In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

You have a mistaken impression of radio audience measurement.

Snip

You misrepresent the facts to support your arguments as needed. You tell
me I don't hear the stations I listen to because they are so weak as to
be DX and nobody would spend time listening to them. You are full of it.

You are, as I mentioned previously, the kind of listener radio stations are
hard put to serve. You mentioned already that you are not satisfied with
your local stations (and your local stations are those licensed to Ventura
County) and prefer to listen to ones from locations at some distance.

Radio sales and programming are focused on the local radio market. Even the
LA stations, some of which get listening by Ventura County residents, don't
have an interest in residents in your county as, simply put, there is no
money to be made off such listening. Your local stations don't seem to serve
you, and the more distant ones do not care to serve you as there is no gain.
You are one of a tiny percentage of bona fide radio listeners that simply
can't be satisfied... in Ventura, probably the econommics of a small, low
revenue market are the determining factor... so to broadcasting, you are
"unservable."

You find listenable stations that the average person neither knows exists or
can not pick up well. Most DXers have a bit more tolerance for noise,
hisses, buzzes and static than the average listener... who today uses CDs or
iPod digital files as the standard; AM as a band can not satisfy the
listener expectations of the last two generations.

You equate being able to pick up a station with being able to listen to it.
These are not the same things, and you should understand that the normal
listener to radio has a higher standard of reception than you do. For
example, 780 in Reno is not 100% every night; most listeners would never
return after the first time they hear nose, static, fading or interference.

And you equate listenablity to receivability. The fact is that listenership
of AM radio is at its lowest at night, likely due to, first, the greater use
of TV by the AM 45+ listener core and, second, by the fact that nearly every
AM in the US has less coverage at night than in the daytime, so choices are
reduced.

Countless studies have been made over the years of where a station gets its
audience. The purpose is to not waste money marketing and promoting where
there is no potential. For AMs, where we can identify at home and at work
listening by ZIP code (and that is 70% of listening) nearly all the
listening to any particular station takes place inside a very strong signal
contour. Most radio stations do their promotion in what we call Hot Zips, or
areas where we get lots of listening. All of these are inside, to use LA as
an example, the 70 dbu for FM and the 10 mvm for AM. And it's the same for
our competitors.

The average radio listener does not listen to weaker signals. They
definitely do not listen to noisy ones.

Add to that the fact that nearly all AM listeners are over 45, and the
majority over 55 and you have, as I said, two generations of Americans who
don't use AM much or at all.

You don't seem to know what reception on the west coast is like so
either you don't listen to AM at all or you don't live on the west
coast. Which is it?

I know what reception is like for DX, but that is irrelevant to a discussion
of why a decision was made to implement HD and then extend its use to nights
on AM. That decision is based on how radio is used as much as on the
technical issues.

My DX interest is stations from Mexico, and, to some extent, Central
America. I really have no interest in domestic DX and do what I can to null
those stations. Ask about when you can get La Voz de Centroamerica in SPS,
Honduras, and that I can tell you. When is XEW silent so the "hidden relay"
can be heard? The difference is that I know when I am DXing and when I am
listening for content.... something the average listener is really clear
about.

How many times do I have to post I'm not a DX'er? Oh, that's right you
don't read or listen to people do you.

If KOH is not coming in well I don't listen. I try again the next night
and if reception is good, and it usually is, then I stay tuned in.
That's going to happen a lot less now that I have HD hiss in the
background all the time. Now I'll be listening to KOH very infrequently
to never because I'm not going to listen to that bacon frying sound in
the background. It's very annoying.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California