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AM - top 40

The old transformers with PCB's helped on the bass too, but everyone had to pretty well get rid of those toxic old things...
 
Top 40 on the AM dial makes as much sense as KLIV-1590 changing its format to AOR in 1980, when there was two local AOR stations on the FM dial (KSJO-92.3 & KOME-98.5). No wonder, that format didn't last that long before its change to The Music Of Your Life.
 
They were desperate. They were thinking if we go with the times ...maybe they will relate with today's audience. Even if it's on AM. My hometown legendary top 40 station tried that briefly in the early 70's and under a different call letters and ownership in the late 70's only to fall flatter on their face to finally recognize that as we head into the 80's....we need to go talk, christian or big band....or something nostalgic.
 
Starbucks said:
They were desperate. They were thinking if we go with the times ...maybe they will relate with today's audience. Even if it's on AM. My hometown legendary top 40 station tried that briefly in the early 70's and under a different call letters and ownership in the late 70's only to fall flatter on their face to finally recognize that as we head into the 80's....we need to go talk, christian or big band....or something nostalgic.
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I remember when KGMS-1380 in Sacramento dropped Standards/Big Band in 1984 and went top 40 as KSMJ MAGIC 1380. While they did simulcast the morning show from its FM Sister Station, KSFM-102.5, The rest of the day, they were Top 40. About a year or two later, they changed formats to R&B Oldies via SMN. KSTN-1420 was Top 40/CHR up until 1999 when they became POWER OLDIES 1420. During most of the 80's and early 90's, Any Top 40 stations on the AM dial simply simulcasted their FM's 24/7.
 
The reason for Simulcast, was the FCC lifted the 80% AM/FM split programming to 100% full simulcast back in April 1986. Any split programming that was currently being done, resulted in many stations quickly severing their AM announcers and programming, (would ever their formats were) and went full simulcast with their FM sister until they decided what direction their AM's will go beside contemporary music. The split or stand alone AM was already feeling the squeeze financially (unless your a big news or talker) so the FCC had to do something to relieve the pressure.
 
KYNO 1300 Fresno dropped oldies in 1988 and tried a R&B leaned top 40,simulcasting the morning show on KYNO-FM 95.7, it didn't last more than 4 month and they switched to sports after that.
 
Starbucks said:
They were desperate. They were thinking if we go with the times ...maybe they will relate with today's audience. Even if it's on AM. My hometown legendary top 40 station tried that briefly in the early 70's and under a different call letters and ownership in the late 70's only to fall flatter on their face to finally recognize that as we head into the 80's....we need to go talk, christian or big band....or something nostalgic.
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In the early 70s, AM AOR stations worked from time to time. In Los Angeles, K-Day 1580 (out of Santa Monica) never got much respect (or ratings) trying to compete with the Top 40 giants, so about 1971, they took a page from the growth of FM AOR stations like KMET and KLOS, and flipped to an AM AOR format. The station had a poor signal, but it was adequate enough to create some buzz among the hip and groovy listeners in that part of town (including beach towns and UCLA and USC college students) to earn decent ratings for a few years. But that was still before many people had FM tuners, especially in their cars.

Later, KDAY reinvented itself as a soul station, and had a good run with R&B, and even early Hip Hop in the 80s, before AM became untenable.
 
KDAY was every format you can think of. I think they tried and squeezed out being some type of contemporary music anything long enough before they realize they are just another AM frequency before it's time to do spoken word or ethnic. It took them ...what ? Sometime by 1999 to realize this.
 
Starbucks said:
KDAY was every format you can think of. I think they tried and squeezed out being some type of contemporary music anything long enough before they realize they are just another AM frequency before it's time to do spoken word or ethnic. It took them ...what ? Sometime by 1999 to realize this.
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AM or not, their soul and Hip Hop format was so well thought of by listeners in the 80s, that K-Day has been "re-born" on FM as "Back in the Day" hits.

http://www.935kday.com/
 
Lkeller said:
Grumpy old fogey question: Is it now fashionable to say "prolly" instead of "probably," or do people really not know how to spell anymore?
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Yes, people do not know how to spell but "prolly" is an Internet "humoruskity".
 
landtuna said:
Lkeller said:
Grumpy old fogey question: Is it now fashionable to say "prolly" instead of "probably," or do people really not know how to spell anymore?
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Yes, people do not know how to spell but "prolly" is an Internet "humoruskity".
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OK - that's a relief...sort of. I understand the practicality of using abbreviations and short hand while texting, but I'll confess it bugs me when people use misspellings, and what seem to be written mispronunciations when they e-mail or post messages. I've known 3 year old kids who say "prolly," but that's because they don't know how to pronounce "probably."

When I returned to college about a decade ago, I had a thesis adviser who would send me emails with misspellings, sloppy punctuation, and no caps. This woman had a doctorate and was published, so I always wanted to ask her if it bothered her that she came off as illiterate in her emails. But I didn't ask - the answer was obvious (she didn't care)...and also, it wouldn't have helped to piss her off since she was judging my writing.
 
jmtillery said:
MarioMania said:
How would an Top 40 Station on AM do today, Or even Rock Mucis ..it prolly won't do well like on FM. I just wanna ask the people here that knows Radio Well
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About the only place where AM Top 40 may work would be in a remote area that has no FM reception.
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Those areas tend to be early adopters of XM/Sirius...as they are for satellite TV. Penetration in remote areas on a per capita basis usually far outstrips major metros with multiple OTA choices.
 
Lkeller said:
MarioMania said:
How would an Top 40 Station on AM do today, Or even Rock Mucis ..it prolly won't do well like on FM. I just wanna ask the people here that knows Radio Well
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Nobody but a tiny group of old fogeys older than me (I'm 58) would be willing to listen to music in low fidelity monaural sound. If you think about the history, decent stereo sound systems became available in the early 60s, and they were expensive at first, so it took them awhile to catch on. My father stubbornly held on to his "hi-fi" (banks of vacuum tubes, a giant amplifier and one really BIG speaker) until the late 1960s. Even then, his hi-fi had better fidelity than AM radio, but people were used to AM in those days - that's all they knew.

FM reception was dicey at best in cars, and AM/FM tuners weren't standard issue in cars until the mid to late 70s. So it took the radio infrastructure a decade or more to catch up with the stereo technology. By the time it did, music was already starting to die on AM radio. It ain't comin' back.

Grumpy old fogey question: Is it now fashionable to say "prolly" instead of "probably," or do people really not know how to spell anymore?
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Almost as old a fogey (50), and that 'prolly' garbage drives me nuts, too. And, to answer the question, people do not know how to spell any longer, especially if they are under 30. Schools have gone to hell in a handbasket!
 
travisl5678 said:
You could get one of the those powered wheelchairs, Medicare will even pay for it!
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Well, I'm not that old (yet). Weav will have to spring for the full purchase price.
 
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