What Can Save AM Radio in Southern California?

[RicoGregg]

I can remember the salad days of FM radio, when it was AM's "little squirt brother". It seemed like nobody was listening to it in the 50's & 60's, and all kinds of crazy formats were tried in attempts to make it viable.

The station that is now KOST was at one time KADS, as in K-Ads, all-classified ads, all the time. Oldies started out as a novelty format on FM before its growth spurt began.

Two key events happened that accelerated FM's coming of age: FM rock, aka Album Oriented Rock, started by Tom Donahue in San Francisco and programmed by the jocks themselves; and the growing availability of FM in car radios in the 70s.

With AM staples such as News/Talk and sports casts moving to FM, it now appears that the shoe is on the other foot. AM now needs some offbeat formats to keep it viable and relevant. Here are some suggestions:

You've heard of brokered religious programming? How about brokered web programming? Have assorted webcasters buy time for whatever crazy programming they're doing and they could plug their webcasts to probably more people than what they currently have listening on the Internet.

24 hour women's programming. Shows in the mold of "The View" or "The Talk".

Take sports programming one step further and narrow it down to one sport, year round. Imagine baseball, in and out of season. Game broadcasts from Spring to Fall, Hot Stove League talk from November to March. Or all-football or all basketball.

We are in and around Hollywood and it's environs. Why can't there be an Entertainment format? Talk shows, commentaries, award shows, and so on. In the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood, stars and studio execs were scared sh*tless of the radio media of the day. Nowadays, it seems like most of the major media companies are in bed with the studios: CBS & Paramount, ABC & Disney, Fox & Fox, you get the idea. Why not a radio version of iconoclastic web sites like Deadline: Hollywood Daily or Perez Hilton? I realize that it's always been "against the law" to tell the truth about Hollywood, but still, an idea like this may have possibilities... :

An AM in Oceanside (1320) is now the property of an area college. Perhaps through sale or donation, we could see more of this. Imagine AMs being run by places like Pepperdine, Cal St. LA, or even a place like Cal Tech or Occidental.

Those are just a few. Of course, if any of these ideas are ever actually used, please send my consultant's fee post haste.

May AM live on!

 

[systemdump]

It would be a new use of old TV sets, FM on the old TV band makes sense for LPFM fun. Did you know that 87.5 fm is old analog TV channel 6? Later they could start selling radios with a bigger FM band.

 

[systemdump]

News/talk AM, Music on FM

 

[semoochie]

There are some differences between then and now. The oddball FMs were usually owned by AMs and waiting for FM to catch on. In the meantime, they could support the cost of keeping a signal on the air. AM stations are expensive, just to operate and need to at least make up the operating costs. The FMs could certainly cover the costs for awhile but if it becomes apparent that it will NEVER get better, what's the point?

 

[LKellerIII]

There are some differences between then and now. The oddball FMs were usually owned by AMs and waiting for FM to catch on. In the meantime, they could support the cost of keeping a signal on the air. AM stations are expensive, just to operate and need to at least make up the operating costs. The FMs could certainly cover the costs for awhile but if it becomes apparent that it will NEVER get better, what's the point?

Right. According to the experts who post here, younger listeners won't tune in the AM band. As news, talk, and sports migrate to FM, and us baby boomers...uh...fade away, who will be left to listen to AM? I'm a baby-boomer who grew up with AM radio, and the only AM station I ever tune in here in the Bay Area is KGO for talk, and that's rare these days. I get my news from KQED (NPR) and KCBS, now both on the FM band. I don't personally enjoy sports on the radio, but for those who do, a growing percentage of the games are now broadcast on FM.

It seems to me that a decade or two in the future, AM will not even be viable for religious and ethnic programming - especially if HD2 ever manages to catch on.

 

[recto101]

I can remember the salad days of FM radio, when it was AM's "little squirt brother". It seemed like nobody was listening to it in the 50's & 60's, and all kinds of crazy formats were tried in attempts to make it viable.

