I mean it. Does ANYONE in the good ol' U.S. of A. still listen to AM, other than 50,000-watt stations like WLW? WLW is the only AM station anyone around here still listens to at all. WCKY is another 50,000-watt station, and NOBODY still listens to it. Then there's the regional stations that have less wattage but still good reception, like WKRC, and nobody listens to those either. Maybe in a smaller city with no 50,000-watt stations, people still listen to a station with less wattage (like Lexington), but that's about it.
I sometimes listen to WPRO for traffic and local RI stuff. Other than that, I don't listen to AM much these days. There were some 50,000 watters and a Hartford sports station that I used to listen to, but I've been in another part of the state for 6 years.
When driving around, particularly in rural areas, I occasionally like to scan around the AM dial–literally by turning the dial, not hitting SCAN, since the electronics would certainly omit the weak signals that I'm hoping to find.
Outside of the predictable (and tiresome) nationally programmed political and sports talk, you can sometimes find some bizarre stuff...polka hours hosted by guys with heavy German accents, low budget local variety shows that sound like the second coming of Cas Walker, small town call-in shows where people are griping about the fact that the meters in front of the courthouse no longer take dimes, and unintentionally hilarious fire-and-damnation preachers destined for stardom on shortwave. Granted, these little gems are relatively few and far between and getting scarcer every day, but I still enjoy stumbling upon them from time to time.
In addition to the above mentioned small town stations that sound like a real-life version of Fernwood 2 Night, I'll also check in on highway advisory radio stations (which sometimes serve as repeaters of NOAA Weather Radio when inactive) or to see what distant signals I can pull in. Even though there are various terrestrial stations that I'll stream via the Internet for an occasional listen, it's sometimes nice to pick up the broadcast signal because various local items (local commercials, local news/traffic, station IDs, etc.) are filtered from some Internet streams.
Not with any regularity, no. Though the gems Brian just mentioned are really something else.
The local sports station (KNBR) when I want their lovingly biased play-by-play of Giants and 49ers games, and KGO (see below) when I want the Cal play-by-play. KNX when I'm in L.A., mostly for traffic.
Even the all-news station I occasionally listen to (KCBS) has an FM repeater, and the Sharks and Warriors are both on FM stations as well.
I grew up in the glory days of KGO, a 50,000-watt talk station with all local talent - a real rarity then, let alone now. They were the #1 station in the Bay Area for nearly three decades with voices from strongly liberal to moderately conservative/libertarian, and I enjoyed them all - this was long before the self-aggrandizing, bloviating voices that dominate talk radio (across all ideologies) today. They could talk with equal knowledge and eloquence on both national and local issues.
Corporate ownership (Cumulus) caught up with them, and through a series of purges they're now a shell of their former self.
I listen to my local news/talk AM station (WIOD) every morning on my way to class. I find it useful for news and traffic reports.
Sports when a game isn't on FM or XM (or if we're in one of the cars that doesn't have XM).
I listen to the news/traffic stations (880 WCBS from NYC quite a bit, and KYW 1060 when I'm closer to Philly) and occasionally dial around elsewhere on AM.
Of course. There are all kinds of news and talk programs on AM radio, and some of the small ones have niches like sports, religious programs, and hobbies. AM 820 and AM 590 are local examples of small ones that I listen to at least weekly.
KRLD-1080 or WBAP-820 for local news/weather/traffic.
If I'm online, sometimes I'll click on WBBR, WCBS, WINS, or KYW once in a while.
Quote from: jon daly on September 09, 2018, 06:57:06 PM
There were some 50,000 watters and a Hartford sports station that I used to listen to, but I've been in another part of the state for 6 years.
If you're referring to ESPN Radio 1410, it's now on 97.9 FM. WAVZ 1300 in New Haven still simulcasts most, if not all programming, including UConn broadcasts.
I only will listen in my car when I want news, traffic, a game is on, or I feel like hearing some regional sports talk. Only stations I listen to are WTIC in Hartford for traffic, news, and now just Red Sox games (UConn sports moved to 97.9). Also listen to WFAN on 660 occasionally since it's so widely available and 101.9 doesn't reach my area. I'll hit up WCBS 880 for any major national breaking news stories
.
Honestly, I mainly do it when I'm on the road and those motorist service signs tell you to tune in for highway advisories.
