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once great stations that are now jokes!

MikefromDelaware said:
It seems to me that AM radio has a few problems. One, most younger people (that magical demo of 12-49) do not listen to AM radio. This of course causes problems for AM's to attract those listeners, no matter what they air. Two, with few advertisers AM stations are losing money. Three, AM radio could attract larger 50+ audiences if they programmed for that age group, but the advertisers don't want the over 50 crowd so radio basically ignores that group as well, losing the largest population block that still listens to AM radio, the Baby Boomer (people born between 1946-1965). AM can't win for losing. The people who'd tune in to AM radio are too old to please the advertisers, so AM either attracts older listeners and gets no spot revenue or they try to get young people to listen, but as those younger people want music on radio, not news or talk, why would they go from FM to AM to hear music. They don't so as someone said earlier in this posting, AM's days are gone. The only thing that has kept AM going on live suport is elRushbo as he created a new style of talk for AM back 20 years ago. It seems that the future for AM radio is news, news/talk, Hispanic, Korean, Black, Sports, Sports Talk, and religious stations. At some point, more and more talk/sports/news will mirgrate to FM leaving AM with few options. At some point the plug will be pulled.

So the whole point of the original post doesn't make sense to me. All the former great AM stations in every market, are not doing very well as they did in their glory days (and programming has nothing to do with this). Basically, Cool marches on, and AM is no longer cool. I have great memories of great AM stations and would enjoy hearing some of the old programs come back, but that's a pipe dream, not a workable business model for a radio station to use. AM has reinvented itself numerous times. AM radio's owners will need to find away to re-invent AM radio for the 21st century or it won't be too much longer before the plug gets pulled all over America and AM radio will become a novelty like listening to old shalack 78 rpm records on a Victrolia.

Look at FM its now like the AM of 20 years ago as more music radio stations are moving to the Internet and Satellite Radio.
 
Much of it goes to the character, or lack thereof, of the people who run the show for sure. You have stations in which personalities are excited about their stations, stick to radio and the events associated with their stations, and showcase their professionalism...

And then you have other stations which employ emotionally underdeveloped freaks who showcase their total lack of dignity, lack of culture, lack of respect for themselves and their co-workers. In short such a station is an embarrassment to itself and those who are too ignorant to even realize that they should be embarrassed and ashamed. They started out okay, but became objects of scorn and ridicule. Is that a program director bringing out the best, as I understand the function of a program director to be?
 
Look at FM its now like the AM of 20 years ago as more music radio stations are moving to the Internet and Satellite Radio.

I'm 58, and one of those Baby Boomers the advertisers don't want. At home, I generally don't listen to radio, but will listen to online music as I can find exactly the type of music I want. I only listen to radio now, in my car (if I'm not listening to a CD), and sometimes at work (only because my employer has the computers filtered in such a way as to prevent internet listening). So at work, I'll tune in to an NPR news/info station (WHYY) or an NPR classical music station (WRTI), or a Classic Rock station (WMGK). Sometimes I'm even in the mood for some Country and will put on WDSD for a while. However, most of the time, I just put on audio books and music CD's from the library; or my own music library of CDs and cassette tapes. So if an aging boomer (who always loved radio, even worked for 30 years on weekends in radio part time) has gone to the internet and doesn't listen to the radio as much as before, clearly that business is in trouble.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
So if an aging boomer (who always loved radio, even worked for 30 years on weekends in radio part time) has gone to the internet and doesn't listen to the radio as much as before, clearly that business is in trouble. [/color]

Not necessarily. You fit the profile. You're behaving exactly like someone your age typically does, and why the advertisers don't want you.
 
Not necessarily. You fit the profile. You're behaving exactly like someone your age typically does, and why the advertisers don't want you.

Can you explain.
 
People over 50 tend to have their minds made up, their needs clearly set, and not as open to suggestion made by advertising. You buy the toothpaste you like, and won't be influenced by advertising to buy the hot new pecan flavored toothpaste just because everyone else is doing it, and someone says it's cool. If radio played what you wanted when you wanted it, you'd listen. Otherwise, you go where you can find what you want. That's what most people your age do.
 
You're right that I (can't speak for the other over 50 people) have a favorite brand of toothpaste, face soap, laundry soap, the brand of car I drive, the food I eat, restaurants I frequent, type clothes I wear, etc. As you age allergies or other medical issues can become a problem so when you find something that works without causing you a problem you stick with it. I may watch or listen to an ad if it is entertaining or funny, but that won't get me to switch. I still remember some fantastic ads for Alka Seltzer from the 1960's and 70's, yet I've never used Alka Seltzer. It is less trouble to take a Tylenol for a headache than an Alka Seltzer, yet I sure liked Alka Seltzer's commercials far better and remember them. I couldn't begin to tell you about any Tylenol commercials, yet I use their product.

I have seached out to find music I like (meaning the internet, library, buying more of my own CD's) rather than put up with the bland same ole same ole that, for my over 50 ear, has become too much of radio today. So I guess you made your point quite well and I fit into apparently what most people my age do. So that means that radio better work hard to get the kids and young adults listening to radio rather than the internet as they are radio's future. However, the kids and young adults(12-35) seem more incline to listen to IPODs, MP3's, the internet, IPhones, Wii, Net Flicks, etc. So it may be too late for radio to get those younger listeners other than online listening to your station. That probably is where radio's future actually lies is online. So someday, we may see radio stations go silent and simply be online venues, sort of what is happening with the newspaper industry.

My guess is, eventually, the New York Times and all the other papers will simply be available only online, for a subscription fee. The key will be for all news organizations to have a subscription fee. Of course this gets us into the question of whether radio and TV news organizations would charge a fee to view their news sites. If they didn't then people would go to these free news sites and not pay for the electronic newspaper. My guess is, eventually, the internet news paper/magazine sites will charge a subscription fee. They'll offer more indepth reporting (than radio and TV news sites) as they do now with their paper versions making it worth a reasonable fee to pay to read the online info. I do believe subscription fees will eventually be put in place, sort of like bank fees for using the ATM machines. When the banks first came out with the ATM's (also called - the 24 hour machine, back then) they claimed those ATM's saved the bank money as they needed less tellers. It didn't take long, once the ATM's became widely used by the public, for the banks to start charging for using that same ATM that supposedly saved the banks money, now makes additional money for the bank.

This got a bit off topic, but still applies to radio.
 
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