"Radio Engineering" wrote in message
oups.com...

There is no single FM station that covers the entire Bay area
completely, and programming quality and relevance is the most
important issue.

That is because radio markets are defined by the listenership to stations.
If the three AMs that keep the far reaching counties or split counties
(Contra Costa West) in the "market" decline significantly, the market will
be redefined. Several dozen markets are redefined every year, adding or
losing counties. Since AM listening is declining everywhere, if the sum of
KGO, KCBS and KNBR decline to a certain point, and no longer represent a
significant portion of listening in certain counties, Arbitron will redefine
San Francisco and more FMs will cover most of the market.

AM is still useful and viable. The fact that it is being mis-
programmed in many markets shouldn't cause anybody to condemn the
whole band. If you serve your listeners and advertisers well by
creating unique content that people want, and distribute it in ways
that listeners want, you can do very well. I fully expect that our
'content' will become more available via many distribution channels
over time.

Yeah, news talk and even sports (Detroit, yesterday, in fact) are moving to
FM.

The stations that should be really concerned are the ones doing a lot
of syndicated programming. They won't have anything to sell once
distribution isn't limited by broadcast channels. If these guys want
to stay in business, they'll have to come up with some unique content,
which should be local. Generic music 'jukeboxes' will have similar
challenges, though there is certainly room for them.


Actually, many of the jukeboxes have talent driven music shows that are, in
the mind of listeners, just as local as the ageing news and talk stations
that have not moved to FM.