This topic starts from remarks in ``Failures with Great Signals'' and forks off into a different direction.
As David Eduardo wrote, both where he spent years in Cleveland and my hometown of Pittsburgh were shortchanged when AM was in its heydey and both markets were top 10 metros.
But as for Cleveland, didn't the population patterns work out fairly well for most of the AMs since they were sited to the south and directional to the north? Even WIXY/1260's narrow beam reached the burbs back in its heydey.
What markets were among the earliest for sprawling growth exceeding the signals? I'd have to nominate Washington, DC. Even before the boom in Virginia and Maryland suburbs, high dial positions and unfavorable directional patterns doomed AM there, probably before it happened in other markets.
On the other hand, when I used to drive up there, I recall Buffalo as being a rather compact market, which may have allowed its AM facilities to hang on a few years longer than elsewhere. What other metros were latecomers in suburban growth, allowing signals to still reach the population?
As David Eduardo wrote, both where he spent years in Cleveland and my hometown of Pittsburgh were shortchanged when AM was in its heydey and both markets were top 10 metros.
But as for Cleveland, didn't the population patterns work out fairly well for most of the AMs since they were sited to the south and directional to the north? Even WIXY/1260's narrow beam reached the burbs back in its heydey.
What markets were among the earliest for sprawling growth exceeding the signals? I'd have to nominate Washington, DC. Even before the boom in Virginia and Maryland suburbs, high dial positions and unfavorable directional patterns doomed AM there, probably before it happened in other markets.
On the other hand, when I used to drive up there, I recall Buffalo as being a rather compact market, which may have allowed its AM facilities to hang on a few years longer than elsewhere. What other metros were latecomers in suburban growth, allowing signals to still reach the population?