WYSL: "WHY YOU DON’T NEED, OR WANT, 'HD-AM' RADIO"

[clouseau]

You are just an HD/IBOC supporter and AM naysayer - I provided proof that there are many AMs ranked #1 and in the top-5. Would you like to talk about C++ and UNIX/Solaris Memory Management ?

You aren't going to like this response. Let me step in as if I were the original poster.

"I" am not an "AM NAYSAYER". I make my living on AM. I have a vested interest in AM. If AM fails, I NEED A NEW JOB!!!

There ARE a group of "BIG" AM's which do well. However there are a whole lot MORE AM's that do real lousy.

Stations like...
WNTP (WIBG) Philadelphia
WBBR (WNEW) New York
KQUE (KNUZ)Houston
CKLW Detroit - WOW
WERE Cleveland
WHLO Akron
WILB (WQIO) Canton, OH

And as "The Jam Song" says...

The list is nearly endless....

AM is living. But it "Ain't" thriving. Lots of folks are trying to change that. Including me. Victory has NOT been proclaimed by our side.

Clouseau

 

[PocketRadio]

The whole terrestrial radio industry is in trouble, with no growth for the past six years.

 

[davideduardo]

Most of the 50KW AM stations are ranked #1, or are in the top-5, well-ahead of the FM stations - AM radio has many years left, and AM-HD will just make matters worse.

I can give you a list of 100 50 kw AMs that are doing horribly, and not even in the top 10 locally. None bills ove $1.2 million. Half of the ones I am listing have zero ratings, and the rest have less than a one share. yet are all 50 kw stations.

KDIS - LA
WDYZ - Orlando
KMIK - Phoninx
WQEW NY
WFDF Detroit
KERI Bakersfie.
KERR Kalispell
KICY Nome
WWBO Melbourne
KXEL Waterloo
KCTA Corpus Christi
WNCT Greenville
WWNN Miami
WFLI Chatanooga
WLOR Huntsville
WTPWP Washington
KUTR SLC
WCRT Nashville
WCRV Memphis
WWFE Miami
WCRN Worchester
WAPI Birminghan
KAAYLittle Rock
KGA Spokane
WLNO New Orleans
KLTT Denver
KCBC Modesto
KXJC Birminggham

The list of 50 kw AMs with little or no revenue and which are no-shows in the ratings is enormous... in fact, about 80% of the 50 kw AMs fall in this category.

Only a few, the dominant 50 kw clears (25 stations total) and a few of the 1-Bs have decent ratings and revenue. And all of them have one thing in common: they have declining revenues and very high expenses and are losing listenership under 55 as the audience ages.

This is why thos that can are moving the format to FM, and essentially making do with a lesser format as they abandon AM.

And the AMs you mentioned are not "way ahead" of the FMs. The two you mention in Chicago are 8th and 12st, resepctively in 25-54. I don't believe one of them is at the top 25-54, with most being way down in that age group... which is where all the reveneu is.

​

 

[davideduardo]

The whole terrestrial radio industry is in trouble, with no growth for the past six years.

Actually, the annual growth has averaged 3% a year. For example in 2000 the LA market billed $847 million, and now bills $1.078 billion. NY in 2001 billed $730 million, and it did $843 last year. Source: BIA

This is just another lie you are posting. There is very slow growth, but growth there is.

You have no proof for your statement.

 

[clouseau]

The BS alarm just went off, Batman!!!

Most of the 50KW AM stations are ranked #1, or are in the top-5, well-ahead of the FM stations....

If we could assume that "MOST" is more than half lets look at the top markets.

Market #1 - New York
50 KW stations....12+

AM's
WINS - #6 (ASSERTION = BS)
WABC - #7 Tie - (ASSERTION = BS)
WCBS - #15 (ASSERTION = BS)
WOR - #19 Tie (ASSERTION = BS)
WFAN - #19 Tie (ASSERTION = BS)
WEPN - #26 Tie (ASSERTION = BS)
WBBR - #31 (ASSERTION = BS)

Shutout wrong in Market #1

Wanna try Market #2???