The station that is now KOST was at one time KADS, as in K-Ads, all-classified ads, all the time. Oldies started out as a novelty format on FM before its growth spurt began.

Two key events happened that accelerated FM's coming of age: FM rock, aka Album Oriented Rock, started by Tom Donahue in San Francisco and programmed by the jocks themselves; and the growing availability of FM in car radios in the 70s.

With AM staples such as News/Talk and sports casts moving to FM, it now appears that the shoe is on the other foot. AM now needs some offbeat formats to keep it viable and relevant. Here are some suggestions:

You've heard of brokered religious programming? How about brokered web programming? Have assorted webcasters buy time for whatever crazy programming they're doing and they could plug their webcasts to probably more people than what they currently have listening on the Internet.

24 hour women's programming. Shows in the mold of "The View" or "The Talk".

Take sports programming one step further and narrow it down to one sport, year round. Imagine baseball, in and out of season. Game broadcasts from Spring to Fall, Hot Stove League talk from November to March. Or all-football or all basketball.

We are in and around Hollywood and it's environs. Why can't there be an Entertainment format? Talk shows, commentaries, award shows, and so on. In the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood, stars and studio execs were scared sh*tless of the radio media of the day. Nowadays, it seems like most of the major media companies are in bed with the studios: CBS & Paramount, ABC & Disney, Fox & Fox, you get the idea. Why not a radio version of iconoclastic web sites like Deadline: Hollywood Daily or Perez Hilton? I realize that it's always been "against the law" to tell the truth about Hollywood, but still, an idea like this may have possibilities... :

An AM in Oceanside (1320) is now the property of an area college. Perhaps through sale or donation, we could see more of this. Imagine AMs being run by places like Pepperdine, Cal St. LA, or even a place like Cal Tech or Occidental.

Those are just a few. Of course, if any of these ideas are ever actually used, please send my consultant's fee post haste.

May AM live on!

There are some differences between then and now. The oddball FMs were usually owned by AMs and waiting for FM to catch on. In the meantime, they could support the cost of keeping a signal on the air. AM stations are expensive, just to operate and need to at least make up the operating costs. The FMs could certainly cover the costs for awhile but if it becomes apparent that it will NEVER get better, what's the point?

Right. According to the experts who post here, younger listeners won't tune in the AM band. As news, talk, and sports migrate to FM, and us baby boomers...uh...fade away, who will be left to listen to AM? I'm a baby-boomer who grew up with AM radio, and the only AM station I ever tune in here in the Bay Area is KGO for talk, and that's rare these days. I get my news from KQED (NPR) and KCBS, now both on the FM band. I don't personally enjoy sports on the radio, but for those who do, a growing percentage of the games are now broadcast on FM.

It seems to me that a decade or two in the future, AM will not even be viable for religious and ethnic programming - especially if HD2 ever manages to catch on.

AM Look like it will die soon because of the fact that people can just use XM and web platforms . Look I think that KCBS in SF might have to shut down 740 AM as Smartphones advance and where people can just get web based radio attached to the Dashboard of a car and wifi systems improve and as more people listen to 106.9 FM for news. Remembber back in the 2000's when ABC did the Radio Disney format in San Francisco at 1310 AM. Why would young kids listen to Disney songs on AM? wasn't this a bad idea to begin with. One little kids can just go to their CD players and MP3 players and get thier favorite Disney Songs there. 2 ask anybody born after 1986 about AM radio and they will say Rush Limbaugh is the King of AM talk althought in some areas Rush is on FM. 3 some people get sports there on AM radio.

 

[beachguy3b]

AM freqs would be better used for other services. That said, I'm in that over-50 crowd that will miss AM when it's gone. I like being able to pick up stations on skip from far away. As well, I just drove cross-country for the 5th time in two and a half years. Sometimes, there simply isn't an FM you can pick up, but there is an AM that still comes in. Still, for me, it's just nostalgic. I enjoy the memories of listening to WLS, or KAAY, or any of the many other distant signals. I grew up in small towns, but because of the vast coverage of some of these stations, I was still able to have major market influence in my developmental years as a broadcaster.

