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Am radio

U

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news--talk, sports talk, & All news gave AM radio an added 20 years .
Now AM radio is on life support & slowly dying .,
some AM stations may survive with preachers, infomercials & ethnic programming
but that will eventually die too .
 
As long as little old ladies send money to preachers (and they do, at rates public radio would kill for), and suckers are born every minute to buy colon blow and gold coins, AM radio will continue.
 
FredLeonard said:
As long as little old ladies send money to preachers (and they do, at rates public radio would kill for), and suckers are born every minute to buy colon blow and gold coins, AM radio will continue.
Click to expand...

Don't forget spots & infomercials for penis pillls.
 
Unregistered said:
news--talk, sports talk, & All news gave AM radio an added 20 years .
Now AM radio is on life support & slowly dying .,
some AM stations may survive with preachers, infomercials & ethnic programming
but that will eventually die too .
Click to expand...

Everything dies, anonymous naysayer.

AM is alive and doing well in places where it's done right.

AM radio will be still going in some fashion when both you and I are dead and in the ground.

But let me guess. You think the Internet is going to replace AM radio by the end of the year, right?
 
Ive been told some countries have begun phasing out AM radio.
Moving stations to FM. (Canada, Great Britain, etc.) Is that true ?
I imagine it may slowly happen in the USA too .
 
Unregistered said:
Ive been told some countries have begun phasing out AM radio.
Moving stations to FM. (Canada, Great Britain, etc.) Is that true ?
I imagine it may slowly happen in the USA too .
Click to expand...

In many places our FM band is way too full. But what you are saying might happen on a very limited basis at some point. More likely is that the weaker performing AM stations will go dark eventually. But we're talking DECADES, not months or years. Anyone who thinks AM radio is going anywhere anytime soon is either trying to sell you something or trying to get you to listen to their podcast.
 
I could see where AM might continue, despite the fact that the transmitter property values might be more than the station could possibly earn, if it weren't for the fact that it's incompatible with new media, because of the need for a viable antenna. Basically, there aren't any new AM radios.
 
Small Market Guy said:
Except for the ones in every single new car made. Which is all that radio needs to survive, to be honest.
Click to expand...

You are ignoring the trend in metro areas where the younger generation is choosing to live in these new communities clustered around rail stations. Every where they go it is either by rail.... or bicycle.

The car radios will keep Aunt Maude and Uncle Clyde tuned in a few more years.
 
In a just world, singleton AM stations would be able to exchange their AM license for an FM. In most situations, that FM would probably be 1 kW or less. Further, such a policy would have to have to be retroactive a few years, to prevent groups from spinning off AMs to closely-linked paper tigers (like CC and Aloha Trust) All other group owned AMs would be left to fend for themselves.

In the real world, none of the above would stand a prayer of a chance.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
In a just world, singleton AM stations would be able to exchange their AM license for an FM.
Click to expand...

Unfair. You knew what you were buying when you bought it. If you didn't, you deserve to fail.

The government runs the spectrum. The government should focus on improving the audio quality of AM. Hire a few engineers for a change. Encourage inventors to come up with new technologies. Reverse past decisions that have hurt the AM band. Or give current AM owners tax credits to donate their AMs to non-profit community groups. But to give AM owners licenses for FM stations in their same markets is unfair to current FM owners, because it dilutes the value of their licenses.
 
older people are dying off. And younger people do not listen to AM radio.

and how about when new cars only have HD FM------ No AM --- unless you
order it as an option.

I also stay in many hotels and they now have an FM clock radio ---- No AM.
 
TheBigA said:
Do you use every feature included in your car? I promise you there are a few I've never even tried. I bet I'm not the only one.
Click to expand...

That's not the point. AM and FM radio will continue to exist until they're no longer the standard radio in cars. That won't happen until there is a 100% coverage and FREE alternative.

All of us will be long dead before Internet streaming is the main form of audio delivery to car listening.
 
It has been pointed out that a limited amount of AM stations actually cover their markets both day and night. The example usually heard is Los Angeles where only KFI and KNX do so and KLAC just misses. It occurred to me that we might have a better idea how things stand, if we knew the situations in other markets. The top ten would help a lot. More would be even better. Thank you.
 
Here's a twist of irony.. Last August I purchased a new pickup truck for use hauling stuff to or around my home. I realized just this past weekend, that I have not yet selected AM on the band select switch, nor programmed any AM stations into the band presets. Here in the DC area, with all the news stations having migrated to FM, there just isn't anything left that compels me to do any AM listening. And I've been in this business for over 35 years!

David made a good point on the Seattle board when someone was asking about advertiser and agency demographic targets. His point regarding larger markets, which bears repeating, is that none of the agencies nor advertisers can care less about the 55+ demographic. TV is a different story, where the big pharmaceutical, adult diaper, and adult beverage companies rely on visual cues in ads to sell products. Radio doesn't fill that requirement, so the advertisers are interested in demographics that radio reaches better. The reality of AM, is that the MAJORITY of the loyal listeners are over 55. That, and combine the inferior audio quality (yes I know it can do better than it does now, but it just isn't), impulse and terrestrial noise swamping out reception, and popularity of talk programming starting to wane, of course the amount of listeners are decreasing. Ultimately stations will continue to go dark or serve a foreign language need, but I frankly welcome the 'thinning of the herd' when it comes to the number of AM stations. How many are left ten years from now, remains to be seen.
 
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