper to hand the station over to a bunch of starry-eyed kids than plant canned content on the stations. Those kids created programming that related to an audience that was turned off by the high-power AM presentation - and offered better music fidelity.

Car manufacturers made AM/FM receivers standard. The rest, as they say, is history.

The FCC simulcast ruling affected larger markets only and went into effect in 1967. It took 10 years for FM to achieve parity based on the roughly 200 rated markets at the time. Of course, some markets moved faster, as they had few if any decent AMs... DC is one (zero full market AMs) and Phoenix, Atlanta and Cleveland are others.

In most markets, there were not enough good AM signals to offer day and night a decent selection of formats. As people discovered that FMs had some of the "missing" sounds, folks migrated. The worse the local AM signals, the easier it was to get the audience to move. In well radioed markets like New York, it was slower... in the bad-signal places, it was much quicker.

In the vast majority of cases, the end of simulcasting just brought in cheap tape formats. Few stations spent the money to develop something... after all, FM had been losing money for nearly 30 years. As the few innovators and promoters proved FM worked with something other than classical and beautiful music, the band achieved critical mass and became dominant. But there were very few "starry eyed kids" (who were mostly blury eyed stoners) and they were nowhere near uniformly successful. When the FMs playing contemporary (CHR and Rock) learned that FM listners wanted the hits, not deep, deep album cuts, those freeform stations died painful deaths.

Standard availability of AM/FM in cars did not happen, as already noted, until the early 80's. I remeber having to specify an AM/FM option in 1978 or I would have gotten an AM only radio.

 

[davideduardo]

But what I recall was AM did loose it's magic because they became scared to death. It seems AM suits held on to the corporate safe singles like their life depended on it. But we began to hear specialized music on FM and we didn't need a song to remind us that the music did sound better on FM.

Remember that 50's and 60's Top 40 was a coalition format for under-35's, just as MOR was a coalition for the older set.

The FM no-simulcast rule generally trippled the useful (now called viable) signals in a market... and in some places it amounted to a 5 fold to 10-fold increas if one lived in the suburbs. So Top 40, which was made up of Bobby Vinton pseudo ACers, Iron Butterfly rockers , Motown rhythmic fans and Archies bubblegummers was fragmented by pure rock, AC, urban and pop CHR stations. There was no way those 20-share Top 40's could survive.

Top 40 had no safe singles. I remember doing constant dial twisting among my local Top 40's as a pre-teen... when they played Sail Along Silvery Moon or Dave "Baby" Cortez or Wolverton Mountain, I switched. In fact, about one out of every three songs was one I disliked... and maybe half of those were enough to get me to change station.

The genre-specific FMs were much safer.

 

[gr8oldies]

My 1982 came with AM only; I had to add the aftermarket stereo for FM.

AM stations could edit the song "FM" to say "AM" by substituting the "A" in the song "Aja" which was the same note.

WMEE in Fort Wayne showed "FM" at the U.S. 30 Drive In for 97 cents on the evening of the flip from 1380 AM to 97.3 FM.

 

[WPPCProductions]

I had a 1969 Firebird with AM only.I use a FM converter in that car.also in my 1974 Plymouth Satilite until the am radio crapped out ,then i had to use a portable am/fm radio ,in my 1977 Chevy Caprice station wagon ,it had a factory am/fm cassette,It was a awesome DXing tool. my 1985 Caprice wagon had a am/fm ,awesome dxing came off this radio,same as my current car Olds Cutlass Ciera.My new 2002 Subaru Forester has the whole 9 yards AM/FM Cass, 6 CD, I'm sorry to drift off topic,but as I was typing this , I was thinking AM radio started to die when FM picked up in the mid 1960's.

 

[adma]

When the FMs playing contemporary (CHR and Rock) learned that FM listners wanted the hits, not deep, deep album cuts, those freeform stations died painful deaths.

Of course, the nature of the hits was different from what AM-based Top 40 had to provide; not just in being more squarely "rock-oriented" but being unedited as well--and of course, in not being bound to the singles medium.

By the end of the decade, it was impossible to conceive of "Whole Lotta Love" without its "orgasm break"--even if, thanks to AM Top 40, that was the primary means by which many people first learned of the song...

 

[firepoint525]

The movie didn't drive anyone to FM (did very mediocre box office); rather it was a reflection of the new FM culture that had already arrived. For those who didn't see it, it isn't really very good: Spoiler alert: FM Abrams' Superstars-type AOR gets huge following, corporate suits want to add intrusive commercials, DJs fight back -- and win! Like that would really happen.

Admittedly, I never saw it (and probably never will), but I remember seeing the soundtrack album in record stores. Not only packed with the "hits" of the day (like "Night Moves," "Fly Like an Eagle," and "More than a Feeling"), but it featured only the radio single edits of some of those songs! It was more like a K-Tel album from 1976 or 1977 than an album of FM airplay staples!

 

[OldNumber7]

The ironic thing about the movie is that the plot is about rebellion against the commercialization of rock, and the movie was one big "corporate rock" commercial to plug the soundtrack album (which did pretty well, IIRC). Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpu95-MYgtw

Just an aside: Get a load of the paired stereo mics in the control room. Stations fooled around with that for a while, but it made many jocks uncomfortable since simply turning their head as they spoke would move their voice back and forth between the listener's speakers.

 

[ratingsgeek]

The ironic thing about the movie is that the plot is about rebellion against the commercialization of rock, and the movie was one big "corporate rock" commercial to plug the soundtrack album (which did pretty well, IIRC). Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpu95-MYgtw

Just an aside: Get a load of the paired stereo mics in the control room. Stations fooled around with that for a while, but it made many jocks uncomfortable since simply turning their head as they spoke would move their voice back and forth between the listener's speakers.

Thanks for the trailer--it helped remind me why I actively avoided the movie 30 years ago... because the previews made my skin crawl.

And the notion that radio was being portrayed in that way really just pissed me off.

I had started as a jock in the mid-sixties and helped program (as Music Director) one of the early "progressive rock" commercial FMs--and we enjoyed a lot of success. No strikes. No screaming girls in the lobby (damn). And, yeah, we turned a profit very quickly and very consistently--without it being an issue. For the record, the station is still in the rock/active rock format 41 years later and still very healthy.

So I guess by the time this flick came out I felt that I knew a bit about the subject, and it annoyed the living hell out of me that we radio folks were being held up to ridicule for consumption by the general public.

FWIW, I always liked "WKRP" and "Newsradio"... but maybe I'd mellowed by then. You know, all that grass I smoked as a rock jock in the sixties...

 

[4dude]

I think this IBOC garbage is killing the AM band with crappy sounding audio and noise all over the place!

 

[CrankyYankee]

People will tune to wherever what they want is located.
If they want a baseball game and it's only on AM, that's where they'll go.
If they want classic rock they'll go to FM.
It's a sporting event on FM that will make someone tune that station in or tune out.
I've long thought that if you're going to put live sporting events on FM they should be broadcast in stereo if at all possible.
Mind you I steer clear of all-sports radio stations. I suppose if you can sell it, you can program...whatever.
I now step down off my soapbox (although I haven't seen an actual soapbox in years. I must having been standing on an upside down milk crate.)

 

[GlennSummers]

Yankee:
Make sure you take your LP's out of the crate before you turn it upside down...