Spring Arbs Shockers

[Steve West]

I have a theory... that no matter how optimistic people are about it, once 
the audience leaves an AM station, for any reason, they DON'T COME BACK.  
Ever.  The reason:  thanks to all our electronic gadgetry today, the AM band 
is almost unlistenable and unless people have a specific reason to listen to 
an AM station (I.E. WBZ for news or WEEI for the Red Sox), they don't and 
won't change to the AM band.

So... WILD essentially moves to FM, and the uniqueness of 1090 goes away.  
So does the audience, some of whom move to 97.7 and some elsewhere, but none 
of the former music & personality listeners give a rats behind about the 
talk on a noisy mono AM signal... and they return once or twice to see if it 
was just a bad dream and WILD will still be there... only to find noise (to 
their mind) in it's place.  And then they never return to AM for anything 
else.

So my programming theory, for those in a position to do something about it, 
is thus:  if you own or purchase an AM station and it's got decent ratings 
and an audience, DON'T FLIP IT!  AM is on borrowed time and nobody has the 
patience to sit through a station's growing pains, not to mention that once 
their favorate format and personalities are gone, they WILL move to FM.  In 
that vein, even a simulcast of 97.7 and 1090 would have maintained some of 
the audience.

Am I alone in thinking that the day is coming when the mass surrenders of AM 
broadcasters begins, and stations simply go dark because NO format works on 
signals which are much better covered on FM?  Off topic for a second, had AM 
radio started broadcasting and receivers available of HD radio 10 years 
ago... it might have saved the band, but I really think AM's days are 
numbered, with a few notable exceptions in the form of the nation's WBZ's, 
WFAN's and so on.

oh, and the sidebar... WGBH is a favorite of mine out here since I can 
receive it well, and their HD2 feed as well out here in Franklin County.  
Does anyone think that if they returned 8 hours of Classical music to the 
mix that ratings would improve?  Do ratings matter for a non-comm?  Some 
interesting questions for the group.

Steve

_________________________________________________________________
Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! 
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/