So when does the great AM die-off begin?

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

This "armchair quarterbacking" is fun for awhile,

then as you read more and more opinions it gets scary,

and finally when you stop and think of how futile our conversations are,

it gets boring.

If it were a pure, un-molested business process, AM is probably on the skids and could amaze us how quickly.

BUT, this is a world that also is affected by the political process. We could see the FCC and/or Congress step into the fray and put AM on life support and keep it alive longer than a logical person would expect.

And on that thought, one might stop and think how futile our conversations are!

Now to really stir up the mud at the bottom of the pool:

How many of you live in, or drive through the little towns of America? You know, towns from 2,000 to 11,000 in population. Some of them county seats. The ones that we all know are dead because of Walmart. But then you notice signs of life here and there. Quaint little tourist business taking advantage of low rents. Investors who like the idea of keeping old, heritage buildings alive. And all of a sudden you realize that Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot and McDonalds can't stomp the life out of all these pathetic little towns. (They are pathetic if you don't live there, and don't have relatives living there.)

Maybe there is an omen there about AM radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe there is an omen there about AM radio.

I don't know much about small town America. But I know radio. The kind of radio that will attract audiences to AM costs more than running a pizza parlor or a small grocery store. Otherwise, the small town just gets a satellite dish, like they did for TV.

THAT's what I notice when I drive through small towns today. Everyone has a dish hanging off their house. They all know what's going on in their small town. Who's boinkin' who. They want to dream about the world beyond their borders. That's where the dish comes in.

 

[elchupacabras]

Maybe there is an omen there about AM radio.

I don't know much about small town America. But I know radio. The kind of radio that will attract audiences to AM costs more than running a pizza parlor or a small grocery store. Otherwise, the small town just gets a satellite dish, like they did for TV.

THAT's what I notice when I drive through small towns today. Everyone has a dish hanging off their house. They all know what's going on in their small town. Who's boinkin' who. They want to dream about the world beyond their borders. That's where the dish comes in.

BigA, the demographics are going up on the small town graveyard frequencies, but these small stations are still relevant. I have been there and frankly there is some great radio still done on them (some awful radio as well.) I worked with some major market vets who got sick of the crap at the top and decided to have fun and do a TIGHT format in a small town setting. I would have put some of their programming up against any medium-sized market station. Small does not necessarily mean "sloppy" as many would presume.

 

[Rusty Blades]

And of course there won't be any "right wing hatemongering" because we will all have been to the reeductaion camp by them.

You mean you know about the reeductaion camp? How did you hear about it?

Somebody left a flyer on my car.

Bull. Who sent you? Who do you work for? CIA? FBI? Interpol? Secret Service? Military? Who are you?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I don't know much about small town America. But I know radio. The kind of radio that will attract audiences to AM costs more than running a pizza parlor or a small grocery store. Otherwise, the small town just gets a satellite dish, like they did for TV.

THAT's what I notice when I drive through small towns today. Everyone has a dish hanging off their house. They all know what's going on in their small town. Who's boinkin' who. They want to dream about the world beyond their borders. That's where the dish comes in.

Unfortunately there are no big walls that divide small-town America from urbanized America. When laws and rules and policy are created for radio, one size fits all. What is good policy for full-power FM stations in America's cities, and what is good policy for city-dwellers....

....REALLY SUCKS BIG TIME when you go out to Ozark, AR or Jasper, GA or Galena, IL or Ludington, MI or Port Angeles, WA and tell them: "You will do likewise."

We who live in rural America, and those of us who still have at least one foot in rural America really get pissed at city-snobs who pontificate about the worthlessness of small communities as you did in your post.

Tell you what. We'll make you a deal. Shut down every AM station licensed to serve (or pretending to serve from nearby) any city of 100,000 or more. Double the number of "graveyard channels" and let us have them out here in the last of "Deliverance" and improve the radio life of all sized communities.