KFI - #4 (Got it Assertion could be right)
KNX - #20 (ASSERTION = BS)
KTNQ - #30 (ASSERTION = BS)
KRLA - #34 (ASSERTION = BS)
KSPN #35 (ASSERTION = BS)
KTLK #40 (ASSERTION = BS)
KBLA #44 (ASSERTION = BS)
KDIS #45 (ASSERTION = BS)

You have one out of 15...

Chicago goes a little better at 2 out of 5. (And that's from memory. there very well might be more than 5 50 KW AM's in Market #3.)

The reality is, your

Most of the 50KW AM stations are ranked #1, or are in the top-5..

is just as likely to not be allowed to leave the sewage treatment plant as your other ideas.

We need to use this kind of junk as the "poster child" for why the anti HD folks are crazy.

Clouseau

 

[Savage]

Chuck makes a great point here: technology never drives audience. Programming does. Nobody would seriously debate the superiority of FM's audio over AM's at least for musical purposes, yet it took 35 years for FM to overcome AM as the dominant band in terms of audience. It was only when mass-appeal formats started appearing on FM in the late 1960s that the audience started the migration from AM. And look how long its taken HDTV to be implemented.

AM would be so dead these days the IBOC debate would be completely moot, but for the appearance of Rush Limbaugh and other talkers circa 1988. WYSL, in one of its historic fits of non-viability, was actually one of the first four Rush affiliates then. But, of course, who cares about what innovations and pioneering programs our disposable little station has brought to the table? What strikes me about David Eduardo is his angry, judgmental stance, and his inability to objectively assess anything to do with AM except in terms of pressing strident demands for IBOC-AM implementation. Posters to this board will also note he hasn't responded substantively to any of the arguments I've made about HD-AM, just a bunch of stats and advocacy for confiscatory band-clearing. Let's hope he has to defend his own livelihood against insane rants from message-board wonks some day soon.

Sorry I got your name wrong, Mr. Eduardo. [EDIT]


[EDIT-inflammatory]

 

[PocketRadio]

"Tuning in to talk - popularity of talk programming"

"Talk is hot, whether it's on TV, radio, or the Internet. Experts disagree about why Americans love to hear and participate in talk programming, but many believe talk media helps people feel connected with others. It's also entertaining. Talk programming across all media has grown rapidly. In 1983, only 53 radio stations had news/talk formats, compared with more than 1,000 today, while the total number of stations remained constant at 10,000, according to SABOMedia of New York City. The number of syndicated and network talk shows on television ballooned from just a handful when Oprah first went into syndication in 1986, to 15 in the 1989-90 season, to 19 during the 1996-97 season, according to Nielsen Media Research. And that doesn't include the proliferation of talk shows on cable."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_n2_v20/ai_20302979

WHO-AM News Talk Information 9.7 7.2 9.9 10.6
WLW-AM News Talk Information 8.9 9.9 11.2 9.8
WSB-AM News Talk Information 9.3 8.7 9.2 8.2
WGN-AM News Talk Information 5.3 5.5 5.8 5.4
WBBM-AM All News 4.2 4.1 4.4 4.6
WLS-AM News Talk Information 4.1 3.7 3.7 3.8
WTAM-AM News Talk Information 7.3 8.0 6.5 7.3
WJR-AM News Talk Information 4.8 4.9 5.3 5.3
KMOX-AM News Talk Information 8.4 7.7 8.2 8.4
KSL-AM News Talk Information 5.9 6.7 8.6 7.7

http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/home.htm

Per the partial list above, many of the news/talk/sports 50KW AMs are either ranked #1, or in the top-5.