Sadly, radio as a whole is killing itself off. I've lost interest in music stations. My GPS has an FM transmitter so I can load up an SD card and enjoy tunes, or audio books.

Radio is dead. Long live radio!

 

[systemdump]

They could have made AM better when they released am stereo, they should have at least 10k audio bandwidth, otherwise it's only good enough for news/talk, unless you are tone deaf. If they don't allow news/talk on FM, maybe AM could survive, It is important to keep AM radio going, it does have skip working for it (sometimes), Love that am dx.

 

[TheBigA]

Sadly, radio as a whole is killing itself off. I've lost interest in music stations.

My dad hit his 50s and he stopped listening to radio too. And it wasn't because of anything radio did. It's an age thing. Soon you'll stop watching TV, because everyone on it is half your age. Except Letterman, Leno, and Regis.

 

[semoochie]

In Canada, they essentially made it illegal for FM to broadcast Top 40 by dramatically reducing the percentage of hits that could be played. The result was that people would rather listen to unfamiliar music on FM than tolerate continuous hits on AM and the format died! The other option of distant reception seemed to work in some places. I was once in Vancouver B.C., hearing a Seattle FM from a passing car. This was when there was a perfectly decent 50KW local CHR.

 

[KeithE4]

Sadly, radio as a whole is killing itself off. I've lost interest in music stations.

My dad hit his 50s and he stopped listening to radio too. And it wasn't because of anything radio did. It's an age thing. Soon you'll stop watching TV, because everyone on it is half your age. Except Letterman, Leno, and Regis.

Or 60 Minutes, where everyone is twice my age. ;D

 

[LKellerIII]

Sadly, radio as a whole is killing itself off. I've lost interest in music stations.

My dad hit his 50s and he stopped listening to radio too. And it wasn't because of anything radio did. It's an age thing. Soon you'll stop watching TV, because everyone on it is half your age. Except Letterman, Leno, and Regis.

Or 60 Minutes, where everyone is twice my age. ;D

My kids hated 60 Minutes on Sunday night. I used to joke to them that I'd still be watching 60 Minutes on my death-bed at age 90, and Mike Wallace would still be reporting on the show at age 125. Some things do change.

I have largely stopped listening to music radio, but it's not because of my age - it's because despite my age, I've adopted new technology, including the i-pod. It's the size and weight of a small pack of gum, so I can carry it anywhere and listen anywhere.

Compared to decades past - songs are cheap to download: at a maximum of $1.29 per song, it's a lot cheaper (adjusted for inflation) than buying a 45 RPM single for $1.00 in the 60s and 70s. And it couldn't be easier - I don't have to go to a record store, or even bother getting it shipped from Amazon.com - I can just download the song directly from i-tunes or another source.

Since it's so cheap and easy to carry my own huge playlist with me everywhere I go, music radio has become largely irrelevant to me.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

...I've adopted new technology, including the i-pod. It's the size and weight of a small pack of gum,
so I can carry it anywhere and listen anywhere.

Llew, the one good thing about an iPod is that you only download songs
you want to hear, meaning no more Brown Eyed Girl! ;D

 

[LKellerIII]

...I've adopted new technology, including the i-pod. It's the size and weight of a small pack of gum,
so I can carry it anywhere and listen anywhere.

Llew, the one good thing about an iPod is that you only download songs
you want to hear, meaning no more Brown Eyed Girl! ;D

Nope, no Brown Eyed Girl, no I Heard it Throught the Grapevine, no Ain't No Mountain High Enough, etc., etc. I burnt out on most of those Oldies about 1997.

I did download Jumpin Jack Flash, but that's the Stones...

 

[robnokshus06]

In order to save AM radio it is going to take what most AM PDs are too frightened to do: blow it up and do something different. Not necessarily new but different than what is on now.

Let's be real and honest for a moment. The AM listenership is comprised of (for expediency in discussion sake) old, shut-ins. The up side is that there are a lot of them. This is how stations like KFI can have such huge 6+ numbers. My idea is to stop pretending that the audience is something it's not and program to it. What to program?

