I am still very sentimental about the AM radio content that I’ve listened to over the years. Unless you’re stumbling upon the Ross on Radio column for the first time, you already know this.
I stuck with Top 40 and R&B, often on AM, far longer than most peers who had made the move to FM rock by 1974. I stayed with some AM powerhouses — WLS Chicago, CKLW Detroit, WKBW Buffalo — until they gave up music, or at least any semblance of Top 40. Hearing stations beyond the bounds of my market was part of how I learned radio programming.
When I moved to Los Angeles, my nighttime station was KFRC San Francisco, one of the last great AM Top 40 holdouts. My daytime P1 was KDAY Los Angeles as its Hip-Hop format took shape. During the ’80s, the obscure AMs I found replaced early FM as the stations that would try anything first, like early Classic Rocker KRQX Dallas or ’70s pop KIOQ Sacramento, the first place I heard Abba back on the radio.
I lived in the sprawl of Los Angeles without an FM car radio until 1987 and always managed to have five buttons for music. I could still do that in the early 2000s when numerous AMs near me went to some version of a first-generation Oldies format, including WMTR Morristown, N.J. During the winter, I would drive home listening to the now CFZM (AM740) Toronto, which became my first Canadian client.
Recently, I drove from New York to Boston and made a point of seeing if I could find AM music stations that I wasn’t already aware of. AM is still a haven for Oldies stations that play older or broader libraries than a large-market FM, most of them feeding FM translators. I’ve already written about a number of stations from the NYC/Boston drive, including this favorite, but I was happy to discover a few stations, including:
- WLNA Peekskill, N.Y., simulcasting sister WBPM’s wide Classic Hits with Bob Miller that ranged from the Beach Boys to Boston to “Luka” by Suzanne Vega and “I’m Feeling You” by Santana & Michelle Branch.
- WATR Waterbury, Conn., with longtime PD/morning host Tom Chute. Another broad Soft Oldies mix — “(You’re The) Devil in Disguise” by Elvis Presley, “Disco Inferno” by the Trammps, “I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me” by Expose. Chute was promoting the local theater production he was in that weekend. WATR has an FM translator frequency.
- WARE (Classic Hits 97.7) Palmer, Mass., also doing broad Classic Hits (Billy Preston, “Nothing From Nothing”; Stray Cats, “[She’s] Sexy + 17”), heard on its originating AM 1250.
- WWRI (I105.5) West Warwick, R.I., doing a deeper Classic Rock and heard on its originating AM 1450.
I sought out these stations amongst so much talk about AM radio’s future. That was what also prompted me to listen to WMTR this week in the car. Then I started scanning and found brokered WPAT-AM New York playing “No Limit” by G-Eazy, A$AP Rocky, and Cardi B. But it wasn’t a mix show, I was hearing one of a few songs interspersed in this show about financial empowerment, which is also a podcast.
This listening took place in the 2020 vehicle. Usually, my AM listening (and, to be honest, much of my local FM listening) is in the 2004 sedan, acquired in the very nanoseconds before connectivity. Even that car has a Bluetooth now, but AM/FM is easier and a good way to catch up. In the new car, the local stations are competing less with Spotify and podcasts than they would for most people, but still with every radio station in the world, regardless of over-the-air frequency (or lack thereof).
In fact, when almost every radio station in the world became available to me in 1997 via streaming radio, any willingness I might have had to sift through static, or any attendant romance in doing so, largely evaporated. Certainly, those in the car with me were greatly relieved. There was a time when I owned a shortwave radio to listen to a few hours of UK Top 40 radio every week. Of course the desktop was better.
I love that CKWW Windsor, Ontario, carries on CKLW’s musical legacy, or that CKLW itself remains dominant as that market’s AM News/Talk powerhouse. I’m always happy to discover another WATR or WWON Woonsocket, R.I., and stream them all. I’m happy for the recent resurgence of N/T WABC New York, complete with Cousin Brucie doing Saturday night oldies. I hear that on the phone, too.
