From: fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us (Scott Fybush)
Subject: AM radio needn't die (was Re: How common are AM stereo receivers)
Originator: wdp@gagme
Organization: GAGME - Public Access UNIX of Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 09:33:50 GMT

john\@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes:
>wa2ise\\@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (robert.f.casey) writes:

>> Anyone in this newsgroup own an AM stereo radio besides me?

>I own two, but then I also engineer an stereo AM station. Surprisingly

But then again, John, you also have, what is it now, 20 home
phone lines ;-)?  I only have one phone line, but I do have two
AM stereo radios, a Radio Shack TM-152 2 AM ster receiver and
a Sony SRF-A100 portable.  I rarely use the Sony, but the RS lives
next to my stereo and is my principal AM tuner there (until I get
the Carver, of course :-)  The RS is also the air receiver used
to feed WBZ's air monitors, so I'm in good company.

>My station was one of the first to install stereo
>transmission facilities and I have been trying to talk the owner into
>giving it up for years. 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Why give it up?  Is it costing anything to keep in place?  Why
risk alienating listeners who might actually have AM stereo receivers
and know how to use them?  There are a few of us out there.  In fact,
if the station is the one I think it is (KSJX?) I've listened to it
in stereo, and rather enjoyed the experience.

>As our moderator is aware, my opinion is that AM is dead and is just
>waiting to be buried. Frankly, I hope someone does it soon so that the
>corpse does not stink up the environment. This particular station is
>being kicked off the land that its towers occupy and is having
>considerable difficulty finding somewhere to go. I think the owner is
>nuts to even consider spending the cool quarter million that it will
>take to relocate it, but then it is his money. It would be the
>first AM in this market to go dark and maybe that is the reason he
>wants to keep it alive for now.

>Pride is certainly expensive!

And worth it, for those with the money.  Right now I'm working
at both a small 5kw AM in a Boston suburb and b and at one of the
city's largest clear-channel news-talk AMs.  The 5kw operation is losing
money.  Its audio sounds pathetic, and the amount of local programming
is minimal.  Thus, people don't want to buy spots, there's less
money coming in for staff and equipment, the station sounds worse,
ratigngs go down, fewer people want to buy spots...and on and on 
until the station goes dark.  I can name at least 4 area AMs that
have gone dark since 1990.

On the other hand, a station which starts out with quality...quality
audio (and that does mean AM stereo), quality equipment, quality
programming, and a quality image, can and will survive  on AM.  Just
ask the Boston station, which h remains in the top-10 perpetually.
Just ask KGO or KCBS or KNBR in your market.

What's killing AM is the owners who think they can attach their
station to Unistar or Satellite Music Network, run the equipment
into the ground, abandon all promotion and any hint of local
content, and then expect to make money off the whole deal.  The
AM owners who take the time to put out and promote a well-done
product can still profit off of it.

Scott Fybush -- fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us
These are not the opinions of Group W or of Northeast Radio, although
I suspect the former, at least, might agree with me.



Newsgroups: rec.radio.broadcasting