AM is it really dead?

[a727469]

AM Radio The Bell Tolls For Thee | Barrett Media

The AM band appears to be in a fight for its life. Automakers like Ford and Tesla have announced plans to drop AM radios in their electric vehicles

barrettmedia.com

Thoughts..?

 

[pb_lonny]

It seems like in some areas it is. If cars stop including it, stations lose listeners, they lose advertising and then the stations close.

 

[ditto1958]

Depends on where you live. Here in Northeast Wisconsin there are many, many AM stations from Chicago and Milwaukee up to Green Bay and north. Otoh, when I lived in Louisiana there were very few AM stations.

 

[jcherepy]

I drive from the Atlanta (GA) area to Northeast Tennessee to visit my daughter and I listen to several local AM stations along the route. I say "local" because they feature local programming (mostly music) and except for news broadcasts, nothing is syndicated. It's kinda spooky though listening to obituaries.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Meanwhile, Ford has recently announced that it will be halting production of its Lightning EV pickup for now.
Maybe AM radio will outlast the EV thing.

 

[MiCon]

I don't know what became of it, but there was recent talk of a Congressional bill that would require auto makers to keep AM radio as a standard feature. The reasoning was for use as a source of information during disasters.

 

[jwt873]

I rarely listen to AM or FM these days. There are many more offerings that better suit my needs. TuneIn Radio, SiriusXM, Spotify etc.

We have a local community news and affairs AM station that I listen to occasionally But I do it using their live internet stream rather than tuning in their over the air signal.

 

[a727469]

I don't know what became of it, but there was recent talk of a Congressional bill that would require auto makers to keep AM radio as a standard feature. The reasoning was for use as a source of information during disasters.

Yes, the article very briefly mentioned the emergency use, but the writer claimed that FM could do the same. I have mixed feelings on all of this since I grew up with active, quality, local AM (which I briefly worked in). but much has changed with technology and habits. As mentioned above, there are just too many options that provide equal or better programming with less interference etc. We love listening to far off stations as a hobby but that does not pay the bills.
The bottom line is the bottom line..when all the profit leaves running an AM station, then it stops.

 

[MiCon]

Yes, the article very briefly mentioned the emergency use, but the writer claimed that FM could do the same. I have mixed feelings on all of this since I grew up with active, quality, local AM (which I briefly worked in). but much has changed with technology and habits. As mentioned above, there are just too many options that provide equal or better programming with less interference etc. We love listening to far off stations as a hobby but that does not pay the bills.
The bottom line is the bottom line..when all the profit leaves running an AM station, then it stops.

Understood, and I'm not trying to argue the point. However, another technical issue is that, depending on the station output power, AM broadcast covers a greater distance than FM broadcast. This would make the difference, in rural and remote areas of the country. Also, much of the technology referred to would be cell phones and cell phone based apps, which are among the first things to fail in a disaster.

I'm no expert, but like everyone else, I have my opinions.

 

[W8KIC]

One of the issues concerning the ongoing existence of commercial AM broadcasts actually has a political angle to it: it was the original home of (and remains to this very day) where conservative talk radio got its start. There are plenty of left leaning politicians who'd like nothing better than to see this venue disappear entirely. However, those same what I refer to as BROADCAST ABOLITIONISTS hit a brick wall when they discover that minority owned AM stations exist within that very same venue. Lol! It's an ideological balancing act that sends them back to the stone age each and every time they consider adopting this scorched earth tactic as it relates to the very existence of commercial AM radio. They simply cannot pick and choose who they want to see walk the plank on this issue as it'll be all or nothing!

 

[mmckenna]

AM broadcasts actually has a political angle to it:

There are a couple of reasons that AM is in decline, and it's not necessarily political:

Vehicle manufacturers don't want to support AM broadcast radio because it requires making vehicles that don't spew RFI on the AM broadcast bands. That's costly, and they are more interested in saving money. If we want to look at specific manufacturers that have cut AM radio from their vehicles, you can look straight at Tesla. And while we're looking at Tesla, glance over at Elon Musk, and where his political lean is.

