The Day(s) AM Radio Died

[flashback]

why are AM signals so bad at night?i don`t remember them being so bad years back.

i try to listen to wxnt late at night , a local station and i am doing good to understand it.

years back stations from other cities sounded better.those hardly come in at all today.

 

[gabigley1]

It appears about 90% of the AM listeners in Columbus are listening to WTVN.

 

[the marv]

These days listening to AM is no fun is because the shows are practically syndicated on almost every radio station that comes in at night. The only difference you would notice different is the top of the hour id. I used to love listening to the AM dial at night when they had music on there. Too bad they took it all away.

 

[Al Timiter]

I moved to Columbus in 1991 and was fortunate to catch the tail end of WTVN's "full service" days. They were highly enjoyable then. I, too, am sorry that's gone. But the whole spectrum is headed for the trash heap, apparently.

 

[antares]

Speaking of WTVN, when did they dump Dirk Thompson?

 

[pioneer71]

I really have loved my days in AM stations being on the air and running some stations too.
I agree that a ton of AM stations sound the same.

I would be interested in your feedback on running a couple of formats. Since TRN network now presents several newsblocks from 6 am to 6pm with local news, sports, weather and traffic inserts, would this be a viable format? I would e local in morng drive and if you can afford it an aternoon news block say from 4 to 6 pm. My concern with the format is what would you run from 6 pm to 6 am and week ends. Sure you could carry games but what else would you go with?

Or would a Business Radio format be viable using the Business radio network and having a local show in afternoon drive after the markets have closed? I can see a number of possible segments that could draw interest and be a somewhat easy sell such as interviews with local CEO's, bankers on the economy and the business reporters in the local papers or Business newspapers.

Or do you have some other format ideas? I would be interested what you might suggest for the small market AM's.

 

[Ford GP]

Speaking of WTVN, when did they dump Dirk Thompson?

Been about a month ago. I am not sure who left whom? Dirk was one of the most prepared hosts I have heard. One more loss for local radio.

 

[gabigley1]

I recall Chuck Douglas saying he left on his own but they have yet to replace him with another local talk show host. Sure wish the the staff and
management from Clear Channel would post here again.

 

[antares]

I looked at various links for Dirk but all of them were at least a year out of date.

 

[del_griffith]

If I recall Dirk wrote or said or both that his father in Michigan is seriously ill and he wanted to spend time with him. Doing a weekend radio show seriously hurt that. He's doing some sort of streaming program on Sunday eves which obviously can be done anywhere. I think his facebook page has details. It appears he left rather than the station leaving him.

 

[KFodor]

One thing that shows how times have changed...

In the early 70's the FCC had to help FM get attention, not by requiring the inclusion of FM in all radio receivers, but rather by requiring that FMs stop merely simulcasting their AM sisters.

Today it's unimaginable that we would need that kind of government-mandated boost to help get a "new" technology some traction. But back then it really sped up the development of the band as compelling content was added that appealed to listeners -- who simultaneously discovered the high fidelity and other benefits of FM..

For the record, radio textbooks place that requirement's start in 1965...

 

[del_griffith]

NYT article describing the split being mandated in July 64 and mandated implementation 1/1/67. And it didn't require total program separation, but only 50% for cities of greater than 100,000 population.

http://www.nyradioarchive.com/images/radioscans/AMFMSplit_NYT_19661231.jpg

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Interesting article.  So the effective "near 100%" end of simulcasting in large/medium markets would have been at least a couple years later, after the mandated 50% split forced operators to pay attention to the band and listeners started catching on to its virtues.  Of course many years down the road, AM began to slide and numerous faltering AMs started fully simulcasting their FMs.

 

[KFodor]

Interesting article. So the effective "near 100%" end of simulcasting in large/medium markets would have been at least a couple years later, after the mandated 50% split forced operators to pay attention to the band and listeners started catching on to its virtues. Of course many years down the road, AM began to slide and numerous faltering AMs started fully simulcasting their FMs.

In Dayton, Ohio...it actually begin in and around 1964, not so much with a simulcast split up, but with the addition of WDAO-FM...which was programmed from start up as what we today call an "Urban" format. And, interestingly enough, 'DAO in those days and in years later was big on playing "crossover" Top 40 music. (Back then, it was the Supremes, Temptations, James Brown, etc.).

In an interview I did a couple of years ago, WTUE Program Director Bill Struck (who was PD during most of the station's days as a "top 40" outlet), said he believed WDAO's presence on the FM band from 1964 on was actually drawing young listeners to the band years before it happened in other cities. And he credited WDAO with making it easier for WTUE to gain a foothold in younger listeners after they came on the air in the early 70's, because those listeners were already listening to FM.

If you read threads on this topic on boards from other cities here, you'll see where the posters say the audience change to FM happened there in the mid 70s...for some, even the late 70's. So, at the very least, whether by accident or design, Dayton was on the cutting edge of listeners moving from AM to FM...