Every now and then, I try to do it on a whim just for the hell of it though.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on September 09, 2018, 11:33:46 PM
Quote from: jon daly on September 09, 2018, 06:57:06 PM
There were some 50,000 watters and a Hartford sports station that I used to listen to, but I've been in another part of the state for 6 years.
If you're referring to ESPN Radio 1410, it's now on 97.9 FM. WAVZ 1300 in New Haven still simulcasts most, if not all programming, including UConn broadcasts.
I only will listen in my car when I want news, traffic, a game is on, or I feel like hearing some regional sports talk. Only stations I listen to are WTIC in Hartford for traffic, news, and now just Red Sox games (UConn sports moved to 97.9). Also listen to WFAN on 660 occasionally since it's so widely available and 101.9 doesn't reach my area. I'll hit up WCBS 880 for any major national breaking news stories
.
Those are the ones I listened to, jp. I was actually in the suburbs east of Hartford over the weekend and searching the AM dial in my car and also came across a religious station out of Vernon. But my car antenna is weak so even WTIC was faint.
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on September 09, 2018, 09:02:19 PM
KYW 1060 when I'm closer to Philly
KYW is like a utility. Their "traffic on the twos" (including transit) is essential to getting around in Phila. It's frequent, thorough, and concise. Even in the internet-and-smart-phone age, I listened to it every time I went out (when I lived in Phila and still do whenever I'm in town). One nice thing is that their news has less political bias than most.
Yes. I have SXM, and have had since about when it was invented, but AM is a necessary supplement in certain cituations.
- Local weather.
- Traffic, although unlike most places knowing of road issues is simply piece of mind as there are no practical alternative routes in most situations.
- Local news.
- Local political talk and local sports talk.
- Sports. SXM only has the home feed, I want to listen to my team via my team's announcers. SXM does not carry nearly all DI college games. Also does not carry the coach's shows, pre game post game, etc.
AM has a lot of utility.
Quote from: qguy on September 10, 2018, 06:35:31 AM
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on September 09, 2018, 09:02:19 PM
KYW 1060 when I'm closer to Philly
KYW is like a utility. Their "traffic on the twos" (including transit) is essential to getting around in Phila. It's frequent, thorough, and concise. Even in the internet-and-smart-phone age, I listened to it every time I went out (when I lived in Phila and still do whenever I'm in town). One nice thing is that their news has less political bias than most.
KYW is also a 'big' 50,000 watt station. Mr. Bubbles is looking for those small, 2,000 watt stations that are barely known to exist!
The traffic reports on KYW are OK, but sometimes outdated or very generalized. Better than nothing though in many instances.
Quote from: DTComposer on September 09, 2018, 08:09:14 PM
The local sports station (KNBR) when I want their lovingly biased play-by-play of Giants and 49ers games, and KGO (see below) when I want the Cal play-by-play. KNX when I'm in L.A., mostly for traffic.
Even the all-news station I occasionally listen to (KCBS) has an FM repeater, and the Sharks and Warriors are both on FM stations as well.
I grew up in the glory days of KGO, a 50,000-watt talk station with all local talent - a real rarity then, let alone now. They were the #1 station in the Bay Area for nearly three decades with voices from strongly liberal to moderately conservative/libertarian, and I enjoyed them all - this was long before the self-aggrandizing, bloviating voices that dominate talk radio (across all ideologies) today. They could talk with equal knowledge and eloquence on both national and local issues.
Corporate ownership (Cumulus) caught up with them, and through a series of purges they're now a shell of their former self.
KGO has the best signal up here on the Oregon south coast. I still keep one of my collector radios tuned to 810 AM for checking out how the rest of the West is doing when major power outages (rare) affect us. I figure if KGO is down, so is everything else! KGO is what I use when wanting to hear Cal football or basketball as I am a Pac-12 fan.
During the Yom Kippur War, KNX was it for finding out if we had got to WW3. There were no 24 hour news stations on cable and not much on cable in 1973 but there sure was plenty of news radio on clear channels!
For local AM, not much is listened to since the high school/college games are almost all on FM. Oregon State's broadcasts are supposed to be on a local AM station this season but they aren't. They are the last team on a local station using amplitude modulation.
Coos County has had 4 AM stations for decades, with the first one coming along in 1924. Today the stations are conservative talk radio, sports radio, liberal talk radio and a high school-run one with a mix of programming. Back in the day they were respectively local radio, local radio with some rock and ABC network to go with sports, local radio with country combined with Top 40 and sports and the last one was the Top 40 station. We did not even have an FM station here until the Eighties! The Oregon coast did not get one until the second half of the Seventies and it was an easy listening station 100 miles north of my area that barely came in.