Running an AM broadcast station is expensive. A lot of costs involved in keeping a big transmitter hooked up to inefficient antennas and trying to cover a big enough area to bring in money from ad sales. Younger people don't want to listen to poor audio/static, or inane talk shows, so again, no profit from ad sales. There's only so many "Shady Hills rest home" or "Rolling Thunder brand laxatives" ads that can fund a poorly performing AM station. Companies like Clear Channel and I♥Media don't want to support stations that are not pulling in profit. No profit means no share holder dividends. After all, it's all about profit.

People that walk around with phones that play CD quality audio are not really interested in listening to music on AM. Those of us that do are by far in the minority. Many of the AM stations that run politics based talk shows are all airing networked programming, so pretty damn easy to just tune over a hundred kilohertz and hear the same programming coming from another town. Too much saturation with the exact same programming. At least when Art Bell did it, it was entertaining.

As much as I love AM radio and AM DX, technology has moved on. AM broadcast radio is 100 years old and very little has changed since then. FM sounds better, its cheaper and much more popular. Satellite radio is pretty much available in any new car built in the last 10 years, sounds way better and a much bigger selection.

I'd hate to see AM radio go away, but there's some realities here that are not in its favor.

Typed as I sit here listening to an AM broadcast station from nearly a 1000 miles away….

 

[Echo4Thirty]

There are a couple of reasons that AM is in decline, and it's not necessarily political:

Vehicle manufacturers don't want to support AM broadcast radio because it requires making vehicles that don't spew RFI on the AM broadcast bands. That's costly, and they are more interested in saving money. If we want to look at specific manufacturers that have cut AM radio from their vehicles, you can look straight at Tesla. And while we're looking at Tesla, glance over at Elon Musk, and where his political lean is.

Running an AM broadcast station is expensive. A lot of costs involved in keeping a big transmitter hooked up to inefficient antennas and trying to cover a big enough area to bring in money from ad sales. Younger people don't want to listen to poor audio/static, or inane talk shows, so again, no profit from ad sales. There's only so many "Shady Hills rest home" or "Rolling Thunder brand laxatives" ads that can fund a poorly performing AM station. Companies like Clear Channel and I♥Media don't want to support stations that are not pulling in profit. No profit means no share holder dividends. After all, it's all about profit.

People that walk around with phones that play CD quality audio are not really interested in listening to music on AM. Those of us that do are by far in the minority. Many of the AM stations that run politics based talk shows are all airing networked programming, so pretty damn easy to just tune over a hundred kilohertz and hear the same programming coming from another town. Too much saturation with the exact same programming. At least when Art Bell did it, it was entertaining.

As much as I love AM radio and AM DX, technology has moved on. AM broadcast radio is 100 years old and very little has changed since then. FM sounds better, its cheaper and much more popular. Satellite radio is pretty much available in any new car built in the last 10 years, sounds way better and a much bigger selection.

I'd hate to see AM radio go away, but there's some realities here that are not in its favor.

Typed as I sit here listening to an AM broadcast station from nearly a 1000 miles away….

couple that with the fact that selling the land may bring in more money that the station makes... Several AMs in Houston have diplexed their signals and sold off their land. Others are going dark.

 

[mmckenna]

couple that with the fact that selling the land may bring in more money that the station makes... Several AMs in Houston have diplexed their signals and sold off their land. Others are going dark.

Right, around here a few of the OG AM stations are sitting on acres of land for their antennas, guy wire systems and ground wire radials. They are fully fenced with some run some livestock.
A number are in coastal wetlands (ground plane!) and are having issues.
Some are in empty fields.

And then you have the locations in suburban areas where the land will sell for more than the station would hope to make in 20 years of stagnant ad sales.

