Tuesday, October 13, 2009

AM Obituary


It pains me to write this, but there are more nails being hammered into the AM radio coffin.

An FM station in Philadelphia flipped to all sports Friday afternoon.  Boston is getting one soon.  Detroit, Baltimore, Washington, and several other cities now have news/talk/sports formats on FM.

AM is irrelevant.

I'm an AM guy.  That's where I got my start.  There was always something magic about playing with an AM radio as a kid, and picking up stations in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, etc.  I think it's one of the things that drew me to broadcasting.  I could travel around the country,and learn about other cities without leaving home.  Remember, this was long before Al Gore invented the internet, and out-of-town newspapers were available at every mini mart.

There are some exceptions to the rule, but they are few and far between.

FM radio, and now satellite and the internet, give listeners all the things they used to get on AM.

The band is a couple more big steps closer to the end.

By the way, while I was looking for Monday's "Columbus" photo, I came across my old collection of radio station bumper stickers.  Yes, I needed a life then, and I need one now.  I may scan one every weekend or so.