AM is it really dead?

[a727469]

I sure agree about the mature audience. Unfortunately that won’t pay the bills for many AM stations. Much of the current conversation formats are also available on FM or online. Much of morning drive time programming is the “zoo” type and generally unentertaining.

 

[T680]

I love the AM band and to be frank I am glad to see this IBOC stuff gone from almost every station now!

It's alive and well around Chicago. There's a group that bought up 3 stations with adjacent frequencies here that simulcast programming to get the same message to a wider area. There are a three FM stations too, more when you get out in the country.

 

[YalekW]

AM cant die because of how far it travels. Its one of the best modulations ever made, probably better than FM. Even the sideband signals are AM modulated...but with the lower or upper parts chopped off.
And as most HAMs use these modes daily, I dont see it going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[KK4JUG]

First, you're trying to inject logic in this. You should know that logic isn't held in high esteem by the government.

Second, I think the OP was talking about commercial AM radios in cars.

 

[a727469]

AM cant die because of how far it travels. Its one of the best modulations ever made, probably better than FM. Even the sideband signals are AM modulated...but with the lower or upper parts chopped off.
And as most HAMs use these modes daily, I dont see it going anywhere anytime soon.

While I have loved AM from when I was about 10 years old and did much DXing when AM was king, now as I have stated, for commercial use it is generally a non profitable medium with a few exceptions. Digital on AM and other things have been tried and failed to bring it back. Unfortunately how far it travels no longer counts much commercially. For ham usage, OK, but even there it is no longer as active as years ago. Sorry to say this but the world in general has moved on from it.

 

[T680]

While I have loved AM from when I was about 10 years old and did much DXing when AM was king, now as I have stated, for commercial use it is generally a non profitable medium with a few exceptions. Digital on AM and other things have been tried and failed to bring it back. Unfortunately how far it travels no longer counts much commercially. For ham usage, OK, but even there it is no longer as active as years ago. Sorry to say this but the world in general has moved on from it.

I bought a car in 90 that came with a factory radio that included AM stereo. It sounded better, but there still wasn't much to listen to on AM and I haven't heard anyone mention AM stereo in many years.

 

[KK4JUG]

Back in the 80s, I was a disc jockey at an AM stereo station. (Homicide investigation by day and country music at night.) I didn't know, and still don't know, anyone who has ever owned an AM stereo radio. I don't recall ever seeing one around the station. I have to assume that someone who maintained the transmitter had one. Never saw him/her/them either.

 

[a727469]

Back in the 80s, I was a disc jockey at an AM stereo station. (Homicide investigation by day and country music at night.) I didn't know, and still don't know, anyone who has ever owned an AM stereo radio. I don't recall ever seeing one around the station. I have to assume that someone who maintained the transmitter had one. Never saw him/her/them either.

Funny you mention that. Believe it or not I remember trying to listen to an experimental broadcast from WQXR AM on 2 separated radios, one tuned towards one side and the other to the other side of the frequency. It kind of worked 😵‍💫

 

[MikeinDestin]

I had a '98 Mustang that had AM Stereo. I discovered it one day by accident. Saw the stereo pilot light on. At first I thought it wasn't working properly, since sometimes the display would show the wrong information. But the radio still worked well. You could indeed hear the stereo separation. I thought it sounded good. I never saw Ford advertise that feature about the car. I'd use it if my radio had it. Don't know if any stations still use it. I believe even some all news stations used it too. Don't exactly know why you need stereo for the news, but whatever. I guess your commercials sound better with music?

 

[mmckenna]

Back in the 80s, I was a disc jockey at an AM stereo station. (Homicide investigation by day and country music at night.) I didn't know, and still don't know, anyone who has ever owned an AM stereo radio. I don't recall ever seeing one around the station. I have to assume that someone who maintained the transmitter had one. Never saw him/her/them either.

My dad had a Pontiac that had AM stereo. I later bought that car off him.

C-QUAM was the system that was adopted.
I remember listening to it a few times, and it did have that stereo effect, which made it sound a bit better. I don't think it ever really caught on and everyone gave up on it after a few years.
Kind of like putting lipstick on a pig. Didn't really help a whole lot to compete with FM broadcast.

 

[T680]

Back in the 80s, I was a disc jockey at an AM stereo station. (Homicide investigation by day and country music at night.) I didn't know, and still don't know, anyone who has ever owned an AM stereo radio. I don't recall ever seeing one around the station. I have to assume that someone who maintained the transmitter had one. Never saw him/her/them either.

That's an interesting pair of jobs to be working at the same time. I bet it lead to some surreal combinations of experience.
The car I bought was a 90 Dodge Spirit. I bought it off the lot somewhere and the radio might have been part of a package that was already on the car. It was a pretty nice radio too. A friend sold stereos at a nicer chain then and couldn't guess what the radio had that wasn't on any of his equipment. And the stereo effect didn't do much for the 24 hour news station on the air then.

 

[KK4JUG]

That's an interesting pair of jobs to be working at the same time. I bet it lead to some surreal combinations of experience.

I only used my first and middle name on the air and probably not more than a half a dozen people at the police department knew of it. I was pretty successful at keeping them separate.

