Time For An AM Radio Revival

[TheBigA]

This is a significant future campaign issue: "get government to stop outsourcing their responsibilities and sending us the bill for third-party incompetence and self-dealing."

The problem is that outsourcing was done to solve the "big government" issue. Rather than employing a lot of government workers, with their huge pensions and benefits, the government instead hires outside contractors who handle all those costs. This is a much bigger issue at the Defense Department.

So returning to the old days means increasing the cost and size of government, and we all know how popular that is today, especially with trillion dollar budget deficites. The amazing part to me is how unaware the general public is about all of these changes, that were done basically in response to their demands 25 years ago.

 

[davideduardo]

"My oft-stated and unpopular opinion is that WYSL never should have been granted."

Aha! At last! A rare moment of candor! The true agenda is finally revealed! (*)

Yes, I believe that no AM should be / have been granted whose night power is less than 25% of the day power (that was the standard in the 30's, by the way... ) and even directional antennas should be limited somewhat in the manner that FM ones are.

Mounds of off-topic obiter dicta about long-forgotten Central American radio stations of the 1960s

Ecuador is not in Central America.

A tiresome, constant and demonstrably untrue litany of "AM Radio is dead and anyone who disagrees is stupid and incompetent."

stupid and incompetent? Nah. Just disingenuous.

AM is dying on all metrics... verifiable, easy to confirm metrics, too.

Average age of AM is increasing now by one year every 18 months. The average age of AM listeners is well over 55. Listening in 18-34 in many major markets is below 5%.

In markets where the main AM has gone to FM, such as Indianapolis, the remaining AM audience has declined by much more than the move of the one AM would show, due to the loss of a cume magnet for the band as a whole.

In almost every case where an established AM has moved to FM or started an FM simulcast, the 25-54 numbers have grown considerably. For example, in Indianapolis, the 25-54 rank moved from outside the top 10 to wekk inside the top 5.

With few exceptions, AM only stations of the "heritage" type are down in billings by more than market and national economy decline rates.

12+ shares of TSL dependent AMs ranging from KGO to KMOX are way down, particularly in 25-54. KMOX lost it's #1 rank, held for three or four decades, in the PPM measurements. Similar things are being seen in other PPM markets ranging from Cleveland to Atlanta.

Dead? No. On life support? Just analyze the data.....

Oh, yeah, Clear Channel just started two FM talkers from scratch in North Carollina... what do you suppose WPTF and WSJS will look like in the next book?

This self-righteous stand for AM spectrum purity - aimed at the station whose owner is a poster with whom he disagrees on IBOC - comes from a guy who on this very board bragged about "owning" stations on 570 and 590 in the same market.

20 kHz separation on AM and one channel separation on FM are common in other countries, where they realize that radio is not used outside the local primary coverage area and where awareness of the characteristics of radios of the 50's and on prevails... not the FCC standards developed in the 30's (AM) and 40's (FM).

 

[davideduardo]

Radio time buys are down, new media buys are up. Are you saying radio lacks credibility and is way overpriced in relation to new media results?

No.

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Radio time buys are down, new media buys are up. Are you saying radio lacks credibility and is way overpriced in relation to new media results?

No.

Then what was the relevance of your advertising time buyers primer?

 

[briankay]

The FCC should mandate that any new AM application (new or previously gone dark frequency) should broadcast in all digital mode (where the digital signal is 32X more powerful). Initially this would lower the price of entry as there are not so many listeners with HD radios. As more cars have HD radio installed the listenership to these stations would increase and even a 5kW pure digital AM would pack a mighty coverage footprint; at least a 100 mile radius by my calculations with noise free stereo (38 kbps) coverage of at least 50 miles. The sideband interference issues are also all but eliminated (which is one of the biggest complaints about AM HD radio).

Depending on the ratings performance of these pilot stations, this could be the spark that persuades some of the existing hybrid stations to go all digital when their analog listenership goes below a certain threshold.

