"PocketRadio" wrote in message
...

WTOP just became Federal News Radio 1500 AM. I called KSL and WWL and
they have no plans to shut off their AMs.

Yeah, right. Bruce is not going to take your call.

And they will not shut them off... just use them for more niche programming.

"blitz" wrote in message ...
David Eduardo writes...

The AMs are dying of old age

I keep seeing you write this, and then I notice there are three new
AMs being built in my mid-50s market city, one of them 50kw days/10kw
nights.

Like the 50 kw in Boise that came on a few years ago, and is now dark.

Building a station is no guarantee it will have listeners, and the age of AM
listeners is such that there is no guarantee they will have advertisers.

Radio is dying a financial death... fewer listeners, and mostly only old.

"RHF" wrote in message
...
On Jan 5, 7:03 pm, "Bob Campbell" wrote:
"PocketRadio" wrote in message

...

WTOP just became Federal News Radio 1500 AM.

- - I called KSL and WWL and they have no plans
- - to shut off their AMs.

- Yet. Call them again in 5 years.

Yeah at sometime in the future when they get to the
80% FM Radio Listeners to 20% AM Radio Listeners
and both AM & FM Stations are costing them the
same operating expense the AM will be turned OFF.


KSL's sales demos are almost all from its FM already... so much so they lead
with the FM frequency in all station mentions, not the AM 1160.

The AM is over 55, the FM is under 55. The sales come from the FM.

"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message


50 KW KIRO in Seattle moved to FM entirely. 50 kw WIBC in Indianapolis
moved to FM entirely. KTAR, the best signal in Phoenix, moved entirely to
FM. WTOP, 50 kw in DC moved to FM entirely. New startup FM talk stations
in places like Pittsburgh (beating KDKA in salable age groups already)
are killing the AM talkers. KCBS, 50 kw in San francisco, is
transitioning to FM, as is 50 kw KSL in Salt Lake City and 50 kw WWL in
New Orleans.


How do they manage to do that?

They buy an FM or they use an FM in their cluster and put the AM programming
on it.

In most even mid-sized markets, the band is
full. There is not a single channel available based on the standard 800KHz
station separation even in the Portland, OR market.

All sports just moved to FM in Portland... again, a station in a cluster
that was not doing as well as the potential that is there for FM sports
talk.

and
tell me where KEX, or KXL, let alone any of the other city-wide AM signals
could relocate to.

They are not relocating as in exchanging the AM channel for FM. They are
taking the intellectual property that is now distributed on AM and
distributing it on an FM channel... either by buying an FM or using one they
already have.

Please note... every one of those signals is very easily
heard most anywhere in the city (there are shadow areas for some of the
FM's behind hills).

50% to 60% of AM listening is by persons over 55... in a market like
Portland where there is a lot of agency business... as much as 50% is local
and regional and national agency business... owners know that there are
essentially no agency buys for 55 plus.

"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...
Yes it is. While stations are still on the air, and AM in smaller markets
is somewhat viable as is very low cost, low income niche programming
(like farsi in LA), the listening to AM is decreasing every year. For
example, in Houston, it's onloy 12% of all listening, and under age 55,
it's in single digits. Since advertisers essentially never look for
over-55 audiences, and most AM audiences are over 55, the revenue has
been collapsing for a number of years.

Then what needs to happen is that advertisers and station admen need to
take their collective heads out of their collective asses and start paying
attention to the largest segment of the population with the largest amount
of disposable income: The boomers (those over 50! imagine that!).

This has been researched by every company that sells anything of any
importance in the US. The older the consumer, the harder it is to chage
brand and purchasing preferences... to the extent that the cost of the sale
may exceed the profit when talking about 55+. If they can not make money,
they won't go after a segment of the population.

In fact, 18-49 is replacing 25-54 as the prime sales demo... because that is
where the best consumers are.

Radio stations have no influence over the ages agency media departments buy.
Trying to change the target is nearly impossibley. And the agencies have no
say over what they are told to buy by the client, who has likey spent
millions.... hundreds of millions in the case of ones like p&G... to know
who their best potential consumers are.

Go to a liquor store and you will see why beer companies advertise almost
exclusively the 21-39 year old men... they consume 80% of the beer in
America.

Bob Campbell wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
m...

That's even more convoluted. If i want to listen to KGO, anywhere
west of Phoenix, I wait 'til the sun goes down and tune any radio to
810 KHz.

But what if you don't want to "wait 'til the sun goes down"? Besides,
the only way to get KGO on the east coast (where I am) is to stream it.

Convenience and portability. It's a hassle to web stream. Try it while
backpacking.

Bob Campbell wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
news
There is way too much emphasis on revenue. Not enough emphasis on
service. Radio should educate and inform, and have fun doing it.

But in order to do *any* of that, you need revenue first. These are
businesses, not non-profit charities.

There's a happy medium between corporate bottom line thinking and on-air
fundraising. Shareholders cost money. Atrium offices cost money. This
all takes away from the core function of a radio station, i.e. doing
good radio.

David Eduardo wrote:



What we will end up with is a bunch of stations appealing to smaller
ethnic groups, lots more religious staitons, and a few where any Joe
with an ego can buy time to do their own show.

Sounds good to me; beats Rush Limbaugh anyway.

"Dave" wrote in message
m...

Convenience and portability. It's a hassle to web stream. Try it while
backpacking.


MP3 player solves that.

RHF wrote:


the business of radio is a business ~ RHF
.

A business that worked better (for the listeners especially) when
companies could not own more than 12 radio stations. Diversity is good
for society.