How long before this happens?

[Sid Schweiger]

"If the lack of programming doesn't kill AM, will the lack of available equipment finish the job?"

If neither of those finish off AM, the ever increasing sources of noise and interference will.  An AM owner can no longer rely on service contours that were once considered interference-free to actually provide interference-free service to most of their potential listeners.  Unless the format being discussed goes onto a 50kW stick, it already has three strikes against it.

And the FCC obviously has bigger fish to fry than actually enforcing Part 15, which would at least mitigate some of the interference problems.