dying AM radio

[Unregistered]

but---- willl the FCC mandate that fm receivers in cell phones must be activated?
and--- I assume they would receive analog fm ---- not HDFM ?

 

[Unregistered]

Success of FM formats, fading success of talk on AM, &
increased sources of interference have led to the demise of AM radio in the USA.

 

[Ravens]

Standalone streamers, like the one I administer, exist mainly for the satisfaction of their owners.

I wish more people in that hobby would admit this.

 

[Avid Listener]

I wish more people in that hobby would admit this.

I wish more people who owned a single small market AM station would admit that their enterprise is also a hobby.

 

[davideduardo]

I wish more people who owned a single small market AM station would admit that their enterprise is also a hobby.

That does not happen because most stand-alone small market stations are deadly serious small businesses on which a family... and often an extended family... depends for their livlihood.

There is a difference between a "hobby" and a "passion". Most small market broadcasters like what they are doing, to the extent that some don't know when to give up and lose everything trying to make stations work.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I wish more people who owned a single small market AM station would admit that their enterprise is also a hobby.

We could play the children's back yard game: You show me yours, and I'll show you mine.

How many small market AM stations have you worked for, Avid? I think the last time I sat down and talked my way through the resume my count was ELEVEN.

I left the business because I wasn't smart enough, clever enough or good looking enough to get one of my own. Years later (about 10 years ago) I sat down and looked at my bank account, my IRA accounts, the value of my home and said: What the heck. Let's try ONE MORE TIME.

I kicked the tires on several small market AM stations.

I don't know who these hobby broadcasters are that you are trying to foist off on us. I've heard of a couple... years and years and years ago but I usually heard about them as people told the story of why they sold, why they bailed out. But not in recent history.

I think the most awkward moment I ever faced in my search was to walk into a station where a very colorful guy died, very dead, very suddenly, so I was so brash as to walk into the station a week or 10 days later in hopes someone on the staff could tell me if the station would be for sale, and who would I want to contact. I found myself in the classic little control room of a mom and pop radio station, in a face to face meeting with the WIDOW, who was sitting there running the board because there was no staff member to do the task. NO HIRED HELP. The two of them did it with no help, and she couldn't go home, sit and grieve unless she turned off the transmitter.

Hobby? No it was his passion, it was his living.

Kind of reminded me of this auto mechanic at this big monster car dealership. He looked like a guy that should have been teaching in a high school level manual arts program to produce future mechanics. Plastered across his bright red (obligatory) Snap-On tool box was a bumper sticker that read:

LIFE'S A BITCH.... And then you die.

I guess that's the day I quit looking. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving my wife in that kind of circumstances some day.

I may have a lot of passion for radio, for small market radio.... but my passion has it's limits.

 

[Avid Listener]

How many small market AM stations have you worked for, Avid? I think the last time I sat down and talked my way through the resume my count was ELEVEN.

As an employee, only one over 45 years ago. As a salesman calling on them to sell them products, several. There are certain types of business equipment that all businesses need. I've sold such equipment, and small market AM radio stations were among my customers.

 

[b-turner]

Maybe we are not interpreting Avid Listener's comments correctly. I was laughing so hard I think he might do stand up comedy.

The hobby I manage turns a profit, one an business would be proud to have. I've yet to meet an AM stand alone owner that is not deadly serious about their station making a profit.

Goat Rodeo Cowboy makes a good point about passion. I have known some owners that saw their small town business community diminish over the decades but with a paid off station, the expectations of the community and still needing a paycheck keeps them there even if they only take in $3,000 a month. I've see much the same on the FM dial if the station is a class A.

 

[davideduardo]

As an employee, only one over 45 years ago. As a salesman calling on them to sell them products, several. There are certain types of business equipment that all businesses need. I've sold such equipment, and small market AM radio stations were among my customers.

If you were a peddler selling stuff to a radio station, that does not mean you "worked for a small market AM station" which was Mr Goat's question.

And working for a station in the late 60's has really very little relevance today. What was your position? I'm thinking speculative sales hire. In programming, we all know the best programming and sales ideas come out of sales (sarcasm) and the best f'ing promotions come from clients (hyperbole).

 

[Avid Listener]

Maybe we are not interpreting Avid Listener's comments correctly. I was laughing so hard I think he might do stand up comedy.

The hobby I manage turns a profit, one an business would be proud to have. I've yet to meet an AM stand alone owner that is not deadly serious about their station making a profit.

Goat Rodeo Cowboy makes a good point about passion. I have known some owners that saw their small town business community diminish over the decades but with a paid off station, the expectations of the community and still needing a paycheck keeps them there even if they only take in $3,000 a month. I've see much the same on the FM dial if the station is a class A.

Making a profit does not mean that an enterprise is not a hobby. There are many, many lucrative hobbies that many people engage in. I have friends who are "hobby farmers" whose hobby farms are quite lucrative. I don't know where anyone got the mistaken idea that hobbies could not be profitable.

