This. Like BIN, the national spots running on KGO "The Spread" 810 are typical 18-54M sports demo target ads: beer, sportsbook apps, cars, 'blue pill pharma', etc. As I mentioned; on BIN it's all national spots including names like Sony, GEICO, Progressive, Anheuser Busch, Toyota/Lexus, and Chevrolet. All good money rolling in the door, considering it's on derelict AM stations.
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Audacy Filed For Bankruptcy
- Thread starter exdjted
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With no local sales or programming staff.
The few remaining small, community-oriented "live and local" AM stations that still exist need all the support they can get to stay alive and not become "undead zombie stations," as KGO and countless others have.
Unfortunately, the steady march toward Internet-based everything and drastically diminishing local ad revenues probably mean that despite all efforts to stop it, within a decade or so, most AM stations will likely go dark and the band will be basically empty aside from ridiculous amounts of RF noise from computers, phones and EVs.
FM is still viable for the foreseeable future, but it'll likely suffer the same fate as AM eventually. Unlike AM, however, there's enough useful bandwidth that it will likely be repurposed as yet another cellular band or something else that's digital in nature, so it'll probably not become a dead band as AM is in danger of becoming.
That said, when the time comes, perhaps the AM band can be opened up and licenses can be given out using an LPFM-like model, or maybe it could be made open to unlicensed hobby operations by relaxing the Part 15 rules in part by eliminating the antenna length restrictions and maybe upping the maximum allowed power to 10 or 100 watts. Or maybe it'll become yet another ham band.
I mean, if all commercial operations are gone, there's really nothing else that the 520-1710 kHz band is good for, so why not open it up?
c
Unfortunately, the steady march toward Internet-based everything and drastically diminishing local ad revenues probably mean that despite all efforts to stop it, within a decade or so, most AM stations will likely go dark and the band will be basically empty aside from ridiculous amounts of RF noise from computers, phones and EVs.
FM is still viable for the foreseeable future, but it'll likely suffer the same fate as AM eventually. Unlike AM, however, there's enough useful bandwidth that it will likely be repurposed as yet another cellular band or something else that's digital in nature, so it'll probably not become a dead band as AM is in danger of becoming.
That said, when the time comes, perhaps the AM band can be opened up and licenses can be given out using an LPFM-like model, or maybe it could be made open to unlicensed hobby operations by relaxing the Part 15 rules in part by eliminating the antenna length restrictions and maybe upping the maximum allowed power to 10 or 100 watts. Or maybe it'll become yet another ham band.
I mean, if all commercial operations are gone, there's really nothing else that the 520-1710 kHz band is good for, so why not open it up?
c
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Legally, the NFL cannot be held liable for the outcome of games, because they are classified as an entertainment company....
But sports betting is huge.
Not sure why you think the AM band is dead. iHeart with BIN, and an example of KGO going sports talk are all considered commercial operators. We've given some examples of how certain formats are helping to revitalize it's use.
Just because the examples aren't like the old days, doesn't mean there isn't some value.
Well, OK, I guess I should clarify: I didn't mean to imply that the AM band is dead now, but rather, in about 10-15 years, it probably will be.
c
If we could predict the future, we wouldn't be here posting about the oldest form of traditional media. Will AM stations going full MA3-digital create a new audience for unique formats? Will sports betting and sports talk continue to grow in popularity in national ad revenue allowing for the strongest stations to survive and even thrive? We'll know when it happens.
Heck, I was originally skeptical that essentially a network using a handful of derelict AM stations would attract national advertisers. My skepticism was unfounded. Based on that, I suspect that's what we will see in the future: 60% fewer stations on the band, but the ones that are there are successful.
There are a lot of external factors that are really hard to generalize.
So much of the story of AM radio in the 2020s is really about the end of life of so many transmitter sites that are 70 or 80 years old, and the math is unique for each one.
For the relatively small number of old AMs that still have decent ratings and revenues, it usually makes sense to spend what it takes to pump in some new life. But the location of the site matters, too, and so do the options for relocation. If someone wants the land under your AM, do you pocket the money and go silent or do you spend it on a move? It's an easy call to keep a successful big AM like a KILT or WIOD alive at a new site, even if the cost to relocate is well into seven figures. It's an easy call to go silent if it's a high-dial AM with no audience to speak of.
It's everyone in the middle that we just can't predict as easily. I imagine that over the next decade or so, a lot will literally depend on chance. An aging tower falls or a transmitter takes a bad lightning hit at the wrong time? How's your bank account this month? Can you find an engineer who still knows the dark arts of AM? Is Walter still available on the other end of the support call to GatesAir?
