Radio looks to cut through AM’s static.

[pstokely]

http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=2572037&spid=32060#.UKMed4fAe6U

"Since a car radio was put in a dashboard in 1930, there’s been an AM radio in every automobile rolling off assembly lines. But in the upcoming model year a car will be arriving on dealer lots with an FM-only receiver. It’s symbolic of the challenges facing AM broadcasters in 2012.
The average number of Americans listening to AM radio in any given quarter hour dropped from 3.6 million to 3.4 million from fall 2011 and spring 2012, according to Arbitron data. At the same time FM use actually increased from 21 million to 21.6 million listeners. Over the course of a week AM radio does somewhat better. Arbitron says it had a weekly cume of 66.3 million, reaching 28.2 % of listeners in fall 2011.
More than anything, the AM band has a demographic problem. The data shows more than three-quarters (76.9%) of its listeners were above 45 years old in the spring 2012 report. Nearly six-in-ten (57.9%) were 55 and older. A survey released in June by Mark Kassof & Co. found 9% of respondents never listen to AM radio, with many saying they haven’t flipped from FM in years."

Bad news for hate radio, a lot of people aren't even tuning to FM radio

[Fawke Em]

1. Maybe if AM radio had more on it than right-wing talk and religious programming

more people would listen to it.

[titaniumsalute]

3. with all due respect...

There's some great AM programming. Take 1010 WINS and WCBS 880 in NYC. All news. KYW in Philly. All news. KDKA Pittsburgh or KQV.

[LiberalAndProud]

6. That's great.

Drive across the America and flip through AM radio. Your choices are sports talk or radical Republican talk sprinkled with an occasional country & western station. Sure there are some alternatives in population centers. That's always been the case. Here in the heartland, not so much.

[BlueMan Votes]

2. in some major markets, a lot of the AM hate radio stations also have FM stations simulcasting.

that's how it works in chicago, anyway.

[pstokely]

5. a lot of people aren't even tuning into the FM band

nt

[BlueMan Votes]

9. are you refering to AM/satellite listeners, or people who play cd's/plug in mp3 players..?

I generally listen to WCPT (Chicago's Progressive Talk) AT 92.5 FM- But they have two other FM outlets(92.7, 99.9) and an AM station(820) ALL playing the exact same programming.

if i don't have the radio on, i'm listening to music on cd or audiobooks on cd. I don't have an mp3 player of any kind- ipod, zune, etc...and i still have my special needs flip-phone(as opposed to a 'smart'phone- which i don't have either).

[pstokely]

13. I'm referring to people who avoid interstitial radio altogether

They might have SiriusXM or a smartphone to stream in the car, year long SiriusXM subscriptions come with a lot of new cars, and many new cars have a pandora app

[JimDandy]

4. I'm one of the 9% - haven't been on the AM side for decades. n/t

[KharmaTrain]

7. Internet & Satellite Radio Are On The Rise...

I'll bet you're closer to a computer and/or smartphone right now than a radio. Internet radio has grown in the past 5 years and is about to invade conventional radio's last domain...the car.

AM is 100 year old technology...the large corporates are trying to counter the loss of audience on AM by moving their formats to FM and the jury's out if this will save an industry that "deregulated" itself into irrelevance...

[pstokely]

14. Internet radio has already invaded the car

Many new cars have a Pandora app, and most new cars have an AUX input you can plug a smartphone into. You can buy a tape adapter for those if your car is old enough to have a tape player.

[kysrsoze]

15. Not working in Chicago. Our Alt Rock station was replaced by FM talk, and it BOMBED.

It was gone in about 7 months. Now our alt-rock station is at 87.7 (WTF?) and impossible to get at home. I'm hoping this exodus of corporate stations will open up the airwaves for many more formats.

Part of the reason for the decline of radio is the ABSOLUTE SHIT they broadcast. It's no wonder people have turned away in droves. The record companies have nearly destroyed music radio, simply by playing what people don't necessarily want to hear, rather what they want to push. They push their crappy, derivative stuff 24x7' and surprise, people started to tune out. Chicago radio is a sea of (not really) R&B, formulaic pop,"lite rock," (whatever that is) and oldies/classic rock. Even our new ALT station is so limited in variety. XRT is the last bastion of new, varying music.

And yes, I am a loyal WCPT listener, a couple years shy of the 75% demographic.

[KharmaTrain]

16. I'm Also In Chicago...

The News 101 fiasco will go down as one of the worst corporate radio messes of recent years. Sadly I have several friends who worked there and all of a sudden found themselves on the streets with 30 days severance. Emmis, who owned Q101 made the deal cause they had their own financial messes...now Merlin is hoping to find a buyer for its 3 stations (The Loop, 87.7 and 101)...so be prepared for even more format shifting and games in the year ahead.

You are spot on about the record companies destroying themselves...they still haven't adjusted to the download world and spent more money and resources in shutting down music (lawsuits and royalty wars) than in A&R development. Fortunately we're seeing an alternative way of music being recorded and distributed...around the corporate filters and being spearheaded by online radio...over-the-air gets the crumbs now. The ultimate show as to how radio no longer mattered to the record companies was when the magazine "Radio & Records" went out of business several years ago.

I also listen to WCPT...but have always been critical that they do very little local programming. At least they're still showing some ratings. In the latest PPM book, its right wing competitor, WIND, didn't show at all...yep, had 0.0 listeners.

Cheers...

[Archae]

8. Whatever happened to AM stereo?

[jberryhill]

10. FDA banned it

Listening to Limbaugh in both ears causes brain hemorrhage

[Archae]

11. Hee!

[pokerfan]

12. No Static At All