If you were a peddler selling stuff to a radio station, that does not mean you "worked for a small market AM station" which was Mr Goat's question.

I answered his question. I threw in some bonus information at no additional charge.

 

[MickeyD]

You're right...absolutely unlikely. The music business has been destroyed by the internet. They see no reason to do anything to help other industries profit from their content. For that reason alone, internet radio hasn't exploded as much as it could or should have. And amazingly, the music industry itself and musicians who stream their own songs are equally penalized by this crazy system.

The internet streaming model WILL change. Wait until the internet is a utility under "net-neutrality".

 

[Kelly A]

The internet streaming model WILL change. Wait until the internet is a utility under "net-neutrality".

There is, nor will there ever be any form of net neutrality. ISP's and phone companies will still throttle bandwidth based on how much a media business will pay for delivery of their product. Behind the hyperbole of wanting an open Internet, the government is okay with that model because larger profits mean more taxes being paid, at least in theory.

 

[1radionews]

So what small market AM stations have bucked the trend?

If they are streaming, please share a link.

Are any turning their Net streaming or web content into something they view as a revenue generator?

Having grown up in Winona, MN in the 80s I recall going KWNO as the go to place for news, but today there 3x the stations in the area.

Steven Clift
http://1radionews.com

 

[JeffM]

I answered his question. I threw in some bonus information at no additional charge.

You get what you pay for.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I'm not sure that's ever going to be the case. At least not in our lifetime. The Internet is nothing more than phone lines carrying data, and like phone lines have always been, come with some sort of a cost for using them. Radio is free and most consumers will always pick free over subscription.

Or cable lines. I'm surprised this is the first option mentioned since in the early days of high-speed Internet cable was the only way to have this. My phone company does have high-sped Internet in some areas and if I paid enough, it might be available where I live too.

 

[vchimpanzee]

That does not happen because most stand-alone small market stations are deadly serious small businesses on which a family... and often an extended family... depends for their livlihood.

There is a difference between a "hobby" and a "passion". Most small market broadcasters like what they are doing, to the extent that some don't know when to give up and lose everything trying to make stations work.

Although he sold it to the local college, the owner of the radio station I listen to most still enjoys his job, which hasn't really changed. He runs the station and does the morning show and he's always telling us how much he enjoys it.

There are community announcements and local newscasts, election results, obituaries and sports, and local businesses advertise. The school system recently restarted their reports on what schools are doing to help students achieve. This lasts almost as long as an optional commercial break and is done twice a day.

 

[vchimpanzee]

So what small market AM stations have bucked the trend?

If they are streaming, please share a link.

I'm not sure this counts as a "market". Someone who is really determined can pick up this station in two of the largest radio markets in the state. But its intention is to serve a local community.

http://www.1280wsat.com

 

[vchimpanzee]

So we just fire up the AM Radio when there's an emergency.

M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" is a good example of this. Out in the middle of nowhere, with cell phones no longer working, our heroes, escaping some terrorist-type attack, found a radio that worked. The man who was talking used a term similar to "Emergency Broadcast System". People in areas of the country not yet affected could still watch TV.

 

[MickeyD]

There is, nor will there ever be any form of net neutrality. ISP's and phone companies will still throttle bandwidth based on how much a media business will pay for delivery of their product. Behind the hyperbole of wanting an open Internet, the government is okay with that model because larger profits mean more taxes being paid, at least in theory.

If the government turns the internet into a utility, and it is being discussed at the FCC next month, you will have to apply for permission to do almost everything unless you join a group. The FCC's version of net neutrality has nothing to do with "net neutrality". Here is an example of what I am alking about. If you own a Smart TV or plug a dongle into your TV you can choose what they offer and that is it. Try to put a TV internet streaming channel on it.

 

[Kelly A]

Yep and that's my point, the Internet is essentially already a utility, as are the very phone lines that make up the Internet. Comcast and Verizon cable companies aren't the Internet, but merely Internet Service Providers. AT&T, L3, France Telecom, Cogent, Savvis, SBC, XO, etc., they're the Internet. Back when the public Internet started carrying VoIP traffic, AT&T and other phone providers who provide the backbone for the Internet were outraged, because voice/phone traffic was technically traveling over their phone lines (a.k.a. the Internet) without their ability to get paid for long distance access and passing off the tariffs. AT&T in particular, was concerned that they were spending a lot of capital upgrades with diminishing revenue directly from it. It's taken a while, but the ability to prioritize traffic over the Internet, not just from ISP's like Comcast, Verizon, etc., but from the carriers who make up the Internet nervous system is revealing new ways to charge users. Everyone wants their revenue from this brave new world. The laugh is how there are these supposed "cord cutters" who won't pay for cable, but will subscribe for Internet access delivered by the cable or phone company. As rates continue to climb for access, I suspect cord-cutting will become literal.