Re: AM (was Re: LPFM Rules)

[dan.Strassberg@att.net]

WBZ claims to be the top-rated station in this market, 
and, whether or not the claim is true, it is the highest-
billing station. A similar situation exists in many 
other large markets--In New York, WFAN is the highest 
biller and WINS is not far behind. In San Francisco, the 
honors for many years have gone to KGO. In Chicago, to 
WGN. Notice a pattern HERE?

In point of fact, despite high levels of interference on 
weaker signals, I find AM reception on strong stations 
to be much freer of annoying artifacts than FM 
reception. I live on top of a hill in Arlington Heights 
and have quite a few radios in the house plus two more 
in cars. Even strong local FM signals, such as WGBH, 
WBUR, and WTKK, can be problematic in my location! 
Honest! And I'm not describing freak conditions such as 
when tropospheric ducting interferes with normally 
strong, local FM signals. I'm talking about problems 
that arise every day of the year.

Moreover, if the FCC has its way, I'm unlikely to be 
able to receive stations such as WPLM-FM and WBOQ in a 
year or two, thanks to a plethora of interfering 10W 
LPFMs.

The nearly complete disappearance of music from AM and 
the gradual replacement of other formats with foreign 
languages, brokered religion, and infomercials, makes 
AM's program content just about as devoid of interest as 
FM's. The only real difference I note is that, as 
recently as five years ago, AM was relatively 
interesting, whereas FM has been deathly dull for at 
least 20 years.

> Why do so many people on this list have such a hard time accepting this?
> Ask pretty much anyone who's not a radio geek (and a lot who are) when the
> last time they listened to an AM station was, and if you're lucky you'll
> get a blank look.  My parents, also in their 70s & 80s almost never listen
> to AM either.