Agreed...but the amazing thing is this : The reason 55KRC doesn't have IBOC is that the antenna system is too narrow to pass IBOC. The same antenna that did such a great job passing AM stereo. This is one time when I applaud a narrow band antenna array.partymarty said:
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The Problem with AM Radio
- Thread starter pioneer71
- Start date
DXDXDX said:
But DX...you can't deny the technical problems with AM (FCC, not "stupid owner" related), nor the regulatory problems (again, FCC not "stupid cheap owners").
Go ahead...hire that 7 person live jock staff of old timers who "know how to do radio WSAI or WING style", bring back the 10 man news departments, sink a ton into your promotions budget...have the jocks on the street 7 days a week.
And you know what? You'll still fail. Why? Few listen to AM anymore. It's estimated only ten percent of the audience tunes to AM for any reason. More than a few young people don't even know what AM is. The majority of the audience on AM is over 55 and is undesirable to advertisers. It would probably cost ten times what stations used to put out "back then" to even attempt to get the audience back to the AM band, which given it's shortcomings might be throwing good money after bad. You do understand how a business is run, don't you?
And what listener puts up with the crappy, inferior nighttime signals which have been caused by everything from poor ground systems (which could be from "cheap owners"), to interference from computers and florescent lights? Not to mention the sub-par AM receivers on the market these days (caused not by cheap owners, but cheap manufacturers). And the small station owners who refuse to power down or go directional at night, adding even more interference to the band. (Don't tell me it doesn't happen.)
And lastly, to further the notion that AM itself is the problem...in many cases where AM stations have formed FM simulcasts (as talk radio does now in more than a few cities), within a short period of time the FM part of the broadcast overtakes the AM part in numbers of listeners, due to FM's superior signal quality. And that is true whether the AM is a local signal, a regional signal, or in some cases, a 50,000 watter.
Should product be addressed? Of course. But you can only put a silk purse on a sow's ear for long. AM is the problem. And until the FCC addresses the technical and regulatory issues and comes up with a solution, anything else would be a total waste of time and money. That's not a cheap owner talking, that is reality.
programmingrus said:
There are good consultants...and bad ones. (God knows I've worked with both.) The stations that fail hire the bad ones and hand over their stations to them, instead of a good manager overseeing what the consultant was doing.
I worked at a station in Columbus that fired its consultant when the GM asked the consultant to justify his 1,500 hundred song playlist (knowing most stations in that format rotate about 500 or so). He couldn't. A new consultant was brought in...and the station prospered.
GM's need to know a little about programming, too. One problem there...a lot of today's GM's don't know anything about programming.
Yes...but there's a big difference between being the big fish in a small pond, and a signal challenged AM in a 50 station market.
So we can all conclude from this that having more ears, and more potential dollars in the market is a bad thing?
Small markets are MORE challenged, but we survive, and even thrive. We have NO suburbs for more ears or dollars. We have to grab a larger percentage of listeners in our COL to win, and that takes what someone addressed here. Promotion, Promotion, Promotion. And, it also takes constant educating of the listener to your importance, and your programming! Originating some features and programming doesn't hurt, either.
As far as night coverage, live with it! Concentrate on the areas that are strong day AND night. Do an engineering study to see what some new potential idea may yield! So much has changed on the AM band, there may be possibilities for an upgrade or significant change! Stream! It can be done reasonably if you do your homework. Engineering, legal, and technical aspects all take money, but if a dead 5kw can be completely turned around a few years with less than $10k in the bank and a boatload of debt to begin with (that was us) bigger concerns can certainly do it with proper management.
Let's not blame the medium. Let's not for a minute believe the FCC gives a flying _______ about us on AM. This "panel" of experts of late is a joke. Were YOU as an AM operator asked your opinion? Your successes? Your hurdles? They want bucks in their FCC acccount and (other) bandwidth sold.
Please think of how you, or someone you know has listened to a HORRIBLE mp3 because you WANTED to hear it, or watched a piss-poor online video because it was popular or recommended. It's CONTENT, not the medium. Content takes creative owners, PD's and talent. Oh, and there's more of THAT available in bigger cities, too.