 

[secondchoice]

Great Rodeo Cowboy has a great Idea. Double or triple the local channels (1230, 1240, 1340, 1400 etc.) If a station has local grade signal in a town of 500,000 let them take a 90% power reduction, go directional away from the middle of the county at night, or move to a smaller town. Some how WSM and WGN (and the very few other big city stations that great rural programming) need to be saved with a special wavier. All radio receivers manufactured have both AM and FM digital and analog. After 10 years all AM goes digital.

 

[gr8oldies]

Bull. Who sent you? Who do you work for? CIA? FBI? Interpol? Secret Service? Military? Who are you?
[/quote]

Oh, you thought 24 was a fictional TV show? I work with CTU. I knew Jack Bauer when he was a pimply faced kid shooting cats for practice!

 

[TheBigA]

BigA, the demographics are going up on the small town graveyard frequencies, but these small stations are still relevant.

Knock yourself out. Let me know how it works out for you.

 

[gr8oldies]

Then again, how many of these areas are totally devoid of FM?

 

[TheBigA]

Tell you what. We'll make you a deal.

Me? I have no control over such things. Radio frequencies are owned by Congress and regulated by the FCC. I have a feeling they're not going to be interested.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Then again, how many of these areas are totally devoid of FM?

Are you addressing the topic of small markets not being adequately served?

The question is NOT are they totally devoid of FM. If they receive some large market blow-torch from 80 miles away, there is no content on the blowtorch that serves the peculiar needs of the local small community.

Now, if you are part of the group that believes that radio is 98.6% about music, then music from a distant blowtorch or from an XM channel, all meet the needs of the country bumpkin ear just fine. For those of us who have this peculiar mental disorder that I might be able to turn on the radio and hear news, comments, commercials and PSAs about events, happenings, new business openings, festivals, political gatherings, road closings right in my own county, we're screwed under the current system of allocations, licensing and industry business practices.

Addressing the topic of this thread: The "great AM die-off" will enter full fury when our "American system" comes up with a way to make FM available to the rural and small communities. (This would have to include some draconian un-American system to prevent people from begging and pleading for permission to serve some neighborhood in Atlanta or Pittsburgh and then upon grant turning their attention to the larger city.)

Until some group of whiz-kids figures out the new allocation methodology, please get on with shutting down the metro AMs so Gomer, Goober, Junior and Bubba can figure out how hometown radio works.

We thought we had it figured out until the rules changed and the big boys had a rodeo and drove our cattle into the nearby cities. We want'em back! What we probably can't get is a business climate that makes it at least half way possible.

 

[TheBigA]

Addressing the topic of this thread: The "great AM die-off" will enter full fury when our "American system" comes up with a way to make FM available to the rural and small communities.

My experience in that is that the only way to do that is through non-commercial means. Because as long as the profit motive is involved, and advertising is being sought, the broadcasters will always seek greater and greater audiences, which means the station leaves the rural area.

Historically, radio was NOT meant as a rural device. Radio stations were based in large cities, with signals loud enough to be heard everywhere. The concern was not to serve small communities, but provide entertainment and information to the masses. In the last 30-40 years, we've changed the concept of radio, mainly because of over-licensing the spectrum, where everyone has the right, so to speak, to have their own radio station. That concept doesn't fit with the basic system of ad-supported media. So the more radio stations you have, serving smaller and smaller audiences, the more the need for a government run and supported broadcasting system. Because that's the only way to pay for it.

 

[gr8oldies]

Goat, let me get this straight. There are no FM stations in the Lake of the Ozarks region that don't target a big city. Hannibal, MO (I worked at one)? Celina, OH? Crossville, TN? Logansport, IN? What is this huge swath of the country you are talking about that isn't a bedroom community to a large city but has no FM?

 

[elchupacabras]

Most areas are served by FM signals, and the FM signals do dominate. But there are areas where there are under served bedroom communities that benefit from these graveyard signals. WBEJ in Elizabethton, TN or KBAR in Burley, ID or others of their kind may not have huge ratings, but do account for some shares. They hyper serve a small segment of the population and become community stations with everything from obituaries to high school games. While many might think that is a pathetic way to program, don't try telling that to locals. (I learned the hard way a decade ago, coming from a larger market and pulling the obituaries! I was nearly crucified.)