For so many of those AMs "in the middle," the end may be just that unceremonious and just that unpredictable.
So much of the story of AM radio in the 2020s is really about the end of life of so many transmitter sites that are 70 or 80 years old, and the math is unique for each one.
For the relatively small number of old AMs that still have decent ratings and revenues, it usually makes sense to spend what it takes to pump in some new life. But the location of the site matters, too, and so do the options for relocation. If someone wants the land under your AM, do you pocket the money and go silent or do you spend it on a move? It's an easy call to keep a successful big AM like a KILT or WIOD alive at a new site, even if the cost to relocate is well into seven figures. It's an easy call to go silent if it's a high-dial AM with no audience to speak of.
It's everyone in the middle that we just can't predict as easily. I imagine that over the next decade or so, a lot will literally depend on chance. An aging tower falls or a transmitter takes a bad lightning hit at the wrong time? How's your bank account this month? Can you find an engineer who still knows the dark arts of AM? Is Walter still available on the other end of the support call to GatesAir?
For so many of those AMs "in the middle," the end may be just that unceremonious and just that unpredictable.
AM, obviously, has at least limited value for the time being. The question is how long. I can’t predict the future, but I can’t imagine that will last forever. We didn't think paid religion would leave AM either, but, unless it's a big network of stations, that stream of revenue has largely dried up. Even Salem's large network isn't the cash cow it once was. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can’t see sports betting and BIN advertisers paying indefinitely if people don’t start listening.
The largest signal licensed to Indiana went dark roughly two years ago, and, aside from us hobbyists, no one noticed because AM listening is no more than 2% of all listening in Indianapolis. Again, I don’t know how long the medium will remain viable, but those numbers can't be sustainable long-term. Maybe another sucker, I mean business, will think it can bring listeners back to AM if/when the current crop bails, but I can’t see that happening indefinitely either.
You know as well as I that doesn't always matter. If the network is able to show the programming is intended to reach a certain demographic, agencies will place buys on it. Whether those buys remain or grow? Only time will tell, but so far sports stations have made a good living off that same formula, doesn't matter what the ratings are.
He has saved my bacon several times, including on a Z10 whose Digit exciter thought it would be fun to die on Christmas Eve a couple of years ago. And we won't talk about a very, very troubled DAX5...
Or we might, just to mess with people. Remember the caprices of the Greek deities....
This is where I start wondering about Crawford's strategy, which is particularly notable in Denver, with all four of its AMs there in hybrid HD mode and with translators. Those AM stations could flip to MA3 under experimental authorizations any time, I believe. Three of those four stations are talk stations but the fourth has a music format (which is branded with its FM translator's frequency) which could conceivably benefit. The audiences for those stations are relatively small already, so what's to lose?
The longtime AM station in my mom's Missouri hometown has told me that they're keeping that station on the air "because it was the first station" in that community. The local news and sports programming that made the station's reputation has long since moved to one of its FM stations; the AM has been running an automated music format for almost 30 years. I doubt that they've ever sold a commercial for that service. They installed an FM translator a couple of years ago but did so mostly with existing resources. The AM and FM stations are on the same tower - it was built that way in 1978 - so overhead is low. Yet, they've also hinted to me that, if anything unfixable went wrong with the AM station, that would be the end of it.
Audacy has responded to the petition to deny filed by Brent Bozell and the MRC:
www.insideradio.com
Audacy points out long-standing FCC policy, and disputes that this is some kind of ''Soros shortcut,'' as suggested by Bozell.
Audacy: Bozell’s MRC ‘Ill-Informed,” Asks FCC To Advance Reorg.
Audacy is asking the FCC to summarily reject a conservative group’s petition that seeks to block a change of ownership related to its Chapter 11 financial reorganization that would let
Audacy points out long-standing FCC policy, and disputes that this is some kind of ''Soros shortcut,'' as suggested by Bozell.
Anecdotally speaking, some don't want to risk shedding whatever remaining analog audience there is and the revenue accordingly.
Last I'd heard, Audacy was trying to keep the extra KC AM. It had previously had a waiver because it was tied to an expanded band AM and was providing programming for a minority broadcaster. The FCC had been granting the waiver requests automatically and seemed to indicate it was willing to do so unless the ownership changed. It has technically already changed once with the CBS Radio merger. Audacy is hoping it will continue to be granted.
Some good news from Audacy's 1Q numbers:
radioink.com
Audacy Nears Chapter 11 Exit With Stronger Q1 Performance - Radio Ink
Audacy was the fourth major radio player to share its 2024 Q1 earnings on Thursday; net revenue rose while net loss shrank from Q1 2023.
radioink.com