"D Peter Maus" wrote in message
...

Are you in the protected contour of WLS?

What is the interferring station? I'm curious about this, and I'm surprised
in this case that WLS has not taken advantage of the provisions for
interference resolution that the FCC established.
Which gets back to the point....denying listeners their choice, in
favor of some arbitrary coverage map. Local listeners not interested in
local offerings are denied their choice.

But the FCC has stressed localism and local stations for about 60 years. In
one case, one dear to me, KLVE 107.5 in LA was top 10 in Santa Barbara (MSA)
based on coverage of the highly grandfatered 29 kw signal atop Mt. Wilson.
However, the FCC protects grandfathered FMs to the extent of the conforming
class B signal and proceeded a couple of years ago to license a new staiton
on 107.7 in the market, completely eliminating the considerable KLVE
listening.

The FCC shows in many more such cases that serendipitous reception is
neither of their interest nor concern. And it has not been for decades; they
go by a strict technical interpretation of allocations.

That's as cavalier as denying phone service, gas, or electric service
to rural customers because the lines are not profitable.

Yet in these cases, the government had to subsidize such services, such as
by the taxes city dwellers pay on the phone bill for rural services, today
and in the past. Sort of like farm subsidies...

At it's core, Broadcast is a utility. And every citizen has a right
to be served. Information that's not available locally is not to be
restricted for corporate profit.

The FCC would restrict this to local service, and they would likely say that
with over 13000 stations, nobody is denied service.

That would be like providing electric to a customer with operational
limitations pursuant to a local agenda. Providing during specified hours,
or at frequencies determined by profitability at the utilities discretion.

In the vast majority of locations, there is far more local service. When I
was in the Traverse City, MI, market, 20 miles north of that city, we had
daytime reception of two AMs and no FM (1960) and at night, got the Chicago
clears and WJR. Today, the market has over a dozen signals, all of which
cover with 64 dbu (FM) or 10 mv/m (AM) signals the location I was at.


The key 35-54 demos will listen to the AM formats if the quality is
better; the staitons that have moved or started FM simulcasts have proven
this.



No, they haven't. They've proven that they will listen to FM, where
they already are. Many won't listen to AM because it's AM. It's old. It's
dark, it's history. They haven't even gotten to the issue of audio
quality. They're not even going to sample it.

35+ will listen to AM. In some cases, like sports, where there are no FM
alternatives, stations like The ticket in Dallas are top 5 25-54. Enhancing
the quality of AM for the over-35's will work. The real issue is that it may
be too late, as talk is rather rapidly migrating to FM (two this week
alone).

But what about the listeners who commute from LA to San Bernardino?
You going to orphan them, too? Now, those are YOUR listeners. But they're
moving out of prime contours every day. They're going to want to take
their favorite station with them. You don't care about them?

To show in the LA book, they have to have residences in LA or Orange
counties. A ratings participant is determined by the market they live in
(the address where the diary is delivered or the PPM is installed) and it
does not matter where they go in the daytime.

However, if a person goes beyond the limits of a useful signal for work or
whatever, they won't listen anyhow. It's not about serving those
lesser-signal areas... it is about listeners who will not listen to weaker
signals, as proven by extensive studies of ratings respndents.

Someone made a killing off me in technology sales in this post alone.
How is that not a loss?

You're seeing this from the position that advertisers tell you to
take. I drop a huge sum every week in discretionary. And according to the
census, I"m far from alone.

I asked several General Managers how many 55+ buys came up so far this year
in several top 10 markets (agencies ask for quotes so stations know about
all business that is coming up) and was told, "none." We can not create
demand for something advertisers do not want.

How is not marketing to me and my kind not a loss? Just the list of
participants in this newsgroup alone, TODAY, represents 6 figures in
consumer electronics.

How is ignoring that not a loss?

There is no money against 55+, unless it is in direct sales in smaller
markets or unrated markets. Agencies don't, as a rule, buy 55+ at all.

Take off the corporate suit, step away from your numbers, and walk as
a listener for a week. See if your numbers take into account where you go
that takes you out of contour, but where you still want your radio station
with you.

Like any other listener, if the station sounds noisy or fades or has
multipath, I change station.