The Problem with AM Radio

[KFodor]

Managements are not perfect...some are flat out stupid.

But one has to be able to hear a station before they can evaluate its programming.

Many AM stations have been rendered unlistenable by the technical issues of the band and the refusal by the government to take action to assist.

People will not listen to a crappy sounding station...a lineup of superstar talent would seriously underperform if the signal was poor.

IMHO...to suggest otherwise is putting the cart before the horse.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

FM transmitters and receivers are lot better now than when the regular FM tables and allocations were drawn up 50 + years ago.

Especially the receivers. Without IBOC, I have a 30 year old McIntosh MR78 tuner with a yagi 110' below a 5KW FM. It hears stuff 1 channel removed day in and day out. Radios as 'bad' as the typical FM radio of 1963 are all but non existent. 3rd adjacent protection is not needed. What is needed is for the first adjacent to be protected from ANY IBOC interference. That will serve a greater purpose than 3rd adjacent protection has in a very long while.

 

[jry]

FM transmitters and receivers are lot better now than when the regular FM tables and allocations were drawn up 50 + years ago.

Especially the receivers. Without IBOC, I have a 30 year old McIntosh MR78 tuner with a yagi 110' below a 5KW FM. It hears stuff 1 channel removed day in and day out. Radios as 'bad' as the typical FM radio of 1963 are all but non existent. 3rd adjacent protection is not needed. What is needed is for the first adjacent to be protected from ANY IBOC interference. That will serve a greater purpose than 3rd adjacent protection has in a very long while.

The new DSP chipset with a real digital tuner and a diversity antenna makes all the difference in the world.

 

[del_griffith]

But at what cost? And now since most AM programming is no longer entertaining and innovative, why would someone make the investment?

Owners began to get serious with their FM component in the 70's. And at a cost to their once (usually) profitable AM component. All they did was switch the deck chairs from one side of the house to the other. While most strong signaled AM stations have done well, the signal challenged stations quickly fell on hard times. In my market a station at 1230 was #1 in the market in 1972 or 73 according the ARB with a double digit share. By the middle of the decade, they began the fall that by the mid 80's had them lucky to eek out a 1 share. Through many attempts at formats, personalities, automated and whatever. They, from a signal perspective, were no longer competitive.

The big AM's still have talk and sports to rely on. And even that is starting to dry up especially demographically. Some of the second tier found God or foreign language (mainly Hispanic) which even further destroys desired demos. The rest of those on the AM band are virtually forgotten.

 

[jry]

The Motorola chip is done and in some cars. I think Motorola got the cost down to a buck each.
The receiver that feature them can receive AM and FM with great clarity and do so with lower signal strengths when compared to the standard chipsets.
If there is going to be an explosion of FM, through translators and the like, chipsets like this one will be a necessity.

 

[programmingrus]

The problem with AM radio is consultants..They believe what works in one market will work in yours..Not true Stations pay big bucks to these jurks to make you stations owners and programming personel believe in fairy tails..Take back you station from these idiots and do your job. You know your market, and your available Demos. Do your own research and most of all program it locally..Do live remotes, GET back into the community..Promote your station on tv doing trades.whats it cost in most cases nothing..Promoting your station on your station is useless..IF your trying to build an audience and your promoting your station on your air what gain do you achieve if there not tuning in now..The last thing that has to do is to kill IBOC..Petition the FCC on the interfearance It generates.And get it stopped all together. Alot of station who have IBOC have shut it down because of expense ..License Dues and no gain in audience share. Save money do local..It works. Ps I am not a consultant..Never was and never will.I am a retired station owner who is laughing at the new and to be owners who have not a clue about running a radio station AM or FM into the ground.

 

[alans613]

AM radio will quietly pass on within 5-10 years, which explains why most AM outlets are finding ways onto FM. RIP AM radio. :'(

 

[Icangelp]

I hold the belief that the Beatles had a lot to do with moving potential AM listeners (pre-teens, teens & young adults) to FM. At least as it relates to popular music, prior to the Beatles, an album was most often an afterthought, basically a hit record + garbage.

When the Beatles came along, every cut was a well written and well executed song. The album rose in importance to the level of the single. You could make a ton of money by selling albums. It then became important to the music industry that all of the cuts on an album were good tunes. Plus, it didn’t take long for popular music people to realize what old people had known for a while. High fidelity is good.

About the same time, stereo swept in. It was the perfect storm for AM, and the beginning of the end.