The AM music stations with the happiest outcome are those that have found some life beyond AM. KDRI (The Drive) Tucson, Ariz., is succeeding locally, and a favorite with Ross on Radio readers on an AM/FM translator combo. 4KQ Brisbane, Australia, and its successor 4BH have managed FM-type numbers largely because of Australia’s digital radio tier, more robust and easily adapted than ours. I love the viable AM brands that endure on FM; having Classic Hits WLS-FM Chicago on 890 AM as well might be kind of cool on those few nights a year I’m driving the 2004 car for any distance, but it’s hardly necessary.
My eagerness to choose from a world of radio has not made me less concerned about the compression of local AM/FM choices for those listeners less willing to do so. As broadcast radio listening levels decline, the loss of some major format options in many markets cannot help but be a factor. So have the increasing number of frequencies, on both AM and FM that aren’t meant to compete for ratings. Broadcasters have been, well, driving these changes even before the first automaker floated the notion of not including an AM radio. Ford’s May 23 decision to leave AM in new models doesn’t change broadcasters’ desire to be where the listening is.
I want AM to remain available in new cars. I don’t want automakers to decide how much or what radio broadcasters will offer listeners. I am concerned that independent and minority broadcasters will be disproportionately affected; on my New England trip, there were two Spanish-language music choices for every English-language AM music station. I care a lot about the WMTRs and WATRs that hang in there and want them to remain viable. I recognize that there are still some successful AM broadcasters who should not be plunged into having to solve a problem that they do not currently have. The AM-to-FM moves we already make have diminished the cume potential for those stations that stay.
But I wonder what broadcasters would do to show their commitment to AM, at a time when its tentpole stations are moving to FM, and heritage licenses are being returned as impractical to operate. Would they guarantee a certain amount of local coverage, even on nights and weekends? Work together to make sure there are magnet stores on the AM dial and not an abandoned mall? Broadcasters weren’t able to work together on behalf of the FM cellphone chip (during which they, ahem, made a case for radio and public safety that didn’t involve AM).
The Ford decision doesn’t absolve broadcasters of the need to bolster AM content or to work together. It slows a potential domino effect among other domestic manufacturers, but leaves those holes in the EV dashboard for now. It’s also a little surprising that while most of us recognized Ford’s AM move as a stalking horse for all broadcast radio in the car that broadcasters and their legislators did not push to protect the AM/FM band, whose combined utility and simplicity is what protects radio overall in the car at this moment.
It is that simplicity we need to protect and replicate. In America, only SiriusXM has thus far come close. The larger and ongoing issue is organizing radio’s infinite choice, so that AM/FM listeners make a transition to broadcast radio’s offerings, regardless of platform. The future I see for WMTR has long been as an international franchise that just happens to be on an AM in Morristown, N.J. Listeners seek out stations like WMTR, but for a moment, the station’s response was to stop streaming because of expense, and many other stations remain geoblocked.
In the 2020 vehicle, HD Radio side channels are well integrated on the dial with their HD-1 counterparts. WMTR isn’t broadcasting on sister WDHA’s HD-2. Due to expenses, some side channels are going away. But I can get similar programming on WCBS-FM-3, which is carrying Scott Shannon’s True Oldies Channel.
My current radio choices compel me to go to at least five different aggregators on a regular basis, and to largely know what I want already. As with Apple Car Play vs. automakers’ own efforts, we will best assure broadcast radio’s place in the dashboard by unifying to create both the product and the delivery system that is better and more expert than what automakers can do themselves. That is the unity we need now.
Radio’s Future in the Car is one of the panels that will kick off Radiodays North America to be held in Toronto, June 8-9. Jacobs Media president Fred Jacobs, who has become broadcast radio’s point person, hosts a panel that includes Quu’s Laura Gonzo, CBC’s Julie McCambley, and Brian Comiskey of the Consumer Technology Association, producer of CES. Here’s what Jacobs, along with Ross on Radio readers, had to say about radio’s dashboard issues.