 

[R.F. Burns]

"Tuning in to talk - popularity of talk programming"

"Talk is hot, whether it's on TV, radio, or the Internet. Experts disagree about why Americans love to hear and participate in talk programming, but many believe talk media helps people feel connected with others. It's also entertaining. Talk programming across all media has grown rapidly. In 1983, only 53 radio stations had news/talk formats, compared with more than 1,000 today, while the total number of stations remained constant at 10,000, according to SABOMedia of New York City. The number of syndicated and network talk shows on television ballooned from just a handful when Oprah first went into syndication in 1986, to 15 in the 1989-90 season, to 19 during the 1996-97 season, according to Nielsen Media Research. And that doesn't include the proliferation of talk shows on cable."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_n2_v20/ai_20302979

WHO-AM News Talk Information 9.7 7.2 9.9 10.6
WLW-AM News Talk Information 8.9 9.9 11.2 9.8
WSB-AM News Talk Information 9.3 8.7 9.2 8.2
WGN-AM News Talk Information 5.3 5.5 5.8 5.4
WBBM-AM All News 4.2 4.1 4.4 4.6
WLS-AM News Talk Information 4.1 3.7 3.7 3.8
WTAM-AM News Talk Information 7.3 8.0 6.5 7.3
WJR-AM News Talk Information 4.8 4.9 5.3 5.3
KMOX-AM News Talk Information 8.4 7.7 8.2 8.4
KSL-AM News Talk Information 5.9 6.7 8.6 7.7

http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/home.htm

Per the partial list above, many of the news/talk/sports 50KW AMs are either ranked #1, or in the top-5.

Notice what all of the stations listed above have in common? They are all AM and that's is because while talk on AM is viable, music really isn't. Especially in markets with heavy FM penetration. Another thing many of these AM stations have in common is older demographics. While WABC gets very nice numbers for an AM facility it bills relatively poorly consdering its numbers. Why is it you ask? Because the average listener is over 50 years old. That might work in smaller markets but not in the majors where agency buys acount for most of your income. Agencies don't want older listeners, they want youth and AM's audience is getting older and older and not being replaced by younger listeners.

 

[Savage]

Thanks to the many bright, articulate posters on this thread for your support and kind words. You're REAL radio people. Like I said, the AM Band of Brothers.

I guess in David Eduardo's world, everybody who operates an AM that isn't top-three in ratings and revenue in its market, and/or every licensee that isn't the equivalent of 50kw NDA unlimited, and/or every licensee who isn't a rabid iBiquity AMHD supporter, should just shuffle off to the elephants' graveyard and dutifully turn in his license - with no compensation for years of work and capital investment, and all for the greater good of IBOC, of course. Then, the (wealthy corporate) survivors can program wonderful HD-AM, cheerfully sending in exorbitant annual license fees to iBiquity, who would maintain an OPEC-style control over that cost factor in perpetutity as the monopoly in total control of the only allowable AM transmission system.

And every listener should tote every one of their perfectly-serviceable one BILLION AM radios - the All-American Five on top of granny's fridge, the analog slide-rule radio in the drywall installer's pickup - off to the landfill, and obediently plunk down $100 to $300 for nifty new AM-HD radios so they can get the weather report and O'Reilly in stereo. (As long as they're within 20 miles of that 50kw Tx, that is.)

And we should all wave bye-bye to the practice of listening to the ballgame at the park with headphones because of the encoding delay. Every time WYSL airs a Rochester Red Wings game we get thank-you calls and e-mails. The alternate games aired by CC's porn-talk outlet here are, of course, useless to the park fans because of IBOC. Some of the ballpark listeners are blind, and they are especially appreciative of the real-time audio on 1040. It's my personal opinion that IBOC violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.

We can all be thankful David Eduardo isn't US Surgeon-General. He'd be stumping for a Constitutional amendment requiring every American citizen to receive a cancer vaccine that CAUSES cancer in 10% of perfectly healthy people, all because it's so effective for MOST cancer patients. Heck, why not?? It helps more people than it hurts, doesn't it?

This will be my last post for a while - as Woody Allen once said, "I'm wanted back on planet Earth." But since I'm in the news business, I've got a news flash for flat-earth IBOCers:

HD-AM is dead. D, e, a, d. DEAD. At least iBiquity's HD-AM is in its current incarnation.

After four years of hype, IBOC maxed out at a tiny fraction of installations at AM stations, and the station population is dropping, not growing. That's because HD-AM is preposterously and prohibitively expensive for all but the biggest broadcast owners, it doesn't work very well in the field, it doesn't offer consumers a sufficiently big improvement over analog to make the listener's investment in equipment a good value, and it causes harm to a fragile existing market for listenership. It's two big steps backwards hoping for three forward at some uncertain point in the future, maybe.

It's time for iBiquity or its competitors to acknowledge that a more practical and less destructive AM digital system is needed, roll up their development sleeves, crank up the ingenuity and stop flogging this dead horse.
You want digital on AM? Come up with something that actually makes sense.

 

[R.F. Burns]

Thanks to the many bright, articulate posters on this thread for your support and kind words. You're REAL radio people. Like I said, the AM Band of Brothers.

I guess in David Eduardo's world, everybody who operates an AM that isn't top-three in ratings and revenue in its market, and/or every licensee that isn't the equivalent of 50kw NDA unlimited, and/or every licensee who isn't a rabid iBiquity AMHD supporter, should just shuffle off to the elephants' graveyard and dutifully turn in his license - with no compensation for years of work and capital investment, and all for the greater good of IBOC, of course. Then, the (wealthy corporate) survivors can program wonderful HD-AM, cheerfully sending in exorbitant annual license fees to iBiquity, who would maintain an OPEC-style control over that cost factor in perpetutity as the monopoly in total control of the only allowable AM transmission system.

And every listener should tote every one of their perfectly-serviceable one BILLION AM radios - the All-American Five on top of granny's fridge, the analog slide-rule radio in the drywall installer's pickup - off to the landfill, and obediently plunk down $100 to $300 for nifty new AM-HD radios so they can get the weather report and O'Reilly in stereo. (As long as they're within 20 miles of that 50kw Tx, that is.)

And we should all wave bye-bye to the practice of listening to the ballgame at the park with headphones because of the encoding delay. Every time WYSL airs a Rochester Red Wings game we get thank-you calls and e-mails. The alternate games aired by CC's porn-talk outlet here are, of course, useless to the park fans because of IBOC. Some of the ballpark listeners are blind, and they are especially appreciative of the real-time audio on 1040. It's my personal opinion that IBOC violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.

We can all be thankful David Eduardo isn't US Surgeon-General. He'd be stumping for a Constitutional amendment requiring every American citizen to receive a cancer vaccine that CAUSES cancer in 10% of perfectly healthy people, all because it's so effective for MOST cancer patients. Heck, why not?? It helps more people than it hurts, doesn't it?

This will be my last post for a while - as Woody Allen once said, "I'm wanted back on planet Earth." But since I'm in the news business, I've got a news flash for flat-earth IBOCers:

HD-AM is dead. D, e, a, d. DEAD. At least iBiquity's HD-AM is in its current incarnation.

After four years of hype, IBOC maxed out at a tiny fraction of installations at AM stations, and the station population is dropping, not growing. That's because HD-AM is preposterously and prohibitively expensive for all but the biggest broadcast owners, it doesn't work very well in the field, it doesn't offer consumers a sufficiently big improvement over analog to make the listener's investment in equipment a good value, and it causes harm to a fragile existing market for listenership. It's two big steps backwards hoping for three forward at some uncertain point in the future, maybe.

It's time for iBiquity or its competitors to acknowledge that a more practical and less destructive AM digital system is needed, roll up their development sleeves, crank up the ingenuity and stop flogging this dead horse.
You want digital on AM? Come up with something that actually makes sense.

I can understand as a stand alone operation you feel vunerable to outside forces beyond your control. let's be rational though. HD stands for Hybrid Digital. It is analog compatible. We have 5, 50 KW AM IBOCs in NYC; WFAN, WOR, WABC, WCBS, & WADO and none of them have rendered my analog radios useless. As to the syncing your audio so that fans at a major league ballpark can listen to the radio while they watch a game live, it appears to be a rather shortsighted and unrealistic view of ones potential audience. In NYC where I work hundreds of thousands of people might be listening to a game at any one time and in the case of NYC they turn off the IBOC generators during games anyway. With or without IBOC you constantly hear the argument that the radio doesn't sync up with the TV video properly. Well with the many forms of distribution today be it cable or satellite or whatever, you couldn't in your wildest dreams provide sync'd audio to match the vast majority of systems. Last point on this subject for the moment. No one, not Ibiquity, or the FCC is mandatinig a change to IBOC technology. You want to remain analog, feel free. You feel that you are suffering interference within your protected contour? Report it to the commision for action. Again, NO ONE is forcing ANYONE to convert to IBOC.

