That radio's am sounded awful!

[wtrw]

Cramming that ON-Star into your antenna, certainly doesn't help things....either.

You have a combo, FM, cellphone and AM(?) antenna wrapped up in that rental car!

 

[davideduardo]

Look at the top billing stations in a lot of top 25 markets. Top rated too. You'll find that a lot of them are still on AM.

Actually, if we look at the sales demos, we find things like:

Houston. No AM in the top 15 stations 25-54.
Dallas: One AM in top 15, no other in top 20
LA: One station in the top 20 (although it is inside the top 5)
Chicago: no station in the top 10, two in the top 20.
New York. No station in the top 15, 4 in the top 20.
Miami: no station in the top 15, one in top 20.
San Diego: one station barely in the top 20, and it has an FM simulcast.
Phoenix: No station in top 10, two in top 20.

So in most markets seem to have an average of two AMs in the top 20, with none in the top 10 seeming to be the rule.

The problem with the old AMs with bigger signals is that they have large over-55 audiences that are unattractive to advertisers and they are seeing revenue decline despite huge spot loads. Some will move to FM and improve 25-54, while others will just die.

 

[spunker88]

Most newer car radios use a very narrow bandwidth. Newer Toyotas seem to use a DSP chip so the selectivity and range is really good but the bandwidth is terribly narrow. This is probably done to combat interference from IBOC, etc as much as possible.

 

[bmcglynn]

Look at the top billing stations in a lot of top 25 markets. Top rated too. You'll find that a lot of them are still on AM.

Actually, if we look at the sales demos, we find things like:

Houston. No AM in the top 15 stations 25-54.
Dallas: One AM in top 15, no other in top 20
LA: One station in the top 20 (although it is inside the top 5)
Chicago: no station in the top 10, two in the top 20.
New York. No station in the top 15, 4 in the top 20.
Miami: no station in the top 15, one in top 20.
San Diego: one station barely in the top 20, and it has an FM simulcast.
Phoenix: No station in top 10, two in top 20.

Despite the older demo, the top markets do have a high-billing AM signal in the top 10 for the most important metric of them all - billing.

#1 Billing station in New York - WCBS 880
#1 Billing station in Canada - CFTR 680, Toronto

Brian

 

[KeithE4]

Look at the top billing stations in a lot of top 25 markets. Top rated too. You'll find that a lot of them are still on AM.

Actually, if we look at the sales demos, we find things like:

Houston. No AM in the top 15 stations 25-54.
Dallas: One AM in top 15, no other in top 20
LA: One station in the top 20 (although it is inside the top 5)
Chicago: no station in the top 10, two in the top 20.
New York. No station in the top 15, 4 in the top 20.
Miami: no station in the top 15, one in top 20.
San Diego: one station barely in the top 20, and it has an FM simulcast.
Phoenix: No station in top 10, two in top 20.

Despite the older demo, the top markets do have a high-billing AM signal in the top 10 for the most important metric of them all - billing.

#1 Billing station in New York - WCBS 880
#1 Billing station in Canada - CFTR 680, Toronto

Brian

But is their revenue increasing, staying the same, or decreasing? And how much does sports have an effect on revenue when we're talking about WCBS or WGN, among other old-tyme Ancient Modulation blowtorches? Would WCBS still be the #1 biller in NYC if the Yankees went elsewhere?