So we can all conclude from this that having more ears, and more potential dollars in the market is a bad thing?
Small markets are MORE challenged, but we survive, and even thrive. We have NO suburbs for more ears or dollars. We have to grab a larger percentage of listeners in our COL to win, and that takes what someone addressed here. Promotion, Promotion, Promotion. And, it also takes constant educating of the listener to your importance, and your programming! Originating some features and programming doesn't hurt, either.
As far as night coverage, live with it! Concentrate on the areas that are strong day AND night. Do an engineering study to see what some new potential idea may yield! So much has changed on the AM band, there may be possibilities for an upgrade or significant change! Stream! It can be done reasonably if you do your homework. Engineering, legal, and technical aspects all take money, but if a dead 5kw can be completely turned around a few years with less than $10k in the bank and a boatload of debt to begin with (that was us) bigger concerns can certainly do it with proper management.
Let's not blame the medium. Let's not for a minute believe the FCC gives a flying _______ about us on AM. This "panel" of experts of late is a joke. Were YOU as an AM operator asked your opinion? Your successes? Your hurdles? They want bucks in their FCC acccount and (other) bandwidth sold.
Please think of how you, or someone you know has listened to a HORRIBLE mp3 because you WANTED to hear it, or watched a piss-poor online video because it was popular or recommended. It's CONTENT, not the medium. Content takes creative owners, PD's and talent. Oh, and there's more of THAT available in bigger cities, too.
Jason Roberts said:
I don't have to learn the history. I lived it, and what I wrote was that young people began the switch to FM throughout the late 60's and early 70's.
It was the Beatles (and others) who helped make a stereo mandatory for most young people. FM was the medium that delivered the over the air version, and yes, it took a while for the full conversion from AM.
During the late 60's and 70's, most of us continued to listen to AM Top 40, while also listening to FM album rock.
Man, i can remember finding FM as a kid. The early days, reception was horrible. We had a 63 Bonneville and the FM portion of the radio was horrible and then broke. In 70 or 71 i put together my first FM Rig. Separate tuner, amp, etc.
Set up speakers along one wall in my room. The only tech advancement that almost was as exciting to me was HD TV.
But, for me, FM was huge.
Then, my first real radio job (1982) was for an FM in Detroit. In fact, when i was offered a management position with another group, the station was an AM and i was actually hesitant to go as i had been spoiled working at an FM station. That was 1984.
That experience was great and calmed my fears about AM.
Set up speakers along one wall in my room. The only tech advancement that almost was as exciting to me was HD TV.
But, for me, FM was huge.
Then, my first real radio job (1982) was for an FM in Detroit. In fact, when i was offered a management position with another group, the station was an AM and i was actually hesitant to go as i had been spoiled working at an FM station. That was 1984.
That experience was great and calmed my fears about AM.
Jason--- I do not know you, but YOU ROCK--- good stuff! Lunch at Wild Mike's ---My treat....
A 1500 song playlist?!? That's way too much for any station. Variety is a good thing, but too much of anything is no longer a good thing. I doubt most folks have that much on their iPods/MP3s, much less a radio station. I'm guessing said station was likely WXGT/WCOL.Jason Roberts said:
Icangelp said:
I lived it, too. In Dayton, Ohio. (I'm 57..remember?)
And, in this area, Dayton teens in particular were early adopters to FM, but the Beatles had nothing to do with it.
Here, the reason was WDAO-FM, which signed on the air in 1964. Their meld of both R & B and Motown crossovers brought a large number of black and white Dayton teens to FM far earlier than happened in a lot of markets. I didn't make this up. Bill Struck, then Program Director of Top 40 formatted WTUE-FM told me in an interview a couple of years ago that WDAO-FM was one of the reasons why TUE took off much faster than expected. Many teens were already listening to 'DAO in 1967 and beyond...then, when WONE-FM began to switch to Top 40 rock, then WVUD to "progressive", there were more choices for the teens...who told their friends, and the rest was history.