Rick
It's kinda mind-blowing that my parents once owned a car where the FM radio was an after-market accessory.
SP, if you listen to SiriusXM online, and possibly using the smartphone app, you have a choice of home and away announcers for sports.
Quote from: abefroman329 on September 10, 2018, 09:42:18 AM
It's kinda mind-blowing that my parents once owned a car where the FM radio was an after-market accessory.
I owned a car during the mid/late 90s with an AM stock radio (with one speaker) during the last half of college and two years afterwards - a brown '79 Ford Pinto wagon. I eventually yanked it out and jammed in a Pioneer AM/FM/tape deck and rigged up two cabinet speakers that sat on my back seats. When I had passengers in the back we tossed them in the cargo area. My parents owned a number of old clunkers over the years, many with just AM radios if they worked at all.
And for those wondering (who are old enough to recall), they fixed the gas tank problem by my Pinto's model, so I wasn't driving around in constant fear of getting blown up in a collision.
I listen to AM 940 in my work car a lot which gets ESPN programming and some local California stuff. I used to switching between ESPN 620, FOX 910, and Sporting News 1060 a ton in Phoenix. When I in high school AM 730 used to pick up some ESPN programing around Lansing and had a lot of local Michigan sports shows.
I hardly ever listen to WTMJ anymore the big 50,000 watt AM in Milwaukee. The only AM I listen to a lot is WISN. I will occasionally listen to the sports stations on 540,920 and 1250 on weekends during football season but that is about it.
890AM for Notre Dame broadcasts, otherwise nope
Will once in a while, but no interest anymore. One station I help out with their fundraiser is on AM so, if I can get the signal, I will listen to it. The station is listener supported and love the cause of their programming.
I used to listen to it more before I got discouraged in what or what does not happen in the US lately. Now even in Orlando, though, AM talk is on FM, as Cox Media (whom I took a studio tour at during a class assignment ) removed WHTQ to get the younger demographics interested in talk and discussion programing as the previous Classic Rock was not attracting sponsors. Yet, later on, their sister station WMMO started to play some classic rock from the old HTQ era, as their program director is an ex DJ at the defunct 96.5, but its still some of the MMO format mixed in.
As we all know marketing relies on demographics for listeners so that the right sponsors can buy ad times. Do not ask me how, as the same goes for Nielsons as all they need to do is survey a select group of different age categories and just by their responses can determine what America wants and needs due to math. Also that is how they determine at election time who is voting for who, due to the select demographics in the same manner the Nielson's are determined what shows we watch.
Around here, a local 500-watt AM station was top 40 until 1987, and people still listened to other AM stations for years after that. But it's probably been 7 or 8 years since I've noticed anyone around here listening to AM other than WLW. A few people listen to FM translators for smaller AM stations, but that's it.
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on September 10, 2018, 11:27:07 AMa brown '79 Ford Pinto wagon.
...
And for those wondering (who are old enough to recall), they fixed the gas tank problem by my Pinto's model, so I wasn't driving around in constant fear of getting blown up in a collision.
IIRC, that issue didn't involve the wagon models at all; mainly because such were 10 inches longer in the rear than the sedan & runabout (hatchback) models.
Overcrowding led to an early adoption of FM in Europe. AM has not been used much for the last 20 - 25 years. In most of Europe the last major AM stations ceased operations in 2015-2016, I believe they had a very low market share for a long time already.
I remember tuning in to AFN (American Forces Network) while on trips in southwestern Germany. It was interesting to listen to American radio while driving on the Autobahn. Evidently most of their transmitters have been shut down now, the last time I listened to it was near Kaiserslautern a number of years ago. The Kaiserslautern area is home to some 50,000 American personnel.
Quote from: Chris on September 10, 2018, 04:33:00 PM
Overcrowding led to an early adoption of FM in Europe. AM has not been used much for the last 20 - 25 years. In most of Europe the last major AM stations ceased operations in 2015-2016, I believe they had a very low market share for a long time already.
I remember tuning in to AFN (American Forces Network) while on trips in southwestern Germany. It was interesting to listen to American radio while driving on the Autobahn. Evidently most of their transmitters have been shut down now, the last time I listened to it was near Kaiserslautern a number of years ago. The Kaiserslautern area is home to some 50,000 American personnel.
Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were also known for LW (longwave) broadcast frequencies. They are the ones below our AM band with the range being 150 KHz to 350 KHz.
Back when radio was just getting started, the thought was it was only the lower frequencies that had any value so the ones above were left for amateur radio. Their experiments showed the value of the HF, VHF and above frequencies. Now hardly any use is made of the lower frequencies. We did have a military communications system which used them for backup to the HF frequencies in a post-nuclear war environment when I was in the USAF. Even that system was eventually torn down.
Rick
I rarely listen to radio, period.
I listen to a couple of AM stations on the iHeartRadio app, and often will do that even if I'm in range of the signal, because if the cell service stays good the sound quality is better. But other than that, no. Not AM and not FM.
Yes, but generally conservative talk radio in rush hour car rides.
LG-TP260
The other day I was at work and turned the radio on to an early morning AM sports talk show. It wasn't very interesting and finally the announcer said something so stupid and so offensive and I turned it off. AM radio is the MTR of communications.
Quote from: bugo on September 10, 2018, 08:00:30 PM
The other day I was at work and turned the radio on to an early morning AM sports talk show. It wasn't very interesting and finally the announcer said something so stupid and so offensive and I turned it off. AM radio is the MTR of communications.
I remember once listening to talk radio for a few minutes where the tribalism was so intense and finely tuned, I couldn't tell if it was sports talk or political talk. Turned out it was sports talk.
I spent some time listening to WCCO-AM in the Twin Cities recently for the first time in years and noticed that the hosts (the same ones I grew up with and had seemed pretty balanced) had taken a hard right turn in terms of their content. I suppose their target audience likely fits a lot of that demographic (aging, conservative white people) but I wondered when this shift had taken place.
I only listen to AM for traffic reports. The few times I've listened to FM I couldn't find much I liked.
I don't think I've flipped on AM to listen to something other than Howie Carr in Boston for a long time, probably since I moved back to my childhood home in 2014. Even then, when WRKO and WEEI were each Entercom, WRKO was the 'HD2' signal for WEEI and I could listen to it there if I was close enough to Boston. Since the whole CBS / Entercom / iheartradio shuffle that option went away.
I guess WBBM/WGN/WLS/WMVP/WSCR (Chicago) and KIRO/KOMO (Seattle) don't count, so no, I do not listen to AM radio at all.
In Charleston, AM radio is basically a shell of its old self. Only two stations of 10 don't have a FM translator for their signals, and one that doesn't, WTMA, is getting one this year.
WTMA was a legendary top 40 station in the 60s and 70s which was hugely popular in the area. Later on in the 90s it was a popular news/talk station. It still is, but it now gets terrible ratings (usually a 1 or so). It used to get 6 or 7s in the early 90s when Rush was big.
WOKV (690 from Jacksonville) used to be WAPE, and has a huge daytime signal which can be heard in Charleston and Myrtle Beach daytime, all the way to Cape Hatteras on a good day.
Skywave nighttime AM (Chicago, WSB Atlanta, WBT Charlotte, New York) used to be a lot more popular, but now with almost the entire country having radio service, not many people listen to them.
Occasionally delved into the AMs
There was a Spanish music station that played Spanish music. It was a perfectly normal station as well, just with lower sound quality
On my own, only for sports. My dad listens to a talk radio station and I will if I am with him and mom is not along.
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on September 10, 2018, 11:44:57 PM
I spent some time listening to WCCO-AM in the Twin Cities recently for the first time in years and noticed that the hosts (the same ones I grew up with and had seemed pretty balanced) had taken a hard right turn in terms of their content. I suppose their target audience likely fits a lot of that demographic (aging, conservative white people) but I wondered when this shift had taken place.
I used to listen to WCCO from when I got my first car at 16, all the way up to about 2012 (when I discovered that NPR was more to my liking ;-)), and I too remember it to be pretty centered (with one or two exceptions). The shift doesn't surprise me in the slightest.
The last AM station I listened to somewhat was 740 AM from Toronto at night. It was once the CBC Radio station there. Today it's Zoomer Radio, a commercial station. Otherwise, I was a frequent listener of WCBS-AM 880 of New York City. I might still check WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford for the occasional news update, but that's infrequent.
