In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

wrote in message
ps.com...

David Eduardo wrote:


I am NOT saying that there is no listening at night... just that
it is vastly below the levels of daytime radio in the 6 AM to 7 PM
time period. Night listening for AM and FM (all radio) is about
25% of the daytime level. For AM, it is about 20% of the daytime
level.

Still, there is listening, and it is worth staying on the air.
More to the point, there is nearly no listening between midnight
and 5 AM, but (aside from the original technical reason for
operating 24/7), being on does deliver a few listeners to the all
important morning daypart where a huge percentage of revenues are
derived.

Most stations, unless they have play by play or something of its
ilk, do not get revenue from late evenings and overnights... but
they use it to give bonus spots to advertisers to lower the cost
per point and to get on ad buys.

I'm sure, you would like to have nighttime AM shut off, or IBOC
approved for nighttime AM, just to get rid of the MW DX'ers. Looks
like you changed your tune a bit.


AM will shut itself off in due time, as news/talk, the principal
format, migrates to FM as it has in many markets just this year.

The problems of AM are multiple:

1. Increasing interference form thing ranging from BPL to noisy LED
stoplight switches, reducing coverage. 2. Migration of main format to
FM 3. Lack of use of AM by under-55's, where nearly 100% of radio ad
sales are directed. 4. Unawareness of AM by under-35's, who have no
use for it and do not listen. 5. Advertisers with "No AM" dictates 6.
Lack of full coverage signals in most markets. Few markets have more
than one or two AMs that cover fully day and night.

HD is not going to help AM much, although it could create an
opportunity for niche music formats over time. Even that is doubtful.
HD probably will be approved for night use, as there is so little
listening to AMs outside their groundwave interference free contours
and nothing would be lost.

I listen to out of the area AM stations all the time and I'm not Dx'ing
as a hobby but listening to the programs so a lot will be lost for me
and many other people that do the same.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California