A few years ago, Saga Broadcasting in Clarksville carried a satellite delivered christian/country format that I really enjoyed listening to. Apparently, I was the only one who was listening because they abruptly dropped the format and have been simulcasting one of their voiced-tracked FM stations ever since. When I wrote them to protest they stated that it was simply a business decision. My question is - how does that make any sense? I'm sure the satellite programming was bartered because it was crammed full of national commercials. Given the choice, why would anyone listen to AM if the same music was simulcasted on FM? I don't believe they can convince sponsors to pay extra for spots by telling them their commercials are playing on two "stations" for the price of one. Wouldn't it have made more sense and showed that you were at least trying by automating the AM with formats "that no one listens to anymore" like adult standards (Sinatra), adult icons (Elvis, Beatles), Adult pop (Carpenters, Manilow), etc... I don't understand how simulcasting makes good business sense because at the end of the day nothing from nothing still leaves nothing. Please feel free to educate me.
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Have media owners written off their AM stations?
- Thread starter Commo Chief
- Start date
Another question you might ask is "Have radio listeners written off AM Radio?"
In the rust belt, the answer is no. You go to Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, or New York, and AM Radio is still viable. But in a lot of places, no one's listening. That's why they told you it was a business decision. Simulcasting the FM on the AM means you don't have additional staffing. So that's how it saves them money. One board and one studio and one satellite format that feeds two stations. They realized that there was no point in programming them separately. The audience is simply too small.
In the rust belt, the answer is no. You go to Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, or New York, and AM Radio is still viable. But in a lot of places, no one's listening. That's why they told you it was a business decision. Simulcasting the FM on the AM means you don't have additional staffing. So that's how it saves them money. One board and one studio and one satellite format that feeds two stations. They realized that there was no point in programming them separately. The audience is simply too small.
I might add that from the sales side, the typical business owner does not know the industry chatter about AM radio stations. When offered two stations, regardless of the number that listen on AM, the perception is two stations for a small increase per commercial unit. I knew one station that did a 'pick up' rate of $1 per spot for the AM. Yep, it was simulcast and nobody said no to the AM spots. Ironically when the AM was not simulcast, their billing was less than the station grossed by adding $1 to the FM spot rate.
The trick is you show your rate card: 60 seconds or less: AM and FM combo rate $20; AM only or FM only: $19. The business owner is going to say heck yes I'll take the AM for $1 more!
The trick is you show your rate card: 60 seconds or less: AM and FM combo rate $20; AM only or FM only: $19. The business owner is going to say heck yes I'll take the AM for $1 more!
I'd be curious to know which station you are referring to. I used to live in Clarksville, and used to work for one of their AM stations back when I lived there, and I believe that it has been owned by Saga ever since just a year or two after I left it.
What the OP is describing seems to be the reverse of this. In other words, an underperforming AM simulcasts with a pre-existing FM.
The station that I used to work for there apparently did what you suggested. But they are a sports talker now, which I believe is competitive on AM, but the FM translator just puts them where the listeners are.
If the customer buys one simulcast frequency but not the other (likely the AM), then it would be labor intensive to block his spots from the AM. I don't see any station doing that.
If it is an AM and a FM translator combo, you must simulcast and there is no option to "block" out one or the other. Therefore the "AM only" or "FM only" option wouldn't even be legal. Full power FM and simulcast AM - why would you even do that?
If they didn't buy the simulcast, they got the AM anyway. I was told clients always bought the AM with the FM.
I worked an AM/FM combo where the number of received frequencies was low enough that AM formats were mostly not duplicated on FM (pre-translator days). FM was live CHR, AM was automated country hits. We sold a combo rate. The single station rate was 90%. Every single client I had for the 5 years I was there bought both stations even if they felt their customer base listened to only one of the stations. In the client's mind, it was worth paying $1.40 more to get both stations (rates were $14 combo; $12.50 single station).
I worked an AM/FM combo where the number of received frequencies was low enough that AM formats were mostly not duplicated on FM (pre-translator days). FM was live CHR, AM was automated country hits. We sold a combo rate. The single station rate was 90%. Every single client I had for the 5 years I was there bought both stations even if they felt their customer base listened to only one of the stations. In the client's mind, it was worth paying $1.40 more to get both stations (rates were $14 combo; $12.50 single station).
WRND-FM, 6K licensed to Oak Grove, KY – Used to be Eagle 94.3 now known as “Rewind FM”
WRND-AM, 1K licensed to FT Campbell, KY – Used to be WEGI, now ALSO known as “Rewind FM”
Keep in mind that the Clarksville/Hopkinsville radio market is pretty big when you consider Clarksville's population alone is now over 150,000 residents.
I don't think the media groups are truly serving their community of interest by airing something/anything just to hold on to their license.
If you drive 15 minutes up the road to Elkton, KY, they have a 500w AM that is locally owned/operated and actually has wall-to-wall local commercials (banks, auto dealerships, furniture, etc...) sandwiched in between their daily bluegrass/country/southern gospel music, news, and high school sports. Listening to that station reminds me of just about every mall town radio stations in the 60s and 70s.
So challenge their license. See where it gets you. The FCC mainly wants these stations to stay on the air. They don't get involved in the details.
And, if the programming is not 100% duplicated on both AM and FM, the station can not use Single Line Reporting and the AM and FM will be listed in ratings separately. For any ratings-based buys, that would be a significant negative
I don't know all AM Music Stations does this
They have like 5 kHz of Audio to make it sound low & some of Radio Makers are putting in chips to make AM sound poor
They have like 5 kHz of Audio to make it sound low & some of Radio Makers are putting in chips to make AM sound poor
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Heavenly 1070 - WEKT. I remodeled their studio about 18 years ago. One of the owners (at the time) was an old high school buddy. The entire operation is in a double wide mobile home.
The AM stations that limit audio bandwidth to 5 kHz are those very few remaining HD-enabled stations. For HD to "work" (a bad use of the word "work"), the analog has to be rolled off at 5 kHz.
AM response on consumer radios has been bad for three to four decades. An NRSC committee that met some years back determined the average consumer radio started to roll off around 4 kHz and most were "dead" over 6 to 7 kHz.
I believe that to be the station known as WABD when I lived there a generation ago.
I recall that the former WDXN (the station that I once worked for) later became part of the "Joy" network, so I thought that that might have been the station that you were referring to. But they seem to have finally settled into their current format as a sports talker, after years of constant format flipping. They, too, have an FM translator now.
In the early '90s, I worked at a combo AM/FM down in west TN before I ever moved to the midstate. They carried Larry King's talk show, which was on late nights (after his CNN show) at the time. I remember that we had one sponsor, who, to my understanding, was literally "a dollar a holler." They paid $1 for each 30 second spot, which simulcast on both AM and FM. The running joke was that the AM listeners had gone to bed, and the FM listeners had long since switched the dial in search of a more relevant station still playing music!
No, It's easier to gripe and just let sleeping dogs lie and then move on to plan B. I used Pandora to recreate the stations I used to like back in the day. I created my own SM95, Metropolitan Country WSIX, The Joy of Nashville WJYN, and KDA-FM (yeah, I'm all over the map with the stations I used to listen to.) It takes time and a lot of thumbs up and thumbs down but I eventually get the mix I remember. I figure the next generation of of people commenting on this board will probably be griping about Pandora's and Spotify's algorithms rather than actual broadcast stations.
People already gripe about Pandora's algorithms, with repetition and commercials.
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