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on September 22, 2018, 06:26:13 AM
The last AM station I listened to somewhat was 740 AM from Toronto at night. It was once the CBC Radio station there. Today it's Zoomer Radio, a commercial station. Otherwise, I was a frequent listener of WCBS-AM 880 of New York City. I might still check WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford for the occasional news update, but that's infrequent.
740 is jammed locally. Our local 740 was once a respected station but was only a daytimer back then. Now it has nighttime service and doesn't do anything except broadcast hate speech under its current owners.
I do not recall the last time I listened to terrestrial broadcast radio.
I downgraded my SiriusXM subscription about a year ago, and I'm on the verge of canceling it due to disuse.
With my phone feeding me music, podcasts, and audiobooks, with apps providing traffic-influenced navigation, and with just about every program I might be interested in listening to over the air being available at my convenience in podcast or streaming form....why would I want to listen to broadcast radio?
(Amateur radio is another story altogether. :) )
I still listen to AM radio mainly for sports--listening to the Brewers since I don't have cable or satellite to watch them, and my favorite sports talk programs. Unfortunately I live in a rural area where it is near impossible to listen to anything on AM at night. The local station that carries the Brewers is less than 10 miles away, yet its night signal is so weak it fades out less than 5 miles from the station. I don't have much luck getting in high powered stations from further away either, like WTMJ, at night. My guess is it has something to do with the hilly topography of southwest Wisconsin.
I do however listen to FM radio quite a bit. My favorite music stations are always on. I like hearing the variety of bands and hearing about new bands on the radio that I don't get if I just listen to my own CDs all the time.
Even FM has declined. I don't listen to AM at all anymore, but the only thing I still listen to on FM is 'American Top 40' reruns from the '80s on WGRR.
Quote from: bandit957 on September 23, 2018, 01:21:19 PM
Even FM has declined. I don't listen to AM at all anymore, but the only thing I still listen to on FM is 'American Top 40' reruns from the '80s on WGRR.
Those are interesting. Thanks to one ep, I learned that Eat It by Weird Al was once a Top 40 hit. It was a total surprise, I always assumed he had a small but vocal cult following.
"Beat It" was Michael Jackson. :D
^^Yes.
Eat It was the Weird Al song.
I used to listen to KTCK 1310 for sports talk until they added a simulcast on 104.1 FM, then they moved to a better signal at 96.7. I'll tune in the AM only on the rare occasions when I'm east of Dallas out of FM range. Otherwise I'll flip to WBAP or KRLD for news/weather/traffic just briefly.
I never listen to FM at all. While most of the AMs around here now have FM "translators" their range is less than the AM, so I lose them quickly outside town. I am not a big music person, but have no interest in commercially supported music stations. Not when I can listen to the specific genre I want on SXM, or to a recording of the specific song I want. The only other thing on FM around here are preachers, and NPR's odd mix of begging, far left conspiracy theories, and market rejected, yet somehow important, music genres.
Quote from: SP Cook on September 24, 2018, 01:13:49 PM
far left conspiracy theories
You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
NPR is either center or slightly left of center (in line with both Wikipedia and the New York Times), depending on how "center" is defined. Not "far left" by any definition except yours, and you're probably the one believing in conspiracy theories.
Quote from: 1 on September 24, 2018, 01:20:26 PM
NPR is either center or slightly left of center (in line with both Wikipedia and the New York Times), depending on how "center" is defined. Not "far left" by any definition except yours, and you're probably the one believing in conspiracy theories.
NPR lately has become pretty conservative.
Quote from: bandit957 on September 24, 2018, 01:29:07 PM
Quote from: 1 on September 24, 2018, 01:20:26 PM
NPR is either center or slightly left of center (in line with both Wikipedia and the New York Times), depending on how "center" is defined. Not "far left" by any definition except yours, and you're probably the one believing in conspiracy theories.
NPR lately has become pretty conservative.
It's been slowly moving to the right over the past few decades, as Congressional Republicans have repeatedly threatened to pull their federal funding.
Quote from: 1 on September 24, 2018, 01:20:26 PM
Quote from: SP Cook on September 24, 2018, 01:13:49 PM
far left conspiracy theories
You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
NPR is either center or slightly left of center (in line with both Wikipedia and the New York Times), depending on how "center" is defined. Not "far left" by any definition except yours, and you're probably the one believing in conspiracy theories.
Don't bother with him. I know him from another board and you'll just get frustrated and waste your time trying to argue with him.