What inspires people to tune in on AM ort FM is compelling, foreground content. Stations airing background noise at best are only half-heard — weakening the effectiveness of sp0nsors’ messages. One easy solution is the globally syndicated HISTORY OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL — named “America’s best regularly scheduled music series”: in the New York Festivals’ international broadcasting competition. Each fun-filled, hit-packed, two-hour episode spotlights yet another facet of rock sand pop history — complete with brief stories behind each song — often told by the hitmakers themselves. G Networks syndicates THE HISTORY OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL in North America; Radio Express in the rest of the world.
Until AM radio an find a way to overcome the static/interference from overhead powerlines, thunderstorms and make a dynamic richer sound like FM, we will continue to only listen to AM stations on our streaming/bluetooth apps from our smartphones…
Until AM radio *CAN* find a way to overcome the static/interference from overhead powerlines, thunderstorms and make a dynamic richer sound like FM, we will continue to only listen to AM stations on our streaming/bluetooth apps from our smartphones…
What I’m surprised about is how Canada has not said anything yet , with rules that force many stations to stay on AM like one of my favorites CFCW outside Edmonton, AB. That is still only on 840am. But many other areas, local stations are forced to stay on AM and would kill radio a bit in Canada , where not too many stream as mobile internet is some of the most expensive in the world.
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But bear in mind that the CBC transitioned most of their AM stations to FM some time ago, and sold stations like 740 in Toronto to commercial operators.
In its heyday, the music was mixed to sound as best as possible on AM Radio. I will never forget the shock of hearing the Supremes in stereo on their “Greatest Hits” album. I remember the shock and surprise of listening to music produced for FM in the early days of WOR-FM. “Too laid back, man.”
Then “Talk Radio” was going to be the savior of AM–Perfect dynamic range for talk. But with the trend to smaller stream size and acceptance of lower quality MP3 something was just missing. Much like with the lower quality music on satellite. You see where I am heading. I agree with others who say the medium(s) have allowed the possible quality of the message to deteriorate..
It was in October of 2004 that Clear Channel opted to reduce the bandwidth of nearly all of their AM stations to 5 Khz, and suggested to the radio industry to follow their lead. Changing their name to iHeart hasn’t changed that. The rationale was that most receivers only had that much bandwidth.
The argument of AM radio for emergency situations isn’t relevant to the public using other forms of communication. I was driving in a 100+ market when my cell phone gave me a severe weather alert message. So I quickly tuned to a couple of the local stations I knew.. No alerts, just generic liners playing at the breaks.
The radio industry, through lobbying may be able to force AM radios in cars but that doesn’t mean people will tune to the band and listen, especially younger ones. Maybe radio should get worked up on better local programming instead of syndicated filler such as the radio sports networks.
Would Low Power AM stations run by high school kids cause people to find interest in AM radio ?
I personally don’t see it considering LPFMs and some with broadcast licenses (such as Baton Rouge High school in my state of Louisiana) not getting not much than niche listeners.
