R
radioprofessor
Guest
There have been dozens of posts and thousands of readers to the discussion of AM Radio, the launch of KIRO and the focus on the survival parameter of AM. Let me give you the reasons I believe AM Radio will survive:
1. FM radio does not have a huge advantage in spoken word clarity of signal. FM has a clear advantage in music delivery. AM stations in many markets with terrain issues actually have an advantage in my humble view.
2. AM spoken word stations have a much greater ability to carry large unit loads. A typical AM station in SF or LA carries close to double the unit load of FM stations, where the tolerance is lower, in my view. This allows AM stations to price for frequency of commercials and make money. Many of the top five moneymakers in major markets are AM radio stations.
3. AM stations are beginning to focus appeal and content with great success, becoming more niche in the spoken word arena. It used to be "Sports" formats. Now it is the big Play by Play stations with ESPN and local talent against the local "in your face" sports stations with local and Fox talent. The non-play by play station can be more critical and serves a different audience. Same parameter holds true for Talk stations and News stations. The dial is beginning to niche to draw audience back. (It is like cable TV News. 15 years ago it was just CNN and ESPN. Now 15 different niche spoken word channels battle for audience and revenue. While CNN and ESPN numbers dropped the combined total audience and revenue grew geometrically)
4. Many AM, like FM stations will become low cost flankers. The Jack, Movin, Classic Hits automated formats of FM are the automated niche talk or brokered talk heard on AM. They just generate high margin cash.
5. Some will go away. Low power AM stations can't compete and will be turned off. Same thing is happenning on the FM dial across the country where 33% of the CP's go unbuilt. In fact, more FM stations have gone dark than AM according to the FCC statistics. In my humble view that is a good thing. 1/3 less stations will allow others to grow and survive.
Seattle is a a perfect example of the power of AM radio. A decade ago it was all KIRO-AM and a bunch of non-performing sticks. Now when I visit there are varied niche formats with KIRO-AM sports, KOMO-AM, KTTH-AM, KVI-AM, KKOL-AM, KIXI-AM, KPTK-AM, KJR-AM and the list goes on. All of these stations make some money. If you add up the audience shares on the AM dial and compare it to a decade ago, you will see AM is in a much better position with mutiple niche stations that add revenue to the bottom line, compared to one 25 million dollar revenue generating KIRO-AM. Both in dollars and ratings the combined numbers of the AM dial today is much stronger than it was in 1998.
AM is not dead, just changing, in my humble view. None of these stations will be number one or even top five, but all will make money and serve wider, varied audiences through niche appeal. That is the future of AM and it is bright.
1. FM radio does not have a huge advantage in spoken word clarity of signal. FM has a clear advantage in music delivery. AM stations in many markets with terrain issues actually have an advantage in my humble view.
2. AM spoken word stations have a much greater ability to carry large unit loads. A typical AM station in SF or LA carries close to double the unit load of FM stations, where the tolerance is lower, in my view. This allows AM stations to price for frequency of commercials and make money. Many of the top five moneymakers in major markets are AM radio stations.
3. AM stations are beginning to focus appeal and content with great success, becoming more niche in the spoken word arena. It used to be "Sports" formats. Now it is the big Play by Play stations with ESPN and local talent against the local "in your face" sports stations with local and Fox talent. The non-play by play station can be more critical and serves a different audience. Same parameter holds true for Talk stations and News stations. The dial is beginning to niche to draw audience back. (It is like cable TV News. 15 years ago it was just CNN and ESPN. Now 15 different niche spoken word channels battle for audience and revenue. While CNN and ESPN numbers dropped the combined total audience and revenue grew geometrically)
4. Many AM, like FM stations will become low cost flankers. The Jack, Movin, Classic Hits automated formats of FM are the automated niche talk or brokered talk heard on AM. They just generate high margin cash.
5. Some will go away. Low power AM stations can't compete and will be turned off. Same thing is happenning on the FM dial across the country where 33% of the CP's go unbuilt. In fact, more FM stations have gone dark than AM according to the FCC statistics. In my humble view that is a good thing. 1/3 less stations will allow others to grow and survive.
Seattle is a a perfect example of the power of AM radio. A decade ago it was all KIRO-AM and a bunch of non-performing sticks. Now when I visit there are varied niche formats with KIRO-AM sports, KOMO-AM, KTTH-AM, KVI-AM, KKOL-AM, KIXI-AM, KPTK-AM, KJR-AM and the list goes on. All of these stations make some money. If you add up the audience shares on the AM dial and compare it to a decade ago, you will see AM is in a much better position with mutiple niche stations that add revenue to the bottom line, compared to one 25 million dollar revenue generating KIRO-AM. Both in dollars and ratings the combined numbers of the AM dial today is much stronger than it was in 1998.
AM is not dead, just changing, in my humble view. None of these stations will be number one or even top five, but all will make money and serve wider, varied audiences through niche appeal. That is the future of AM and it is bright.
