Thursday, October 4, 2018

Media Thursday

AM 1540 in Albany, New York is off the air.  Forever.  And ever.  It was through a string of formats and call letters.  At one time, 1540 was THE top 40 powerhouse in that part of New York.  The latest owner had money problems.  The station had technical problems.  It had been off the air for almost a year, and the owner recently surrendered the license.  There will never, ever be another AM 1540 in Albany.

It's sad.  The AM band is mightily struggling.  Dozens of stations have gone dark and most will never be back.

The could be a good thing.  If the Federal Communications Commission is smart, it will encourage more stations to go off the air.  Those are the ones that weren't serving their communities, anyway.  There won't be a huge job loss.  After the band thins out, the remaining stations, where feasible, should get a power increase.  Maybe that will overcome of the AM interference issues and make AM more listenable.

I've been meaning to mention the Emmy awards for a while now, and how I didn't recognize the names of most of the winning shows.  The streaming services, especially Netflix, have changed the industry.

Thank you, Major League Baseball, for once again making playoff games nearly impossible to find.

I saw the trailer for the Dick Cheney movie, "Vice."  It looks outstanding.  But then again, every trailer makes every movie look great.  I hope this one lives up to the hype.

Something scary happened yesterday.  I was on the way home from a long string of errands, most for other people.  "Escape" (the Pina Colada song) came on the radio, and I found myself singing along.  I'm so ashamed.