AM radio is seeking a lifeline after a century of storied history

[@scillyautomatic]

There is nothing like the sound of a baseball game on AM radio. Every few minutes theres the crackle of distant beat lightning.

[@paulamoe2699]

I miss the days when AM radio was amazing!!! Radio is a serious medium and needs to be revived!

[@patrolmanpete]

I still listen to the radio all the time when I'm in the car, including AM. I'm not a fan of finding and fussing with podcasts while driving.

[@mhermit]

I retired from a heritage station in Charlotte last August after 24 years. The cruel irony is that what is good for AM radio is bad for everything else. I wouldn't want to live through the kind of times it would take to make AM radio essential again.

[@edmundschlak5539]

Ever since I was an undergraduate out of town, I have been tuning up and down the dial, especially while traveling at night. In the 1960s I could pick up XERF in Mexico and a French language station in Canada. What’s the weather in San Antonio? It’s almost at the top of the hour; switch over to CBW in Winnipeg. Big booming 50,000 watt stations all over the United States. Sports, talk shows, right-wing crazy people at night, Dr. Laura giving us advice, local church services. What a feast! Thanks, AM radio. Perhaps young people will find you again.

[@scarecrow2275]

The biggest problem with AM is the cost to operate and amount of space needed to do it, FM radio can be done from almost anywhere for a fraction of the cost. Coming from a broadcasters perspective.

[@rustykatt3870]

scarecrow- thanks for explaining.

[@RefreshingShamrock]

They say AM radio gets better reach and coverage than FM, but I've tested stations that have both an FM and an AM channel and the FM usually has better signal where AM fades into noise. FM has issues though. Far too many ads to make the experience enjoyable and way too little of song diversity. One station literally hasn't changed their daytime playlist of ~15 songs since I was a kid.

[@scillyautomatic]

​@@RefreshingShamrock I know that station! Certainly sounds like my towns station! 😜😁

[@writerconsidered]

What is even the difference between Am and FM?

[@ezcleghorn4025]

The biggest problem for radio in general is the fact that I can by speaking to a device rather than turning the knob, listen to anything I want pretty much no matter when it was recorded in better sound quality than you can get on radio in a.m. or FM. And people vastly prefer that and you can’t blame them as consumers.

[@WaxBadger]

The focus here may be on AM radio but FM radio isn't doing so well either. The trouble is, the vast majority of commercial radio stations are now owned by a small number of corporations as a result of corporate mergers and have left listeners with little to no variety in terms of music options, no difference of opinion with news or talk radio, pre-manufactured sports radio, and an increased number of commercials. Public radio anymore is all I would ever listen to because there's no commercials and there is a willingness to give people something different whereas commercial radio fixates on what makes money for their bottom line.

[@TheUnitedStatesofAmericaUSA]

You summed that up perfectly. I totally agree. I’m from Hawaii and just like their banking controls on the prohibition of Mainland banks from operating in the islands, they have restrictions on radio operators. Radio via satellite with SiriusXM is blocked. But sadly the radio stations are not great.

[@rt-420]

I’m old enough to remember when AM was all we had. It shouldn’t be forgotten! ✌️

[@jaymudd2817]

And FM Drift.

[@Charlizzie]

But with some cellphones had FM only capability and analog TV shutted down, the only way for clear communication is to expand FM besides mandating the use of HD radio.

[@hoosez]

Radio must not die.

[@scillyautomatic]

On the contrary, it must not die. In many disasters, broadcast media are the only means of communication.

[@MattHandy8577]

I was born in the 1970s and would always listen to Am Radio Stations Like WLKW and WKRI they would play music from Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole Sammy Davis, Jr. Etc in The Middle night I would listen to Am Radio and was able to hear stations out of New York and Connecticut I Got The Biggest Thrill Out of That 😊

[@denelson83]

Signals on the medium wave frequencies that AM radio uses can travel a very long distance, especially at night. This is why several dozen AM radio stations in North America have what is known as "clear channel" status, which allows them to be heard over a _very_ large area at night, and requires other stations on their frequencies to reduce power or go off the air altogether after nightfall. This is why many of these stations also have "Primary Entry Point" roles in the Emergency Alert System, so in the event if a regional or national emergency, they can warn as many people of the emergency as quickly as possible.

[@JohnAranita]

In high school, I would fall asleep listening to Sally Jesse Raphael.

[@Anothertominohio]

WCBS 880 AM NY stopped with its news format...it did not go away. It is now a sports station (ESPN). This was misleading in this presentation.

[@jaymudd2817]

News, Sports, Weather. It's still needed.

[@ezcleghorn4025]

Yes, and I can get all of it by literally speaking to a speaker rather than tuning in a bad signal and having to do it at a certain time. I can listen to the five minute hourly news summaries from the major news networks around the clock whenever I feel like it. Why would I want to have to turn on a radio and hope that I can get what I want when I want it?

[@jaymudd2817]

@@ezcleghorn4025 I listen to different stations on I Heart, some are FM.

[@ronbennett7885]

Yes, but traditional radio isn't. On demand is better and more convenient. School closings are now communicated directly by school districts, weather is a default app on most phones and computers, and traffic is available through mapping apps. News is everywhere. Talk radio itself has moved on to satellite and internet sites. Also, there's more freedom to speak due to less FCC oversight versus broadcast radio and television.

[@emom358]

I always loved skipping stations on cloudy nights.