 

[davideduardo]

Chuck makes a great point here: technology never drives audience. Programming does. Nobody would seriously debate the superiority of FM's audio over AM's at least for musical purposes, yet it took 35 years for FM to overcome AM as the dominant band in terms of audience. It was only when mass-appeal formats started appearing on FM in the late 1960s that the audience started the migration from AM. And look how long its taken HDTV to be implemented.

FM did not prosper until the FCC intervened with the 1967 mandate against simulcasting. Until that time, with rare exceptions, there was little reason for the mass of listeners to sample FM. From that point, it was rapid growth until 1977, when, nationally, FM achieved the majority status in share of audience.

Today, listeners have radios that in nearly every case have both AM and FM. Those listeners below the 45-54 demo use AM only very lightly. 45-54 is somewhat transitional, with a higher percentage using AM. And 55+ uses AM much more. The reason is one of those Catch 22's involving programming and technology. Younger listeners will use news/talk, the only format that is truly viable on AM (and its derivitives) but not on AM. Many under-55's don't use news/talk because the won't listen to AM.

When conventional n/t stations are put on FM, they grow the 35-54 quite amazingly. The issue is the quality of AM on one side, and the general lack of n/t on FM on the other side. Once more n/t formats move to FM, AM's hold on talk listeners will be lost.

AM would be so dead these days the IBOC debate would be completely moot, but for the appearance of Rush Limbaugh and other talkers circa 1988.

If the truth be told, the culprit here was not RUsh, but the repeal of "Fairness." This paved the way for controversial talk... and AM was the place for it as there were many facilities laying fallow waiting for a format. Lest we forget, Clear Channel owes its name to the fact that their second station was WOAI, a clear channel AM which was close to bankruptcy when Mays and Coombs bought it.

WYSL, in one of its historic fits of non-viability, was actually one of the first four Rush affiliates then. But, of course, who cares about what innovations and pioneering programs our disposable little station has brought to the table?

If I had $100 for each inferior signal with a great concept that has seen that concept "adopted" by a bigger signal, I could retire. Desperation is a definite catalyst for innovation, just as is fear and other negative things like revenge.

What strikes me about David Eduardo is his angry, judgmental stance, and his inability to objectively assess anything to do with AM except in terms of pressing strident demands for IBOC-AM implementation. Posters to this board will also note he hasn't responded substantively to any of the arguments I've made about HD-AM, just a bunch of stats and advocacy for confiscatory band-clearing. Let's hope he has to defend his own livelihood against insane rants from message-board wonks some day soon.

My stance is simply an opinion. And if you note the content of my prior post, you will see that I lay the blame for the problems facing AM on the doorstep of the FCC in the M Street days... failure to authorize higher power and the licencing of many never-viable stations.

I believe HD may be a way to give some new life to AM, if it is not already too late for that. None of these discussions would be needed if AM were still viable; what we have in the larger markets are one or two adequate signals (on the average... the range is 0 to 5 or 6 at best) and a bunch of stations that can eke out a living with brokered or religious or ethnic programming (none of which I criticize... just the fact that they are very marginal in most cases). A band filled with such stations can not attract new listeners and the age of the existing ones is getting higher each year.

Sorry I got your name wrong, Mr. Eduardo.

Both David and Eduardo are given names, and neither is a surname as a quick click on my profile should reveal.