Gameshows.

Cheap to produce (for radio anyway), create a daypart of 30-minute gameshows. They can be about the good old days, sports, local trivia, anything! Prizes can be provided for promotional consideration, just like on TV (and previously on... RADIO). For example: The "Best Travel" Show, sponsored by Best Travel, the Best Travel Agency in Los Angeles. Answer questions about faraway places, win a trip to a faraway place.

The "real" audience of AM radio would eat this up, and if it would get their blood preasure down and allow them to have a little fun, well then it would accomplish something AM radio hasn't been able to in over 20-years!

 

[KeithE4]

In order to save AM radio it is going to take what most AM PDs are too frightened to do: blow it up and do something different. Not necessarily new but different than what is on now.

Let's be real and honest for a moment. The AM listenership is comprised of (for expediency in discussion sake) old, shut-ins. The up side is that there are a lot of them. This is how stations like KFI can have such huge 6+ numbers. My idea is to stop pretending that the audience is something it's not and program to it. What to program?

Gameshows.

Cheap to produce (for radio anyway), create a daypart of 30-minute gameshows. They can be about the good old days, sports, local trivia, anything! Prizes can be provided for promotional consideration, just like on TV (and previously on... RADIO). For example: The "Best Travel" Show, sponsored by Best Travel, the Best Travel Agency in Los Angeles. Answer questions about faraway places, win a trip to a faraway place.

The "real" audience of AM radio would eat this up, and if it would get their blood preasure down and allow them to have a little fun, well then it would accomplish something AM radio hasn't been able to in over 20-years!

And who would bother to advertise? I can't see geezer-oriented shows like that bringing enough money in to pay the electric bill for the transmitter, let alone pay anybody. Besides, some of us old geezers don't want to listen to old geezer programming. Might as well bring back Fibber McGee & Molly and Jack Benny reruns. At least they'd be entertaining and have some novelty value.

 

[beachguy3b]

Sadly, radio as a whole is killing itself off. I've lost interest in music stations.

My dad hit his 50s and he stopped listening to radio too. And it wasn't because of anything radio did. It's an age thing. Soon you'll stop watching TV, because everyone on it is half your age. Except Letterman, Leno, and Regis.

No. I stopped listening to music radio 20 years ago when I realized it all sucked. I find I can listen to what I want to by using a variety of sources instead of boring radio stations with zero variety and no control over what I hear. I was into digital MANY years ago. And I haven't watched TV much got a long time either- I can grab the video I want online. I have thousands of hours of movies and shows. Why watch only what is coming down the pipe?

Nice try, but I've been well ahead of the tech curve for years. But then, I got out of radio and went into tech stuff a long long time ago.

 

[accessdlp]

We are in and around Hollywood and it's environs. Why can't there be an Entertainment format? Talk shows, commentaries, award shows, and so on. In the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood, stars and studio execs were scared sh*tless of the radio media of the day. Nowadays, it seems like most of the major media companies are in bed with the studios: CBS & Paramount, ABC & Disney, Fox & Fox, you get the idea. Why not a radio version of iconoclastic web sites like Deadline: Hollywood Daily or Perez Hilton? I realize that it's always been "against the law" to tell the truth about Hollywood, but still, an idea like this may have possibilities... :

Of all the ideas you put out, this is the one that makes sense, especially in this "company town."

The talent is here, already....Steve Edwards and Dororthy Lucey could certainly add a radio shift. Hilton would be a great get for middays. Pad it with oldies or ecen standards and you may have something.


Saul...are you reading this?

 

[Drucifer]

And who would bother to advertise?

Cadillac, Depends, Tylenol, Travel Services, Insurance companies, Hallmark Channel.........

 

[accessdlp]

And who would bother to advertise?

Cadillac, Depends, Tylenol, Travel Services, Insurance companies, Hallmark Channel.........

Not to mention Banks, Heathcare concerns...pretty much anyone who advertises on N/T stations now. Or have you heard KNX's inventory lately.