[@RHTeebs]

Radio is still one of the best ways to get news out. It's a lifeline to people. Networks really need to start owning radio stations again; and not seeing it as a business, and more like a public service.

[@denelson83]

Well, there is always NPR, on stations like WNYC 820.

[@SigmaRho2922]

The loss of WCBS 880 was very devastating for the nation. It was a clear channel station that served the eastern half of North America at night with news and information from New York.

[@ezcleghorn4025]

That would have been true even 20 years ago, but the fact is if you looked at the ratings, people simply were not and are not listening. You don’t have to like it, but it is not devastating for the nation because the nation was not listening to it that’s why they folded.

[@HopelessAutistic]

@@ezcleghorn4025 no because CBS management at the time of owning WCBS favored WINS even WCBS-TV promoted 1010 WINS over WCBS 880…. They were the ugly rotten child. However you fail to acknowledge that losing WCBS was making money and apparently WABC is the top AM station

[@sird2333]

Grew up listening to AM in the 90s. From the simulcast of the oldies FM station in our town to the late greats Rush Limbaugh and Alan Combs, not to mention Art Bell. In college, I’d listen to the college baseball on AM. Even after they got a FM translator station, I’d still do AM! I have an extreme love/hate relationship with the newer forms of media; loving that you can get stuff from anywhere easily, but hating that the old ease of just turning on your radio to be entertained for three to six hours is no longer there.

[@ezcleghorn4025]

I love classic radio from the 30s 40s and 50s. I love radio, far more than television even today as a totally blind person, however, I do not own a physical radio anymore. And when I very briefly had one just in this last year, there was almost nothing at all on the a.m. dial And why would I want to have to tune and listen at a certain time to a certain program when I can literally speak to a device and play even an a.m. station like WSM Nashville, from more than 300 miles away, in perfect stereo sound quality? AM radio is much like the horse drawn carriage. It was amazing and useful and important but now we have cars and podcasts. We need to keep every recording from the history of American broadcasting, but why would we want to go back to the Stone Age?

[@joecantello4022]

I worked in radio from 1979-1993, mostly AM/FM combos in small towns in Alabama & Georgia--and our stations were the lifeline for those small communities. If radio wants to stay relevant, they need to maintain that local touch.

[@bribay]

Only thing on AM is weird political talk.

[@erich84502ify]

FM is having trouble too

[@haydenbush]

Oh Howard Stern had fun with Ray Thomas

[@juliusmay8712]

I wonder will Philly lose KYW and WPHT and their formats?

[@GilmerJohn]

Well, car makers seem to be leaving out AM radios. FM still there. But, but... the highway information channels still seem to be on the AM.

[@danielsauers7783]

CBS is turning 100 in 2028.

[@marvij200]

wow random Frederick MD spotlight on CBS!

[@ronbennett7885]

On demand listening far superior. Better sound quality too. AM radio has long been lousy, but were few alternatives especially in rural areas. FM radio is on the way out too.

[@frcluc]

I hope the morning shows go out the same way. They are so brain numbing.

[@sydsaturn3337]

🎵radio someone still loves you🎵

[@David-yw2lv]

AM radio will be largely a small town thing as time goes on.

[@markstevens1729]

Things, particularly technological things, will always evolve and change. If people move on, that’s that. And I began a radio announce career on AM radio.

[@juliusmay8712]

Everyone is going to ask, will the election prompt changes at all of its audacy news and news talk stations across the country and will some of those stations lose the format ?

[@duckshoes5496]

RELEASE THE UNCUT KAMALA INTERVIEW

[@Wheelgauge-bt7ox]

AM🇺🇸

[@jbtafisher]

Vote no on continuing to keep AM radio. Its only purpose is nostalgia for those that used it in very far past. There is definitely some other way better utilization of that spectrum

[@Karesha13]

FM RADIO NEED ONE TOO. FROM: Karesha🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@myautodj]

1350AM WRAP Norfolk, VA any1 remember?

[@erich84502a]

4000

[@johnheath306]

My experience driving across the country…. AM Radio is nothing but Clear Channel Communications propaganda (iHeart Radio) and God channels Just sayin

[@peterwaugh4734]

Do you have to put AM radio in the motor car, too bad? Does the FCC give AM radios to dirt poor kids? How shall we do it?

[@ericB3444]

It’s doomed like Trumps chances.

[@jaymudd2817]

Same with CBS NEWS.

[@Wheelgauge-bt7ox]

Ding Ding we have a winner TDS🤡

[@ericB3444]

@@jaymudd2817 CRS News is not a thing. Check YOUS spelling please.

[@rustykatt3870]

😊👍✨✨✨😊

[@scwps23]

The Dems would love to get rid of AM Radio. Because a lot of Conservatives use it as a Conservative voice.

[@rt-420]

Don’t be ridiculous, Dems have kids in high school also. Is everything a conspiracy with you guys? 🙄

[@markstevens1729]

What is actually true is that conservatives are a last-ditch source of income for dying platforms. Resistant to change. It’s why financiers are willing to own them. Fill the airways with fear-based talk and sell products direct. It’s exploitation, not politics nor ideology, unless the ideology is for more money in their banks.

[@jaymudd2817]

More FM stations are used. Soros wants to stop it.

[@ThePumpin1]

This has NOTHING to do with politics. It has to do with the way people get information now days. Quit trying to stir the pot. Besides, there are conservative radio stations on FM, so nice try.

[@jaymudd2817]

@@ThePumpin1 But most Talk Radio is AM.,