 

[davideduardo]

I guess in David Eduardo's world, everybody who operates an AM that isn't top-three in ratings and revenue in its market, and/or every licensee that isn't the equivalent of 50kw NDA unlimited, and/or every licensee who isn't a rabid iBiquity AMHD supporter, should just shuffle off to the elephants' graveyard and dutifully turn in his license - with no compensation for years of work and capital investment, and all for the greater good of IBOC, of course. Then, the (wealthy corporate) survivors can program wonderful HD-AM, cheerfully sending in exorbitant annual license fees to iBiquity, who would maintain an OPEC-style control over that cost factor in perpetutity as the monopoly in total control of the only allowable AM transmission system.

Actually, the current state of AM will do all this with no intervention. The real issue is whether there is anything that can be done to preserve the band in the future, albeit in a modified form that may not look like today's band.

And every listener should tote every one of their perfectly-serviceable one BILLION AM radios - the All-American Five on top of granny's fridge, the analog slide-rule radio in the drywall installer's pickup - off to the landfill, and obediently plunk down $100 to $300 for nifty new AM-HD radios so they can get the weather report and O'Reilly in stereo. (As long as they're within 20 miles of that 50kw Tx, that is.)

HD is backward, analog compatible. And the 1 billion figure is pretty exaggerated. Maybe 700 million, but many are not operating. By the way, HD radios at way under $100 are now out. As new chipsets are introduced there will be portables and much cheaper offerings. My first CD player cost $1.400. 10 years later, they were around $100.

And we should all wave bye-bye to the practice of listening to the ballgame at the park with headphones because of the encoding delay.

That will happen anyway, with the new fines for obscenity and indecency. Nearly every station has a delay in the line anyway to allow dumping of bad words, etc. And most digital STLs and processors introduce delay, too.

Every time WYSL airs a Rochester Red Wings game we get thank-you calls and e-mails. The alternate games aired by CC's porn-talk outlet here are, of course, useless to the park fans because of IBOC. Some of the ballpark listeners are blind, and they are especially appreciative of the real-time audio on 1040. It's my personal opinion that IBOC violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Again, the delay is often part of the STL and processing, not HD per se.

After four years of hype, IBOC maxed out at a tiny fraction of installations at AM stations, and the station population is dropping, not growing.

HD has been in its final version for just 10 months. And it has been marketed for that period. All things prior to that were experimental, and definitely not a mature final product. The first roll out stage has been concentrated in the top 100 markets because over 60% of the US population lives there. In those 100 markets, there are about 200 viable AM stations, and most are in or going to HD.

That's because HD-AM is preposterously and prohibitively expensive for all but the biggest broadcast owners, it doesn't work very well in the field, it doesn't offer consumers a sufficiently big improvement over analog to make the listener's investment in equipment a good value, and it causes harm to a fragile existing market for listenership. It's two big steps backwards hoping for three forward at some uncertain point in the future, maybe.

I fail to see how it harms existing listenership, which can still get an analog signal. And the costs, unless a station has a dreadful AM directional with very high Q circuits (which will sound bad in analog, too) are not that high and will come down.

It's time for iBiquity or its competitors to acknowledge that a more practical and less destructive AM digital system is needed, roll up their development sleeves, crank up the ingenuity and stop flogging this dead horse.
You want digital on AM? Come up with something that actually makes sense.

Nobody is going to go for a separate system... AM is just not that important and the receiver manufacturers know this. That is why AM receivers are so poor even today in analog mode. I see the only opportunity in riding on a dual band system that is driven by FM, where the listeners are.

 

[wgliradio]

By the way, HD radios at way under $100 are now out.

Where can I buy one right now, 7:35pm Monday night 5/7/07 for WAY under $100.

 

[wgliradio]

And we should all wave bye-bye to the practice of listening to the ballgame at the park with headphones because of the encoding delay.

That will happen anyway, with the new fines for obscenity and indecency. Nearly every station has a delay in the line anyway to allow dumping of bad words, etc. And most digital STLs and processors introduce delay, too.

Actually, some have already gotten the OK from legal and have lifted this and are running games out of delay again. Believe me, fans are more interested in the games in real time than HD.

 

[R.F. Burns]

By the way, HD radios at way under $100 are now out.

Where can I buy one right now, 7:35pm Monday night 5/7/07 for WAY under $100.

