Goo-hoo always has to rain on any parade for the imagination with the ABCs of bidniz. Guess it's a compulsion. Didn't some folks once think the imagination was supposed to be what compelling radio inspires? Better pictures than on TV, too. Start there, and make sure you will have a workeable signal, and the money and audience will follow, as long as they know you're there and have something offer. Otherwise, why be in radio?
Perhaps he's never actually heard a "full service" or eclectic-formatted station (not block programming - but a wide mix, usually selected by air talent to accentuate what they're doing on the air, and to bring a spot of joy and good taste in between all of the crass commercialism he'd likely recommend as the easy way to fill airtime, regardless of whether or not it connects with actual human listeners, just brings in a few $$ for awhile until it's someone else's headache.
Maybe some programming not unlike was KOMO, KIRO, and KING-AM once were could anchor the schedule. Any one think there might still be room to do the kind of radio people used to rely on for companionship and for local information?
Maybe the big guys don't want to try this kind of radio anymore because it requires compelling air personalities who can tell stories, provide all sorts of useful, relevant information, and keep the divisive opinionizing to a minimum - at least on the air. (If you want to put more syndicated hacks who tout the GOP party line for their bosses, you'll just continue to make AM radio irrelevant to most of the population--especially in W. Wash.) I think there's plenty of people who have an interest in a lot of things and want to know more about the world around them.
Personality radio for a suburban market also requires sales people who can sell the station's audience to prospects without relying solely on Arbitron as the only case they can make to sell some ads. There used to be plenty of successful such stations serving major market suburbs. I don't think it has to be a thing of the past, and, frankly, it really can't be if terrestrial radio is going to have a localized future. If it won't, then why not turn over the transmitters to non profits and just stick the same old formats on a national satellite radio? Sure would be efficient.
On another note, driving around Edmonds today at 10am and again at 3:30pm I found the Oregon station on 1520 came in pretty lound and clear, with minimal fading, apart from some power line interference. That's well beyond critical hours skip. So I'm guessing the new licensee will have some serious signal issues by being crowded in on top of such a strong signal, with a loud uptempo Tex-Mex format, which happens to skip something fierce into his primary service area.
If I were in his shoes, I'd get it on the air, and then find a new pattern combination to see if the license can be reassigned to AM1500, which is a much cleaner frequency, what with that is-it-still-unresolved assignment down in Burbank and not much of a night signal from San Jose. Just have to null toward Bremerton, and see if the Canadians intend to do something on 1500. I'm guessing you'll have to do something other than crank up the watts in order to be heard OK more than 10 miles away. - Despite webstreaming, a good signal that listeners can get anywhere, anytime is still, in my opinion, paramount.
