Re: AM radio is NOT dead!!

[Steve Sawyer <steve5@tiac.net>]

Sean P. Smyth wrote:
> 
> 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.
> 

Amen!!

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V1 #65
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