Re: ghosts of am's past

[Dib9@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/29/00 2:51:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
sven@gordsven.com writes:

<< If the situation is so bad...and little (if any) money is to be made up
 there, why were these stations allowed to go on the air in the first
 place?  Why would anyone want to put a radio station in an area where
 there are no listeners, etc. (AM or FM, for that matter)? >>

During the 1980's, there was a proliferation of new FM allocations to areas 
that were allegedly underserved.  In reality, while the COL may not have had 
a radio station, those areas where served by larger regional signals from 
nearby areas.  Little consideration was given to the long-term economic 
viability of these stations.  

Why did people want them?  Lots of people had a dream of owning their own 
radio station and it is not uncommon for people to think they could succeed 
where others have failed.

In my opinion, many of these new FM stations in rural Maine would have gone 
dark by now if the ownership limits had not been changed.  As stand alone 
operstions, they where doomed from the start.  As part of larger groups, they 
can survive and in some cases, contribute to the companies profits.

As for the dark AMs in rural Maine: in most cases those stations where the 
first and only allocations to those areas.  When FM allocations where later 
added, the AMs become less important and faded away.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine