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.

Due to skywave propagation, AM IBOC still interferes with protected
contours; there is no way, the FCC can approve IBOC for n ighttime AM.
HD RAdio/IBOC does not work well on AM, so keep dreaming - we will be
around for many years. DAB has failed in Canada and IBOC will fail in
the US.