In order to satisfy BigA's philosophy, you have to be in a big market and make big bucks. But many of these stations bill 5 -50k a month (depending on market size), a significant amount of money for ANY small business. Community radio can't serve these areas as well, because they are limited to underwriting. In small markets, people actually do listen to commercials and want to know what the specials are down at the A and B Market, because, hey, it's part of the local culture.

And Big A, some of us never got into the biz with hopes of striking it rich. To the contrary, I am in it because I love what I do. I've worked in top 30 markets, and I by far prefer the small markets. Some of us actually enjoy having to go out and sell, collect, write copy, do some engineering chores, reboot the computers at 3AM and even board-op a game. Wearing many hats is exhilarating! It beats being in front of a desk staring at a computer screen for 8 hours.

BigA, I respect big market radio, but please recognize there are other models out there in the heartland. I concede that it is becoming more difficult to survive, but in many cases they are experiencing what larger markets saw 20 years ago.

 

[TheBigA]

In order to satisfy BigA's philosophy, you have to be in a big market and make big bucks.

I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that it's almost impossible for RURAL radio to exist (and by rural, I mean in communities with populations under 20,000) based strictly on ad revenue, and do more than be a satellite repeater. You have to decide if that's what you want to do, and if the ends justifies the means. Let me know if you find a way to make it work, because the math doesn't work for me.

 

[SirRoxalot]

You'd probably be surprised at the number of small market radio stations that not only survive, but thrive in markets where the serve two or three towns with populations of 15K or so. And, they're not satellite repeaters. Some of them make more money than stations who's signals have been co-opted as a move-in for a larger market.

They generally super-serve the smaller markets, leaning heavily on local news, high school and small college sports, and local weather. I can think a several that have more live and local talent on the air than large-market stations. Most of them have a morning personality who's been there for a very long time, and a handful of people making a comfortable living. They LIKE small town living, and their audience LIKES small town radio.

 

[elchupacabras]

You'd probably be surprised at the number of small market radio stations that not only survive, but thrive in markets where the serve two or three towns with populations of 15K or so. And, they're not satellite repeaters. Some of them make more money than stations who's signals have been co-opted as a move-in for a larger market.

They generally super-serve the smaller markets, leaning heavily on local news, high school and small college sports, and local weather. I can think a several that have more live and local talent on the air than large-market stations. Most of them have a morning personality who's been there for a very long time, and a handful of people making a comfortable living. They LIKE small town living, and their audience LIKES small town radio.

Bless you Roxalot. You understand what small market radio is all about. Many are not satellite repeaters and have more local elements than some medium market stations.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Historically, radio was NOT meant as a rural device. Radio stations were based in large cities, with signals loud enough to be heard everywhere. The concern was not to serve small communities, but provide entertainment and information to the masses. In the last 30-40 years, we've changed the concept of radio, mainly because of over-licensing the spectrum, where everyone has the right, so to speak, to have their own radio station. That concept doesn't fit with the basic system of ad-supported media.

Your perspective of the world is quite different than it is for some of us. My observations of your postings tell me you see the world from maybe upstate New York.

My earliest memories are about a piece of virgin land carved out of the mesquite of south Texas. A trip to town to buy groceries was 20 miles, half of it gravel road. Sitting on a bench crafted by my dad to fit in the back of a 36 Ford pick-up, and the bench doubled as a tailgate when we took a load of squash or peanuts or tomatoes to town.

For health reasons we "transplanted" our farming to the Ozarks. The beginning hey-day for small town radio dates to the end of World War II, not the 70s and 80s. Small market radio thrived very well in towns like Russellville, Conway, Stuttgart, Crossett, Hope (remember Bill Clinton?), and Springdale AR... towns then in the 4,000 to 12,000 population. Have you not become aware of the dynasty my old mentor Jerrell Shepherd developed starting in 1950 in dingy, non-glamorous Moberly, Mo, population 13,000 back then.

