Re: let's be civil...

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Steve wrote--

>My guess is that whatever we want, we won't be looking for it on AM,
>especially one with a, er, less than flamethrower signal.  Music radio on
>AM died for a reason...it's easy to blame corporate attitudes, but the fact
>of the matter is that fewer and fewer people were willing to listen to
>static-y AM reception for music. Remember, we were the generation that made
>the move to FM in the first place...thinking you can get us (or anyone
>else, for that matter) back to AM is like launching a drive to bring back
>B&W tv or dial phones.
>
I'm not trying to create a "back to AM" or back to mono movement, and I have
no nostalgia for the past.  But with FM programming so cluttered and
stagnant, and with so many stations sounding alike, I feel that a
well-programmed AM with something that listeners want will attract them.
Immigrants are willing to listen to AM, and adults with a specific interest
like sports or conservative talk shows or religion turn to AM too.  Can AM
still play music?  In general, the feeling seems to be 'not any more' and in
most markets, that does seem to be true.  Yet there are always exceptions--
I know of an AM in the south that has played Album Rock and done well with
it.  I doubt that AM will recover its position as a music source, but I am
merely suggesting that if you program something compelling, people just
might give it a listen.

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