Young people of the 60's and early 70's began the switch to FM. The generations that followed listened exclusively to FM

When I grew up, AM radio dominated, and the competition for advertising was (not in any particular order)…
1. TV - 3 Networks & if you were lucky, a local independent
2. Magazines
3. Newspapers
4. Billboards & other visual advertising
5. FM
6. Bulk mail

When I grew up, AM radio dominated, and the competition for the listener’s time came from…
1. TV - 1 TV per household. Parents ruled the TV
2. Magazines
3. Newspapers
4. Books
5. Movies
6. FM –Stuffy old FM & it wasn’t in any car
7. At least compared to today, infrequent outside activities
8. An occasional live sporting event

The advertising dollar today is divided so many ways, I won’t even try to list them.

The customer has so many more ways to obtain what he is looking for, be it music, news, whatever.

How many of you even know someone under 25 who turns on a radio other than in the car?

AM radio may linger a while, but listeners and sales revenue with continue to diminish. FM will survive, but will face the same challenges as AM.

If there are “stupid” people running the broadcast empires, it is because “smart” people wouldn’t consider a career in a dying industry.

 

[MarioMania]

2 things

1. Cut IBOC
2. Bring back AM Stereo

Anyhoo, Seems like later Radio's that has both AM/FM

AM sounds lower in Vol.

 

[partymarty]

55 KRC sounded Sooo good in stereo in the day--- I was probably one of a handful of people to experience it and enjoy it--

No one is going to adopt a new standard for Am--- it's over--- lights out. There are so many better options.

News/Talk and Niche for now- packets or emergency services in the future--


thoughts?

 

[FRR]

55 KRC sounded Sooo good in stereo in the day--- I was probably one of a handful of people to experience it and enjoy it--

No one is going to adopt a new standard for Am--- it's over--- lights out. There are so many better options.

News/Talk and Niche for now- packets or emergency services in the future--


thoughts?

I agree, KRC sounded great in the day, but by that time everyone was switching to FM. I know that I stopped listening to AM around 1969. Not only did you have EBN but also WKRC-FM that Drake was formatting on his Solid Gold format. Then WSAI-FM and then is seemed like
every station . I'm not sure why anyone listens for radio at all in this day and age with so many options available to us all

 

[Tom Wells]

55 KRC sounded Sooo good in stereo in the day--- I was probably one of a handful of people to experience it and enjoy it--

No one is going to adopt a new standard for Am--- it's over--- lights out. There are so many better options.

News/Talk and Niche for now- packets or emergency services in the future--


thoughts?

I agree, KRC sounded great in the day, but by that time everyone was switching to FM. I know that I stopped listening to AM around 1969. Not only did you have EBN but also WKRC-FM that Drake was formatting on his Solid Gold format. Then WSAI-FM and then is seemed like
every station . I'm not sure why anyone listens for radio at all in this day and age with so many options available to us all

The options work so poorly that I have given up on trying to use them.
None of them work as seamlessly as radio, and require ever so much more fiddling.
Cell network connectivity is nowhere near as robust as radio, whether FM or AM.
AND they require payment for such miserable connectivity.

I can barely justify paying for cellphone service where it's difficult to understand speech, and I'm expected to use the same as a replacement for RADIO? Keep dreaming.

When the day comes that cell sites actually hand off service properly from one cell to another, I'll be sure to let everyone know.
In the near future, I have no expectation that it would happen.

And to go along with the poor connectivity, I'm expected to accept garbly, swishy codec-hobbled audio?

Not just no thanks, but moreso, Hell no!

I'm mostly referring to mobile usage, home connectivity is fine, at least for most audio only services.

 

[secondchoice]

I'm not sure why anyone listens for radio at all in this day and age with so many options available to us all

Because it is free! Even OTA TV is coming back a little. (BTW: On the Air TV's picture quality is most likely better than what your cable company gives you unless you have a fiber link to you home.) The Cell companies want to sell you an "unlimited" data packages but try to use it for more than 9 hours a day, (counting streaming) and see what happens. You will get "throttled" if you are in a busy cell. To truly replace the broadcast spectrum of free TV and radio nationwide the cell companies would have to spend billion$. If you recall: AT&T had coverage / overloaded cell issues when the Apple Iphone first came out. Also the internet is not that reliable when it comes to storms and terrorist attacks.

 

[ellenparks]

You know that old saw about " If you don't understand history you are doomed to repeat it"? Most if not all the blogers here fail to realize that the demise of AM began in the late 60's and into the 70's not because of some altruistic decision by owners to begin developing their FMs but rather because the FCC adopted a rule that you couldn't duplicate more than 25% of your programing on the same AM and FM.

Owners began producing new formats not available before that time such as Progressive Rock, Alternative rock, Modern Country, Classic rock etc. Don't think for a minute that big broadcasting has ever advanced without a nudge from government.