On the other hand, toss up a few hundred watts of glorious FM stereo on a small tower on a hill top. Better audio, no droning talk show political BS, and much better ad sales.

I love AM broadcast and hope it doesn't disappear in my life span.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

Some of those former AM singnals are also showing up on HD-2 subchannels as well.

 

[jonsmth]

Although, not completely dead, AM Radio is certainly on "life-support". To help AM Radio, the FCC, a few years ago, authorized AM Stations to apply for and receive a license to broadcast their AM signal on a low-powered FM Translator. Many Broadcasters have taken advantage and established the FM Translators for their AM Stations, which has certainly helped.

Since the push for "Electric" cars has come on the scene, this platform of car seems to wreak havoc on AM Reception, which is why a number of auto manufacturers want to abandon making devices that can pick up AM radio because it is just to difficult or too expensive (perhaps both) to eliminate the interference in today's cars, especially electric cars, to an acceptable level for successful AM reception. Right now the Govt. (Congress) is pushing a law that will make it mandatory for manufacturers of Automobiles sold in the U.S. to incorporate AM radio or face stiff penalties if they do not comply. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the next few years.

As has also been mentioned, the land that the AM tower(s) are sitting on has become very valuable and worth much more money to an owner than the AM Station could ever make selling advertising. Each month, more and more AM Stations are just turning in their licenses to the FCC. Forfeiting the licenses is due to a variety of reasons, but a large percentage of the reason seems to be loss of leases for property the towers are sitting on and the inability to make a profit.

Certainly no one can accurately predict if and when AM Radio will go away, but it does certainly seem to be coming to a sad ending.

 

[a727469]

When the fcc approved the translators, I always questioned the logic as to how this helped AM since these are very low power(250 watts max) and in many cases would have difficulty covering all of the area of the AM, and are at the mercy of regular FMs as far as interference and power. I realize that the rules allow the AM to operate 24 hours even if the AM is daytime only but this is like throwing a life preserver to an elephant.
Here is a good duscussion

https://radiodiscussions.com/threads/question-about-fm-translators.771896/

 

[radionx]

Let the good times roll
KHJ Los Angeles 4th of July 1968 People today buy garmonbozia while listening to Taylor Swift in the grocery store. What a difference to 1968.

 

[a727469]

Sorry I am off topic but….I had to look up garmonbozia! Is this what it is??

"Pain and Sorrow" in the David Lynch film "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me". People's garmonbozia is collected and eaten by the demonic beings who inhabit the Black Lodge, and when they eat it, it visually resembles creamed corn.🌽

Back on topic, amazing that someone recorded 2 hours of KHJ back then📼! I listened to a little bit. Quite different from today. It appears to be a religious station which goes along with the idea that AM is going in many directions some of which do not depend on profit.

 

[N6JPA]

AM Radio The Bell Tolls For Thee | Barrett Media

The AM band appears to be in a fight for its life. Automakers like Ford and Tesla have announced plans to drop AM radios in their electric vehicles

barrettmedia.com

Thoughts..?

I haven't listened to AM broadcast radio in 30 years. I have listened to AM Ham Radio, but that is my hobby. IME.

 

[T680]

Much as I love good quality radio, a lot of it is dieing. A couple of the radios I've bought came with LW tuning, and my Internet searches reveal it wasn't used much and has pretty much faded away to nothing for most of the world. SW isn't as bad, but what's left there isn't that different from what I can get in AM, with AM having a better signal but more ads. Repealing the Fairness Doctrine has turned AM into an echo chamber for fringe personalities that can't make it in FM as well as foreign language shows, religious broadcasts and sports. I'm fortunate to be able to tune into a variety of FM stations from Chicago and think I'd be streaming something off the Internet if I couldn't.

I usually listened to satellite radio or streamed something when I was a long haul trucker. Between the CB and GPS units in the background and paying attention to both my driving and the people around me I didn't want the distraction of trying to tune in something on terrestrial radio over and over as I drove out of range of the signal.