Well said, TheFonz.
The unfortunate thing is that most people within the industry share the same thoughts as several of you on this thread...the idea that AM is dead is everywhere. That thought process, in my opinion, is what is ACTUALLY making AM radio irrelevant...as the big companies basically stopped caring about their AM signals. Air staffs, promotions, marketing, and contests all moved to the big FMs. The talk formats took over the band, sending the remaining music listeners over to FM. With all of the marketing going to the FMs, the AM side of the dial was no longer top of mind. Eventually, people started to forget about AM entirely, and with no programming targeting younger audiences, AM radio would become an unknown to people that are now in their 30s or younger.
We CAN fix this, people. And it's not that difficult...think about it, how did Netflix go from nothing to dominant in home viewing? Original content. Entertaining content that you can't get anywhere else. With the right content, you actually can get people to push that dusty AM button on their car radio. And you can keep listeners around, even despite the quality difference between AM and FM.
No, WKCE is NOT a typical oldies station...it's one long time radio engineer's attempt to give AM a chance. And what better experiment than a lonely little 1kw daytime AM in Tennessee, long neglected technically and with a history a mile long of fly-by-night managers and formats. So what about the content, you ask? Well, why not play the material that was the foundation of so many modern day genres? Early Rock N' Roll, Country, and Rhythm & Blues...the stuff you can't find anywhere else on the dial. Songs that are simply fun to sing along with and just have a good time. Yes, the people that will remember these songs from their teenage years are aged 65+. But saying those younger than 65 won't enjoy it is a fallacy...that would be akin to saying that today's 30 year olds would never enjoy music from the 80s. And, for those 30 and younger, most of the music on WKCE will be completely unknown...which is a good thing. Mid-Century themes are very popular right now with younger demographics (see Mad Men), and to put it more simply, now more than ever, retro is cool.
So what better opportunity than to take an old, hopeless daytime AM station and turn it into something great...a station that can be fun for every age demographic. And, as far as advertising goes, who wouldn't want to appeal to a wide demographic like that? The cost to operate is much lower than the high power FMs, and therefore advertising can be sold at a much better value than the big FM competitors. And even if you say that the primary audience is 55+, that demographic consistently outspends all others. It is an excellent demographic to target for advertisers.
Will WKCE be successful? Who knows. But I can tell you one thing...we will give it everything we have. It will be worth it, just for that chance that WKCE can be the little AM that overcame the odds and didn't get turned back in to the commission like so many others.
And no, we're not hiring Dick Biondi. Merry Christmas Everyone from WKCE!