 

[w9wi]

I can barely justify paying for cellphone service where it's difficult to understand speech, and I'm expected to use the same as a replacement for RADIO? Keep dreaming.

I'm not going to argue on most of your points, but do realize that the codec used for phone calls is a LOT less quality-friendly than the one used for streaming audio. It's a psychological thing -- some people's brains are a LOT more sensitive to audio compression than others' -- but for those who tolerate reasonable-bitrate MP3s, reasonable-bitrate streaming audio is difficult to distinguish from actual radio.

 

[blindowl1234]

Other than listening to WLW for the news in the morning I rarely listen to AM or FM anymore. There are just too many options. Most of us are sick of endless commercials about male enhancement products several times an hour on most AM stations. WLW used to be good and had some talent 10 years ago..I.E. Burbank & Co. Willie Cunningham needs to give up his radio show and give it to someone that talks about something important and takes calls. Most stations repeat the same worn out songs over and over or it's the endless talk about much of nothing. Sadly years ago the short time I was in radio many moons ago, there was better variety and some FM's played several songs, maybe a half hours worth, before the group of commercials hit you. Sorry let's be honest AM is pretty much dead and has been for a long time. FM is little better. Do we really need more than one country station in Cincy? Not really. Ahhhh for the good ole days of the 1970's with WVUD, WTUE, and WEBN where you had a decent choice at hearing something you liked. If you didn't like a song something good was on one of the other stations. For me it's XM now and then or songs on my MP3 player while I'm driving..No commercials and a lot less endless chatter.

 

[AMradiofan]

"First let me say that I am a strong supporter of AM radio. I believe an AM station can be succesful with the right management, staff and format in place. However, there is something else that needs to be part of this business plan to make some money and be successful. It is marketing your station. Yes there is Facebook and other Social media outlets. But you must get involved in the community. You need to be the speaker at your local Rotary Club meeting and also offering to emcee or be a judge at as many events as you can. It's called grassroots marketing. People may say the AM stations don't have the staff to be out in the community. If you have anyone at the station on the air - then you can be out in the community."

I've listened and read this with patience, and I believe the author of this thread was on-track. He made some very good points. I cannot speak to his market-specific opinions, however. Only his view of the "bigger picture."

I'm absolutely sick of generalities, accusations to the AM band as if it's a "bother" to exist, and the constant implication that it's the medium that's the issue. It's not. We don't need the FCC or NAB to "fix" us. It's tiring to constantly read opinions about the death of AM radio, from authors who cannot support their opinions. There ARE good operators of AM stations and there IS good programming, and it CAN be done. I'll save typing and post this instead, from a working, successful owner of small market AM's.

http://carlyletech.blogspot.com/2013/02/antique-to-android-am-radio-is-still.html

 

[microbob]

55 KRC sounded Sooo good in stereo in the day--- I was probably one of a handful of people to experience it and enjoy it--

No one is going to adopt a new standard for Am--- it's over--- lights out. There are so many better options.

News/Talk and Niche for now- packets or emergency services in the future--


thoughts?

I agree, KRC sounded great in the day, but by that time everyone was switching to FM. I know that I stopped listening to AM around 1969. Not only did you have EBN but also WKRC-FM that Drake was formatting on his Solid Gold format. Then WSAI-FM and then is seemed like
every station . I'm not sure why anyone listens for radio at all in this day and age with so many options available to us all

I was a big fan of 55 KRC back in the day. For one thing, the station was full of personalities who didn't sound like the hated being on the air. I also liked how the hosts interacted with the news anchors & callers. Radio back then was fun to listen to.

 

[doowopvault]

This is Big Business for you...spend the least amount possible to bring in the biggest amount possible. They gut their stations of all their on-air personalities, why? because popular personalities cost MONEY!! and the more popular they become, the sweeter the deal has to be to keep them.They even gut their news room!!! grab a bunch of syndicated programs, no creativity, no imagination and then they wonder why they have no listeners!!! I Said it 1,000's of times on this board, arguing with various hacks who condone this destruction, the corporations that are gobbling up stations are not lovers of music, not lovers of radio, not lovers of art, don't care about serving the community...radio is treated like any other business, IT'S JUST AN INVESTMENT to these people. Once they have gutted it and extracted all they can from it, they sell it!! just as they do with any other business they bought, it's only a cash cow.

 

[jry]

2 things

1. Cut IBOC
2. Bring back AM Stereo

Anyhoo, Seems like later Radio's that has both AM/FM

AM sounds lower in Vol.

Leonard Kahns (RIP) PowerSide really does work as does his CamD system. I had two of the PowerSide and Clear units. Wish i had kept them.