Listeners moved away from AM to FM because of sound quality, would this proposal not put AM back on a level playing field with FM and perhaps give the best fighting chance for the AM band, absent radio listening itself becoming irrelevant?

 

[TheBigA]

The FCC should mandate that any new AM application (new or previously gone dark frequency) should broadcast in all digital mode (where the digital signal is 32X more powerful).

Do you mean HD Radio? That's not "all digital." It's a hybrid.

And the FCC clearly stated that it was not going to "mandate" any form of digital radio. So you're asking them to change their policy, which they aren't going to do.

 

[Play Freebird]

The FCC should mandate that any new AM application (new or previously gone dark frequency) should broadcast in all digital mode (where the digital signal is 32X more powerful). Initially this would lower the price of entry as there are not so many listeners with HD radios. As more cars have HD radio installed the listenership to these stations would increase and even a 5kW pure digital AM would pack a mighty coverage footprint; at least a 100 mile radius by my calculations with noise free stereo (38 kbps) coverage of at least 50 miles. The sideband interference issues are also all but eliminated (which is one of the biggest complaints about AM HD radio).

If the AM all-digital mode holds so much promise, why haven't any demonstrations been launched? I mean, one of the major groups (Clear Channel?) could operate a few of their unprofitable AM stations in all-digital mode -- and to minimize expenses, simply simulcast the programming of an FM sister station. Then doubters like us would have the opportunity to hear "how great it's gonna be" and a few might possibly become true believers -- but AFAIK, this has never been attempted. Why not? Are they afraid of the truth?

 

[K6JHU]

Time to fire up the SW receiver and start looking for DRM.

 

[audioguy]

Before we jump on the all-digital AM bandwagon, it would be a good idea to run some thorough tests under a variety of conditions. By this I mean: high power stations, low power stations, stations with tight directional patterns, stations with critical hours, stations with protected skywave coverage, stations with 2nd adjacents in a nearby city... you get the picture. The tests should include interference to other stations, self-interference, and robustness under a wide variety of conditions: at night when there are high levels of skywave propagation, during thunderstorms, driving under bridges, in urban canyons, in mountainous areas, etc. Apparently the current HD AM system wasn't thoroughly tested in this way before being deployed, and this why we have the mess that we have.

I compare HD radio to smoking. I would be happy for people to smoke themselves to death as long as I don't have to breathe their smoke nor pay for their health costs through taxation. The problem is that I can NOT smoke without bothering a smoker's lungs, but they can't smoke without bothering mine. Similarly, if HD radio operators want to stink up their own channel with hiss, that's fine with me-- but don't screw up my reception two or three channels over.

I get so darned angry every time I find my reception ruined by some station two channels and three states away with a raucous whine that bores a hole through my head and makes me go deaf. Even on FM, you can't tune across the band without hearing that nasty whine between every station. Like smog, it's suffocating our airwaves.

Why are people so negative about HD radio? That is one reason why.

 

[davideduardo]

Radio time buys are down, new media buys are up. Are you saying radio lacks credibility and is way overpriced in relation to new media results?

No.

Then what was the relevance of your advertising time buyers primer?

1. Buyers of new media are not buyers of radio. They are different staffs at most agencies, save in-house and tiny local shops.
2. Radio sellers who deal with agencies are mostly negotiators, based on agency buy specs vs. station rates. The skills needed mostly involve creative ways of creating a buy-friendly package, such as using other dayparts, promotions and value added.
3. Buyers don't determine how campaign dollars are allocated... that occurs at a much higher level where radio sellers generally don't have a presence.
4. Buyers don't decide on demos, either.

 

[audioguy]

I forgot to mention one small positive note:

AM 1000 (one of my former employers) appears, for the time being, to be shutting off their hiss machine at night. I have observed this for the past several evenings. I don't know if this is temporary or not... but it sounds so much better that I actually listened to the station for awhile.