 

[kc2asb]

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 agree with others who have stated its nearing the end of its run in the US, but will not disappear for some time. The programming on AM is very poor and duplicative, as stations all seem to carry the same line-ups and there is very little original content. Gone are the distinctive regional sounds one could hear DXing the AM band even just 15-20 years ago or so. Many AM stations are just getting by with syndicated programming and advertising. Hiring DJ's and producing original programming just isn't a viable model any longer, on AM or FM for that matter.

It would be tragic if AM radio were to disappear, as I still think it's the best last resort for getting information out over a wide area in a crisis should cell phones and the internet are down. Of course, how many people have a battery-operated portable these days? People under a certain age do not listen to radio period

 

[Boombox]

It would be tragic if AM radio were to disappear, as I still think it's the best last resort for getting information out over a wide area in a crisis should cell phones and the internet are down. Of course, how many people have a battery-operated portable these days? People under a certain age do not listen to radio period

According to at least one survey at least 55% of American households have a portable radio.

 

[YalekW]

While I have loved AM from when I was about 10 years old and did much DXing when AM was king, now as I have stated, for commercial use it is generally a non profitable medium with a few exceptions. Digital on AM and other things have been tried and failed to bring it back. Unfortunately how far it travels no longer counts much commercially. For ham usage, OK, but even there it is no longer as active as years ago. Sorry to say this but the world in general has moved on from it.

All the talk about "commercial use".

 

[KK4JUG]

Gone are the distinctive regional sounds one could hear DXing the AM band even just 15-20 years ago or so.

I remember those days. Over the years, I remember a bluegrass-only station in Kentucky (Hopkinsville, I think). These stations carried farm reports, local obituaries, remote broadcasts at new business openings and they played actual vinyl records. You could tell they were records because the first 3 or 4 seconds of a cut of music was scratchy from being cued up by the DJs. Local news had stories about local fender-bender accidents, people under the weather, local folks leaving town to visit relatives, etc. National news was on the hour and usually came from the Mutual Broadcasting System.

My last DJ job in the early 80s used a mixture of media. We had 45s and LPs that the record companies sent out. We put some of our stuff on tape cartridge. We used NAB Type II cartridges for that. Those are the same as the old 4-track cartridges that disappeared from the streets when 8-tracks came out. We also had some music available on 10" tapes. That was backup. If a cartridge got messed up we could start the big tape. It was always cued and the pot on the board was always active. All we had to do was hit a button so dead air was minimal. And we were live with a few commercials, some sports scores, the weather, etc.

AND, it was AM stereo (Ta Dum!) The city was about 200K and I'll bet the three people who may have had an AM stereo radio were listening to rock music on our sister FM stereo station.

 

[saioke]

I can still pick up a couple of AM stations here in Ohio (poorly I don't have a SW antenna). They seem to be Christian broadcasts with the occasional song or two. Actually, that's all I remember ever being in my area since I was a child. Such a shame that it's getting harder for non-hobbyists to check them out regardless.

 

[kc2asb]

I remember those days. Over the years, I remember a bluegrass-only station in Kentucky (Hopkinsville, I think). These stations carried farm reports, local obituaries, remote broadcasts at new business openings and they played actual vinyl records. You could tell they were records because the first 3 or 4 seconds of a cut of music was scratchy from being cued up by the DJs. Local news had stories about local fender-bender accidents, people under the weather, local folks leaving town to visit relatives, etc. National news was on the hour and usually came from the Mutual Broadcasting System.

My last DJ job in the early 80s used a mixture of media. We had 45s and LPs that the record companies sent out. We put some of our stuff on tape cartridge. We used NAB Type II cartridges for that. Those are the same as the old 4-track cartridges that disappeared from the streets when 8-tracks came out. We also had some music available on 10" tapes. That was backup. If a cartridge got messed up we could start the big tape. It was always cued and the pot on the board was always active. All we had to do was hit a button so dead air was minimal. And we were live with a few commercials, some sports scores, the weather, etc.

AND, it was AM stereo (Ta Dum!) The city was about 200K and I'll bet the three people who may have had an AM stereo radio were listening to rock music on our sister FM stereo station.

It's a shame that local flavor has been lost, and will likely never return. I suppose low-power community radio stations on FM might be the last bastion of truly local radio.

Really enjoyed the inside look at station operation from your time as DJ!

 

[kc2asb]

I can still pick up a couple of AM stations here in Ohio (poorly I don't have a SW antenna). They seem to be Christian broadcasts with the occasional song or two. Actually, that's all I remember ever being in my area since I was a child. Such a shame that it's getting harder for non-hobbyists to check them out regardless.

At night, you should be able to pick up more stations with a simple portable radio. You might hear some of the 50kw clear channel stations, like WABC out of NYC, etc.

It does seem like AM radio is little more than political talk, sports, and religious stations these days.

 

[saioke]

At night, you should be able to pick up more stations with a simple portable radio. You might hear some of the 50kw clear channel stations, like WABC out of NYC, etc.

It does seem like AM radio is little more than political talk, sports, and religious stations these days.

Good idea, I need to look for one. The only stereo I have that even supports AM these days is an old power-station of a receiver. I don't have the room to hook that bad boy up, and it would probably produce some noise complaints lol.