From about 1948 to 1968, a class IV (now class C) station in a town of 8,000 to 12,000 people could be a ticket to prominence in your state in some parts of the country and a suitable way to put your kids through college while being a part of the whirl at the local country club.

Fast forward to today. Get out your atlas and focus on Toccoa, GA. Locate there a man by the name of Art Sutton. Try and explain to Art that stations cannot thrive and survive in small markets. Art seems to be a nice guy who will treat you with civility, but intellectually, he will hand you back your head in a basket. Look up his group of stations and size up his markets. And despite your claim that ad-supported media can't possibly work in markets like the ones served by Mr. Sutton, year after year he seems to find the cash somewhere to expand a bit, and upgrade a bit. And just about every state in the union seems to have at least two or three operators who are in "the Art Sutton Class".

 

[gr8oldies]

I can think of a few, such as WTGR in Union City/Greenville OH (ironically though, itself a smaller version of a move-in..had to at least target the county seat), WPKO/WBLL in Bellefontaine, OH, WLKI in Angola, IN just to name a few. They share in common being far enough away from the larger cities that though some of their signals come in, there can be a niche for a local focus (this is not to say there is no use of satellite or syndication, however). If you aren't a bedroom community slammed by the big signals, it's possible. If, on the other hand you are right up against a city and the folks there consider themselves part of the city, you're sunk

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Goat, let me get this straight. There are no FM stations in the Lake of the Ozarks region that don't target a big city. Hannibal, MO (I worked at one)? Celina, OH? Crossville, TN? Logansport, IN? What is this huge swath of the country you are talking about that isn't a bedroom community to a large city but has no FM?

It's been 45 years since I drove across the dam at Lake of the Ozarks and I haven't been back other than to zip down the "autobahn" from St Louis to just past Springfield where we would jump off and head south to the land of the Razorbacks. I don't know who is doing what in Sedalia or Clinton or Lebanon these days. I do know that KHOZ FM has been stripped out of Harrison, AR to set up making it a Branson station so they can improve their sales in Springfield. Not a good example because that does leave another FM station in Harrison that probably should never have been there in the first place.... if you are going to consider market size and available ad-revenue.

Surely you are not claiming that Hannibal is in the Lake of the Ozarks area?

In my own back yard I would invite you to look at markets like Gainesville and Canton, GA where FMs (may still cary COL for these towns) were stripped out to serve Atlanta. So in these two town operators reached another 30 or 40 miles out into the mountains and domesticated FMs that carry the COL of Talking Rock and Clarkesville. Talking Rock is a great example. Drive though and you will find a post office, two or three flea-market type businesses. It is not a town but something of a postal zone with about 4,000 people. Under any kind of rational regulatory mechanism for broadcasting a station licensed there should be for the county seat of Jasper which "butts" up against Talking Rock. A trip through Jasper will uncover an FM station hard at work, but its transmitter and city of license is 25 miles further into the mountains at Ellijay. If you work for any of these stations, and you go off to some religious meeting and you come home with a faith that says: Radio should be local.... who the hell is your LOCAL? If you are the chairman for the Lions Club annual BarBque and you want some publicity to get a crowd at your event, who is your LOCAL?

Let me think about your basic question: "What is this huge swath of the country you are talking about?" Maybe I can come up with some better answers. It's hard to do sitting at home without actually listening and observing stations. Maybe someone familiar with Wisconsin can answer this one: WDMP out at Dodgeville/Mineral Springs. A couple of years ago I drove by their facility beside the Interstate. In actual practice, "What is their local?" Do they focus on Dodgeville? Are they trying to cozy up with Dubuqe, IA? Are they trying to cozy up with Madison, WI? I don't know. Couldn't tell from the few minutes I was able to listen.