Is AM dead?

[johntherogger]

Seems to me like AM stations, even powerhouses are moving toward some type of FM simulcast. Does this mean it's the official end of the AM Band?

And if it does, what becomes of the AM band?

Will it just be a home for Christian organizations trying to reach people, burnt out comedy formats, 50's and 60's rock and roll, standards and classic country? Or is it just "done" and will vanish in thin air?

Would love to see what you all think.

I personally see AM sticking around on lower stations for local talk/news (specifically in small communities) and larger powerhouse stations giving music a try again...like smooth jazz, standards and old time country/rock and roll.

I mean...could you imagine? "This is NewsRadio 98.1 KMBC Kansas City vs Classic Country 980 KMBC?" as an example?

[K6JHU]

This is a long running thread that surfaces on a regular basis. let em see if I can summarize

The 50kw blow torches still have a commanding market share in the major cities. While they may have an FM simulcast, their AM signal is not going to go away.  Nor is the AM band about to be regulated out of existence.

Lower power stations will be killed by the increase in noise caused by power lines, computers, light bulbs, etc. And that is not counting the AM IBOC (which is also considered to be dead or dying).

Music is dead on AM except for ethnic, oldies, and MOYL and the occasional format dump.

Any other from previous threads that I have missed?

[KeithE4]

This is a long running thread that surfaces on a regular basis. let em see if I can summarize

The 50kw blow torches still have a commanding market share in the major cities. While they may have an FM simulcast, their AM signal is not going to go away.

If an Ancient Modulation station can cover 100% of its metro clearly, 24 hours a day (read:  5 to 50 kW, depending on the size of the metro and dial position, and a non-directional antenna), it has a better chance of surviving.  Few can do that.  The metro areas got bigger, while station coverage did not.

Nor is the AM band about to be regulated out of existence.

It may fall into relative disuse, but the Medium Wave broadcast band ain't goin' nowhere.  For starters, it would take an act of the ITU to do this.  Plus the fact that frequencies below 88 MHz, let alone 1.7 MHz, have little-to-no commercial value anymore (we're seeing what a disaster DTV is at low-VHF).  The only folks that would want it would be hams - and we'll take anything that's available.

Lower power stations will be killed by the increase in noise caused by power lines, computers, light bulbs, etc. And that is not counting the AM IBOC (which is also considered to be dead or dying).

That's been the case ever since TVs with their horizontal sweep oscillators' harmonics became common in the 1950s.  New devices just make matters even worse.

Music is dead on AM except for ethnic, oldies, and MOYL and the occasional format dump.

Music sounds lousy on AM, other than pre-1975 oldies that were designed to be played on cheap record players and AM radios.  FM took rock away from AM starting in the late '60s.  Jazz, classical, and elevator music (the mainstays of pre-'70s FM) never sounded good on AM.

Any other from previous threads that I have missed?

Yes.  Nobody younger than 50 listens to AM other than for sports.  Nobody listens to AM at night other than for games - and even that's going away since the four major leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) stream all their games with no blackouts.  The NBA and NHL are free, and the others are cheap.  College sports, on the other hand, is still being gouged by CBS too expensive.

[TheBigA]

I've posted before that I feel AM, as a commercial medium, is largely dead or dying. It certainly isn't growing. But the band could see a revival if there was interest in using it for community radio.  The problem is that promoters of community radio would rather be where the traffic is, and cram into an already over-crowded FM band, than have more power an freedom on AM.  The FCC could take some leadership here, and come up with some plan to revive interest in AM.  But that's not what the FCC does any more. 

[secondchoice]

But that's not what the FCC does any more. 

Unless there are "fees" for the commission.  If the FCC could get a bunch of filing fees, then you can bet there would be some action. 

[TheBigA]

Unless there are "fees" for the commission. 

There already are.

[secondchoice]

I am talking about lots of "extra" fees.

[TheBigA]

That's how you kill the golden goose, and the FCC has already done that.  If they want to fix AM, they need to be thinking in the other direction.  The money has already been sucked out of that portion of the spectrum.

The real cash cow in the spectrum business is telecom.  That's the FCC's main profit center, and that's also where you see most of the lobbying and "manipulation."  AM isn't part of that action, which is why it's dying.  And why no one in the FCC is even considering giving portions of channels 6 & 7 to AM broadcasters.

[secondchoice]

And why no one in the FCC is even considering giving portions of channels 6 & 7 to AM broadcasters.

True, but the old "analog" VHF channels 2 - 6 are not super digital friendly frequencies.  The cell / telecom  companies are not "breaking down the doors" to get it.  Some of the old VHF stations that went digital on their old frequencies are jumping up to the UHF frequencies that most of the OTA went to during the digital jump (Channel 5 in Nashville for example).  There are engineering heavies posting on this site that are ten times more qualified to explain, so I will leave it to them to explain.  IMHO except for Channel 6 (87.7) this will be RF waste land soon.   

[semoochie]

It looks like we're down to just a handful of truly successful money-making AMs.  There aren't that many KFIs and WINSes out there.  The plethora of small town AMs that control their markets will probably continue into the distant future.  Even so, I'm beginning to see some fairly small market stations switch their focus to FM.