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The Chicagoland Area would like to.....

wirelessinnepa

wirelessinnepa

....apologize to posters on the NEPA Board of radio-info.com for finding compelling programming on the AM Band. In the latest trend all three top stations are AM stations. Granted none are playing the golden oldies or doing full service radio a la 1965, but somehow there's room in our lives for AM radio...and a lot of it. We're sorry! In the future we'll try to support the notion that AM is dead and give it up.

Signed,

Millions of AM Fans in Chicagoland area
 
Great!

Now all you need to do is clone that success on 4000 insolvent AMs nationwide and you'll be well on your way!

Let me know how that works out.

:)
 
Having done radio just outside the Chicagoland area, I can tell you those folks are heavily involved in the community. They know what's going on, what the issues are and how best to meet them.
 
Hey Tom,

Interesting question: Are those dominant AMs heavily involved in the community because they have the resources (read: sales) to be an active participant or do they have sales BECAUSE of their community involvement?

Chicken and the egg, I know. But one must wonder why the successful AM outlets are usually big 50 kW blowtorches than can snag national dollars simply because of their reach. With that backing in hand, superserving the community is easy. Community involvement costs money. Without ample revenue, there is no money.

My take on this issue all along has been to cull the herd of the smaller, unprofitable stations to make way for the bigger guns that can cover real estate and command a decent rate. The 'localism' push that burdened the AM band with thousands of shoehorned-in assignments virtually guaranteed that those outlets would lose money.

And lose they do...
 
I think it was like climbing a ladder from ages ago. You provided the service (with one foot) then the sponsors came aboard (with the other foot now one rung higher), then you could do more service (that foot again one rung higher).... etc.

Small local AM's had their place, and may yet. The big stations may provide all the music and syndie talk shows you want, but I think the locals provided the relaxed sounds of your town and its activities. I would not count them out, but I think there may be fewer in each market as the losers eat dirt.
 
wirelessinnepa said:
....apologize to posters on the NEPA Board of radio-info.com for finding compelling programming on the AM Band. In the latest trend all three top stations are AM stations. Granted none are playing the golden oldies or doing full service radio a la 1965, but somehow there's room in our lives for AM radio...and a lot of it. We're sorry! In the future we'll try to support the notion that AM is dead and give it up.

Signed,

Millions of AM Fans in Chicagoland area
Click to expand...
Gee..a major city with some very heavy 50Kw Non-D AMs. Now there's a very fair study on the viability of AM radio. My guess is that if WARM just happened to be 50Kw Non-D on 720 instead of having 5K on 5 towers on 590 the results just might be a bit different. Chicago makes lousy pizza anyway. What do they know?? ;D
 
Jeff and all.....

My post was nothing more than to rattle up a conversation on this board....I am aware, too, of the limitations of the AM band, and in a previous thread recently supported the notion of clearing out the band of unloved AM stations.....however....

As the market unravels for the consolidators little by little year after year, some of the unloved ones are going to singleton owners who make them into something again....which is something special and we can all be proud of them....because of the limitations of the band they have to work a little harder to do what they do.

In America, as politicians and talk show hosts and 24 hour cable channels sling mud at each other about who's a socialist and who's out of touch, the free market system that our country was built on silently works in the background doing exactly what it was meant to do....those who work harder and can prevail, do, and those who can't, don't.

There's no need to go back and forth about the future of the AM band....it will decide itself.

Incidentally, I met a young man today who was working at an AM station running the board....who's in love with the medium, and who's going to pursue broadcasting as a career...and the right way, by going and getting a BUSINESS degree to use to further his broadcasting career....very encouraging that even though it's a smaller pool, there are still young people who are in love with this medium and who want to run stations someday.

Ben
 
let's see. Radio is just like every money grubbing corporation that has caused the fall of our economy. Buy "assets" for exorbitant amounts of money and then put bean counters in charge and wonder why it fails...Pick a big corporate genius that put mom's and pop's out of business and I'll tell you what I bought at their going out of business sale. Circuit City...gone. Ground Round...Gone...Oh, Baltimore Jack, isn't there an aquarium you should crawl back into...Guess what? Your geniusness has gotten you WHERE? SHHHH don't answer. Stay retired from radio. IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME!!!!
 
wirelessinnepa said:
....apologize to posters on the NEPA Board of radio-info.com for finding compelling programming on the AM Band. In the latest trend all three top stations are AM stations. Granted none are playing the golden oldies or doing full service radio a la 1965, but somehow there's room in our lives for AM radio...and a lot of it. We're sorry! In the future we'll try to support the notion that AM is dead and give it up.

Signed,

Millions of AM Fans in Chicagoland area
Click to expand...

How do you explain WLS and WCFL that stopped being the giants they were in the music days of AM radio?
 
Hiya Ben,

The funny thing is, I can recall quite a few AM stations that struggled long before the evil waves of consolidation that get blamed for everything from swine flu to rickets. The competition that now makes radio/newspaper crossownership look good again also took down a goodly number of radio operators...AM and FM. As the saying goes, things are different now. And it WAS five miles to school, uphill both ways... Just saying...

There's some talk about moving Philadelphia's WIP format to FM on 94.1. Interesting. If that happens, it will just be another chapter in the migration of listeners and dollars from AM to FM.

What better time to clean up (out?) the AM band so that the strong (and the few) can survive?

This is the age of the bailout, dammit! How about some hefty tax credits for those who turn in the ticket on marginal AMs?
 
>>>How do you explain WLS and WCFL that stopped being the giants they were in the music days of AM radio?<<<

I suspect they concentrated on being the giants of music radio, and not full-service stations. I dunno; just guessing. It's a lesson for all the 50kw's: even a flamethrower can run out of fuel.
 
In the Lehigh Valley, there is proof that AM radio is not dead. With almost an 8 share, WAEB AM 790 gave some FM's a run for their money the past book.

This is not a flamethrower station although it does have a great frequency to work with and therefore great range. There are always exceptions to the rule.

Maybe the 8 was a fluke, but I bet you that there are people at that station that are working hard to prove that AM in fact is NOT dead.

I don't want to hear that only 50,000 watt stations are going to survive. This is simply not a true statement.
 
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