WOW, I have seem some pretty broad brush statements regarding AM radio in this thread. Not sure who any of you guys are but lets hear from an AM station (actually 2 stations) owner- ME.
Trust me I have more than half a brain. My stations have been around longer than 6 months. And we are hardly lazy as this thread suggests. Granted block programming on AM is very popular but we are not doing it. Dont know where you are but I tune across the AM dial and find several spanish music stations competing against one FM spanish music station, but again we are not one of them. We simulcast over both stations giving us the footprint of a small Class A FM with an oldies music format mixed with local and college football and NASCAR, all appropriate for our local demos and most not available on the distant FMs from the "big city".
Please consider this when making such wild statements: the radio world is larger than your backyard where perhaps your statements are valid. I sadly agree than AM radio, and radio in general for that matter, is not what it was when I got into it in the 60's. But there are still pockets of mom and pop or small group stations plugging away in their communities with local news/weather/sports, spots at a price the local hardware store can afford, plugging the community bake sale, etc. Most are in small to medium markets. Are we billing 50k a month, of course not. Are we live and local 24/7, of course not. But I think we have shown that we can bring local content into our sat music format and keep the electricity on.
So please, park your doom and gloom at the welcome page and stick to facts. Under your thinking the AM band should be totally vacant by now except for a few 50kw stations broadcasting colon blow and Vita-Max blocks day and night.
Trust me I have more than half a brain. My stations have been around longer than 6 months. And we are hardly lazy as this thread suggests. Granted block programming on AM is very popular but we are not doing it. Dont know where you are but I tune across the AM dial and find several spanish music stations competing against one FM spanish music station, but again we are not one of them. We simulcast over both stations giving us the footprint of a small Class A FM with an oldies music format mixed with local and college football and NASCAR, all appropriate for our local demos and most not available on the distant FMs from the "big city".
Please consider this when making such wild statements: the radio world is larger than your backyard where perhaps your statements are valid. I sadly agree than AM radio, and radio in general for that matter, is not what it was when I got into it in the 60's. But there are still pockets of mom and pop or small group stations plugging away in their communities with local news/weather/sports, spots at a price the local hardware store can afford, plugging the community bake sale, etc. Most are in small to medium markets. Are we billing 50k a month, of course not. Are we live and local 24/7, of course not. But I think we have shown that we can bring local content into our sat music format and keep the electricity on.
So please, park your doom and gloom at the welcome page and stick to facts. Under your thinking the AM band should be totally vacant by now except for a few 50kw stations broadcasting colon blow and Vita-Max blocks day and night.