In Cincinnati, teens began to awaken to FM around 1970 or so with the automated WWDJ (and a couple others)...but it was really the breakout of Q-102 and WEBN that brought them to the forefront. I know. I grew up in southern Montgomery County. I listened to both markets. And listened to WING and WSAI growing up in the 60's. I was a little younger than the teens of the 60's, but I was listening to 'DAO, WWDJ, TUE and VUD by 1970 or so...and the Cincinnati stations within a year or so after that.
Many radio textbooks today show FM's growth exploded nationwide in the middle to late 1970's.
Dislike the Beatles all you want, but there's little actual evidence to suggest your theory is true.
My era of teens here moved to FM not so much because of stereo, but because of its better sound quality. The Beatles had nothing to do with that. Stereo was a nice extra, but I had already heard it shortly after I starting buying records and wondered why some albums cost a dollar extra than other versions of the same album.
And, by the way, WDAO's big signal also blanked much of Cincinnati, and touched the fringes of Columbus...so its impact there may also have played some part.
You could possibly have a 1500 song playlist of songs that tested well, but figure out (depending on format) groupings of 300 to 500 songs to burn. After properly toasted swap out the crispy group with another group a couple of times a year. Fox 97 in Atlanta had a rather large rotation when Shamrock owned them. IIRC they were top 10 (6+) when Cox bought 97.1 (good times and great oldies). Cox installed a "300" (I don't think it was that large) song playlist (Good times and EIGHT oldies). The station failed and Cox flipped it in a couple of years to urban which didn't work either. 97.1 ended up WSRV "the River" a jockless classic rock (300 song) jukebox and was successful for a time due to Clear Channel destroying 96 Rock. Meanwhile, Citadel went bankrupt, flipped 106.7 to Scott Shannon's "True Oldies Channel", which had a large playlist at the time, and gave 97.1 some competition in the 30 + demos*. Changes were made at The River, live morning and afternoon drives shifts, bigger playlist (you can now listen more than 8 hours and not hear a repeat) and now they have top 5 at Five which is Emailed in from the audience and usually has songs that are not on the playlist, and Sunday's night's "Deep Vault" show which has interviews and album tracks that would put a lot of AOR's (WEBN in the 1990's) to shame.
Each market is different, super tight playlists, and not always the answer, just ask the former Fox 97 employees. That is why the one size fits all strategy that some of the big operators have were they have a "national' program director in a top ten market that dictates all of that type stations' playlist, allows locally programed stations to have a shot at success.
*IMHO: Cumulus after they bought Citadel purposely wrecked 106.7 so they could put All News on 106.7.
Each market is different, super tight playlists, and not always the answer, just ask the former Fox 97 employees. That is why the one size fits all strategy that some of the big operators have were they have a "national' program director in a top ten market that dictates all of that type stations' playlist, allows locally programed stations to have a shot at success.
*IMHO: Cumulus after they bought Citadel purposely wrecked 106.7 so they could put All News on 106.7.
AMradiofan said:
Look...I am happy and proud for the AM operators in small towns who are able to keep their stations afloat and even profitable in small markets. God bless you all. But bigger markets are a whole different ballgame. Small town stations, generally, cover their towns pretty well. (Not to suggest you don't have some signal issues at night.) In larger towns, heritage stations who once dominated their markets way back when can't draw flies because the cities have outgrown their signals because of urban sprawl. Then add all the interference and noise issues and it's no wonder why most AM stations are not an option for listeners. But that's got to be fixed first. As I'm sure you as an owner understand, this is not a business where the phrase "if you build it, they will come" is always true. But...if the noise and signal issues could be resolved, then good programming content would have a chance. Most listeners consider AM an inferior product because of noise and interference alone.
Is there any truth to the rumor that the new LED bulbs interfere with FM? If so FM might be in the same shape are AM in 10 years.
secondchoice said:
Wait a second...you're missing my point.
We were ROTATING 1500 songs. I didn't say you couldn't play them.
You research and rotate the most popular songs (and yes, over time that list can vary...song titles pop in and pop out all the time.). Then, you use your library and sprinkle the others in when and where it makes sense to play them. This can help to eliminate stress on the library, and create the "illusion" of depth.
That is what consultant #2 taught us...and it works.
Jason Roberts said:
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