Radiosophy had announced a 50 dollar HD radio.

 

[wgliradio]

Where? You mean the one that is $114 after shipping with a $40 rebate that brings it to $74? I just ordered that one. Where are the radios which means more than ONE?

http://www.hdradio.com/2007_HDRadio_Rebate.pdf

Where are the portables?

 

[Len14043]

"Tuning in to talk - popularity of talk programming"

"Talk is hot, whether it's on TV, radio, or the Internet. Experts disagree about why Americans love to hear and participate in talk programming, but many believe talk media helps people feel connected with others. It's also entertaining. Talk programming across all media has grown rapidly. In 1983, only 53 radio stations had news/talk formats, compared with more than 1,000 today, while the total number of stations remained constant at 10,000, according to SABOMedia of New York City. The number of syndicated and network talk shows on television ballooned from just a handful when Oprah first went into syndication in 1986, to 15 in the 1989-90 season, to 19 during the 1996-97 season, according to Nielsen Media Research. And that doesn't include the proliferation of talk shows on cable."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_n2_v20/ai_20302979

WHO-AM News Talk Information 9.7 7.2 9.9 10.6
WLW-AM News Talk Information 8.9 9.9 11.2 9.8
WSB-AM News Talk Information 9.3 8.7 9.2 8.2
WGN-AM News Talk Information 5.3 5.5 5.8 5.4
WBBM-AM All News 4.2 4.1 4.4 4.6
WLS-AM News Talk Information 4.1 3.7 3.7 3.8
WTAM-AM News Talk Information 7.3 8.0 6.5 7.3
WJR-AM News Talk Information 4.8 4.9 5.3 5.3
KMOX-AM News Talk Information 8.4 7.7 8.2 8.4
KSL-AM News Talk Information 5.9 6.7 8.6 7.7

http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/home.htm

Per the partial list above, many of the news/talk/sports 50KW AMs are either ranked #1, or in the top-5.

If the democrats have their way, talk radio will be a thing of the past. Most talk radio represents right-of-center discourse, and the only antidote to a left biased main stream media. The democrats don't want the other side heard and will eventually propose bringing back the so-called fairness, (i.e. Hush Rush) doctrine. This will likely happen if a democrat is elected president and the congress stays in democratic hands. That, my friends, will be the knockout punch to AM. I listen to Rush on WTVN from Columbus in Cincinnati because they run IBOC. It's amazing how HD makes talk radio more enjoyable.

 

[davideduardo]

Actually, some have already gotten the OK from legal and have lifted this and are running games out of delay again. Believe me, fans are more interested in the games in real time than HD.

Most are not going to get it, though. This is because play by play is emotion-charged and very susceptible to utterances of consequence.

And, that does not change the fact that most stations have processor delays and digital stl delays, anyway.

 

[awj223]

Most are not going to get it, though. This is because play by play is emotion-charged and very susceptible to utterances of consequence.

And, that does not change the fact that most stations have processor delays and digital stl delays, anyway.

My favorite team's flagship has never broadcast with a delay. They're currently running at 1/4 second or less behind real time which is very acceptable for listening at the ballpark. I don't think they'd even think of adding a delay either. They only need to look at the complaints coming from fans of the team across the Bay to see why it would be a terrible idea.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Wow this one has everyone going!

As for me I'm not sure that AM-IBOC will save the AM band. It takes away allot and gives little. I have heard a couple of the small local stations where I live broadcasting in AM-IBOC. One has a transmitter not far away and while the analog signal is solid the digital can be flaky, difficult to get a lock but not impossible. At night it's a little worse the station is 1kw-nonDA so it's not the station's fault probably just band conditions. I question how robust the signal will be when more AM noise is interoduced like motor noise and lightning.

As for ballgames a consulting engineer I know says stations just turn off IBOC when the bradcast the games so that takes care of the delay problem. I think in time digital signal processing will become faster, someone has to find a way.

AM radio has a difficult road ahead and will probably have to reinvent itself a few more times to survive. WYSL from everything I hear is doing it right by placing the linsteners first and serving it's coverage area.