I’m finding AM is starting to become a home to second and third language services in a area. Such as Spanish in mine (which now use the FM signals numbers) or niche programming (such as regional music such as Cajun/swamp pop in mine)
It’s a slippery slope here, Sean. My experience started with AM radio in the 50s listening on a small crystal set. We were 2 miles from four stations’ transmitters-so reception wasn’t a problem. Neither was signal quality. Subsequent years saw the quality dropping, beginning with limited bandwidth in receivers. I had a 73 Toyota Corolla with an AM/FM tuner. The AM section was AWFUL. When we bought another (74) Corolla it was AM only. The AM section was wonderful. Subsequent vehicle purchases cou9hed up varying AM quality. Best was a 91 Infiniti with an AM stereo radio and a bandwidth switch that let me hear the full fidelity of any AM station. Some were great-and rivaled FM. But that’s all history now. The advent of HD/IBOC didn’t help either. Today in Southern California we’re saddled with XEWW, a 77,000 watt signal from just south of the border. The signal is more squashed than any AM signal should be. The quality is actually worse than the local TIS stations. Stations whose signal is simulcast on a 250 watt FM translator seem to be forgetting the AM signal. The only all-news signal in Southern California (KNX) is now promoting its 97.1 signal and has forgotten to mention the 1070 signal that covers a great swatch of the state. The FM signal is blocked by a local (San Diego HD overlap. In upstate New York, things are a little better with WECK, WXRL and CFZM playing music. Doesn’t help if listening on a crummy AM receiver.. AM doesn’t have to be unlistenable, but the technical wizards back in the 70s decided to limit AM bandwidth to -maybe-make FM sound more desirable. The car makers’ excuse about ignition noise is just a cover-up for a potential money grab to offer “entertainment” subscriptions. But in many markets, as you pointed out, the mass-appeal options are limited and shrinking daily. One local station tonight -started “Coast To Coast AM” at 8pm. That’s a potential 9 hours of one syndicated show (that’s usually 3 hours long. It’s not that people don’t want to turn on the radio. It’s that there’s nothing on the radio that people want to hear. Is broadcast radio doomed ?
For most car makers, they figured no one was listening to it, many countries are abandoning AM radio completely, so instead of having to heavy filter the motors, so say a 50 something could listen to AM talk, they figured these people have money to pay for the phone streaming and the Sirius XM and would be cheaper to leave it producing dirty RF that would fade within 5 to 10 feet than actually build better products or better filtering inside the head unit (more of a make money thing, as only tie in right now is sirius xm with most vehicle lines, but with most having 4g and 5g modems with internet connectivity built in, I’m waiting on the I heart App for say Ford sync,)
Even though I haven’t listened to AM radio in a car in years, I still have the second button on the left pre-set to 890…. force of an old, old habit.
Others from Australia worth giving a listen are Cruse 1323 out of Adelaide & 1053 2CA in Canberra (y) Make sure you check it out 🙂
On your trips to Boston, don’t you hear 1510 WMEX playing the Greatest Hits if All Time? They have a local weekend Countdown Show using their old Music Surveys from the 1960s!
Yes WMEX 1510 AM in Quincy comes in loud and clear in most of Mass. 1490 AM in Milford Mass. is a clear signal as well. Conservative talk radio is still strong w AM listeners. Politicians…back off w automakers and leave it alone.
One of the issues I’ve heard is that AM is old technology and keeping it for FEMA and other reasons is outdated thinking. For those emergency alerts and critical communication, they say, “We have new technology that COULD take over”. The problem is, none have. Until technology is accessible where people truly need it most – radio may not be the best option – it may be the only one.
Great article, Sean! It’s important to point out that the AM that’s available today is in no way equal to the AM of the past which offered much wider bandwidth and higher fidelity. Since 1986, both broadcast transmissions, and receivers, have offered much, much, reduced quality and this has significantly impacted the listener experience. Saving an already damaged AM listener experience at a time when newer technologies now. offer high quality worldwide transmission at a fraction of the operating costs of AM makes little sense.
Everything has a beginning and an end, nothing last forever. As someone whom was once obsessed with being on the radio, I certainly understand the desire to cling to AM/FM. But it’s the marketplace that will determine how much longer these delivery systems will exist, not regulators. When the business model collapses due to the competition from newer technologies, operators will be forced to abandon their licenses, as we are already beginning to see.
Nostalgia is nice, but finances always determine what’s viable and sustainable. At its peak the radio industry generated annual revenues of $22 Billion, that number is now less than $11 Billion; that says it all! Those lost revenues have moved to the Internet where the eyes and ears of the world have moved, and where advertisers are presented real time analytics, not pie in the sky ratings books.
Broadcasters should be excited for the new technologies that allow them to reach the world. But of course they aren’t, because the very same technologies now offer the very same reach and opportunity to EVERYONE, no license required. Competition is a bitch!
Change is inevitable, embrace it!