Re: [IRCA] IBOC battle begins

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Russ Edmunds wrote:

> *** And I think this aptly illustrates one of Scott's secondary points
> - the decline of AM over the past years is such that there is less to
> listen to. Baseball games come to mind for me in particular, but when
> you have an AM dial with as much syndicated talk, opinion or whatever
> programs on at least one station in every market, the number of ethic
> stations broadcasting in languages I can't understand, the number of
> local phone-talk programs featuring hosts and callers who are mostly
> infatuated with themselves or, yes, too many religious broadcasters on
> AM as well, there's really not much left to listen to on AM.

I would disagree with Russ on just one of his points - I'd actually 
contend that the "ethnic stations broadcasting in languages I can't 
understand" are actually among the signs of decent health for the AM 
dial. Granted, I may not understand most of what they're saying...but 
the fact that they're on the air (often on leased-time signals where you 
HAVE to be making money in order to stay on) is a good sign that 
SOMEBODY is finding their programming valuable. I'm not sufficiently 
infatuated with myself to believe that the only programming worthy of 
airtime is that which I personally enjoy listening to :-)

What's more, those foreign-language signals are doing, in their own way, 
what AM radio still does best: providing the sort of programming no 
other medium can easily offer. There aren't enough Hmong in Minnesota or 
Vietnamese in Houston to make an FM signal or a local TV newscast work 
(well, not yet, anyway) - so why shouldn't they benefit from an AM 
signal or two? Someone may as well.

If someone came to my house and dropped off the license to a Rochester 
AM station (and wouldn't THAT be nice!), I'd probably have it 
broadcasting in Spanish before the month was out. There's a massive 
unserved audience in this particular market - some 40,000 second- and 
third-generation Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants, with a smaller 
number of more recent arrivals from Mexico and Central America - and 
just some weekend leased-time programming on WLGZ 990 serving them.

s
_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx