AM radio is NOT dead!!

[ssmyth@tiac.net (Sean P. Smyth)]

To all of the members of this radio mailing list, I have some news for you:
AM radio is NOT dead.

When I read the several postings which I got in my mailbox, I was horrified
as to how people have given up on AM radio. If AM radio were dead, I don't
think ARS would have spent $5 million to pick up wasteland station WNFT.
Just to lose money?

Let's face it, the top two billing stations in this market last year were
AMs (WEEI, WBZ). True, Boston has been one of the few markets where AMs
still remain competitive in the overall picture. In many markets AMs have
been surpassed by FM stations which are programming their stations
properly.

A main problem of the whole AM-FM thing is what program directors/station
managers/station owners are actually *willing* to put on AM radio. Home
shopping? Four religious stations in one market? All-personal ad radio? Of
course, with stuff like that on the dial, no young person (I am a rare
exception) is going to turn on the AM dial. No person period will turn on
the AM dial.

What AM radio needs to do is draw young listeners in, and do it before the
AM generation dies off. That is why throwing WAAF's programming onto 1150
is a smart idea. It allows ARS to bring some younger people in the Boston
area who cannot pick up WAAF onto the AM dial, and maybe enticing those
listeners to surf the AM dial; those same people listening to WAAF will
likely be interested by the sound of WEEI and WRKO, which are also both
trying to skew younger.

AM also needs to do what many big-time FM stations fail to do: Localize. I
contend (like some others here on the list) that a strong locally
programmed station, with hourly news, with remote broadcasts, with the
proper ways of promoting itself (not necessarily requiring deep pockets;
being out in the community is promotion in itself) will eventually do well.
Obviously, you also have to be programming something which the people in
identify with. (Not putting folk on a Concord radio station, for example.)
Then, although it might take a while to get people tuning into you, you
will have a marketable product.

I think if anyone follows the philiosophy of the three Ps (professionalism,
personality, and promotion) then they can build a successful station. After
all, as they say, the best things come to those who wait.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean Smyth
Smyth Sports Enterprises
10 Linley Terrace
South Boston, Mass. 02127
617/269-4045
Metropolitan Boston's leader in local sports broadcasting
ssmyth@tiac.net
seans@magneto.cybersmith.com

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