Radio Waves Podcast #234

Radio: August 31, 2018

My oldest son committed to attend Lake Forest College in Illinois, about 30 miles North of Chicago, so I spent part of last week with him in the city of Lake Forest as well as a couple quick tours of Chicagoland itself. I discovered two interesting things in particular:

1. The stations I heard in the educational portion of the FM band are lightyears ahead of Southern California in terms of using their licenses as originally intended by the FCC. Stations  heard were (gasp!) actually run by students and volunteers, including one located on the campus of a local high school and Lake Forest’s own WMXM.

2. The software that controls iPhones in our Dodge rental car, and presumably all Dodge, Chrysler, Ram and Fiat vehicles, is the worst I have ever encountered and must be a secret way for radio to maintain dominance. In plain English, it just doesn’t work, and the people responsible for the design of the radios should be fired, tarred and feathered. Yes, it is that bad.

Getting back to the local educational stations I was able to hear, WGBK stuck out as an amazing example of student radio. Located at the campus of Glenbrook South High School in the town of Glenview, the station uses advisors and students from both Glenbrook South and Glenbrook North. The format is an alternative format that my younger son says puts Los Angeles radio to shame, along with news and high school sports.

 

I am told that Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump is an alumnus of WGBK, having worked there as a student until he graduated in 2002. Called Chicago’s North Shore alternative, you can hear it on the net at GBSradio.com.

I didn’t get a chance to hear too  much of WMXM, as the station was operating on auto mode as students moved into their dorms to start the semester. But it too is a prime example of what real educational radio is supposed to be. 

Te station has a freeform  format of indie rock, hip-hop, and more, along with news updates for the local community. On the air since 1975, the station is run by volunteers and can be heard at WMXM.org.

Here in Los Angeles, the vast majority of educational-band licensed stations are run by paid adults. My personal belief is that operators of stations without students as the primary “employees” should give up their licenses, especially if the stations are physically located on or licensed to a college or other educational institution.

Now for the Dodge radio: If you want to hear your iPhone songs alphabetical, it might work. or it might not, depending on its mood. Want to select a song or play it in random order ... you’re out of luck. It may play for a while, then it just stops. You can use Bluetooth, but if you need to charge it, you’re out of luck - you can’t use Bluetooth when the lightening cable. With the cable it might play for a while, skip songs, play a small segment of songs randomly, then lock up. It is by far the worst interface I have ever used and must have been developed by an engineer of a radio station hoping to keep listeners off of alternatives to radio.

Saving AM (Continued)

Your comments regarding AM radio are fascinating; most of them so far state that you already listen to AM radio, and (while I promised comments this week) I will present them next week just to give more time for others to respond.

I do want to ask one more time though ... as most of the responses so far mentioned AM stations that you already listen to. What I would really like to know is -- especially if you never listen to AM -- would you tune to an AM station if it played the format you liked? If so, or if not, please state your age as well.

I’ll also be presenting technical challenges and potential solutions in the coming weeks.

They delayed it AGAIN … Labor Day, September 3rd is supposedly the new date for the launch date of Shotgun Tom on Sirius. I have a call into SiriusXM’s Lou Simon, who seems to be playing games because he’s ticked off that info got out before he did an official press release. I changed the paragraph as follows (first is the only change):

Radio: August 24, 2018

He was supposed to start August 20, but it got delayed ... listen for “Shotgun” Tom Kelly starting “sometime soon,” perhaps around Labor Day if the word on the street is correct. Kelly says he doesn’t know; I have a call into the executive offices of SiriusXM for an official date.

No explanation was given for the delay but it may have been related to a week of multiple tribute channels dedicated to Aretha Franklin, who passed away last week from pancreatic cancer. The tributes included music, interviews, and remembrances on as many as eight channels at various times per day.

Supporting Local Music

Terrestrial radio may have essentially abandoned the local music scene, but online “radio” stations - in quotes because it isn’t radio in the traditional sense, even though apps can make it seem that way on your transistor radio, er, smart phone - has taken up the challenge.

One example is C4OC Radio, available at www.C4OCRadio.Com. That’s an O (oh), not a zero, by the way. C4OC was netcasting live from Malone’s Bar and Grill in Santa Ana last Saturday night. On hand for their second annual Independence Bash were American Animal, Betrayed By Faith, Resurrection (all the way from the U.K.), Da Vang, White Hot Red, and Divine Intervention.

Online radio and podcasting has the potential to majorly disrupt traditional AM and FM radio, as people get used to on-demand entertainment. How traditional radio responds to the challenge will determine if the current owners and managers stay in power in the coming years. So far the outlook is not promising...

The Future of AM

Last week I teased you a little, stating: “Is AM radio dead? Absolutely. The problem is with the owners and programmers, though, not listeners. Before I expand on this, however I am curious what you think … can an AM station attract you as a listener if it played the right format? What would that format be?”

This topic came up, ironically, through a discussion on a Facebook page called “I Love AM Radio” in which any call for change to bring in new listeners was met with responses that can best be described as depressing. Basically, don’t bother trying to program anything of interest on an AM station, listeners left for FM years ago. Makes you wonder what the “I hate AM Radio” page would have.

One post in particular caught my eye. Among multiple reasons to run tired talk or sports programming that has, in my opinion, driven listeners to FM, satellite or online listening was the comment, “younger-leaning formats will obviously not work, since few under the age of 30 even know AM exists.”

My position: the reason few under the age of 30 - more accurately few under the age of 50 - know AM exists is because the last time AM stations programmed to them was in the 1970s. Back when AM music giants like KFI (640 AM), KHJ (930 AM) Ten-Q (KTNQ, 1020 AM) and The Mighty 690 could still be found in the top half of the ratings.

Yes, I know FM has a technical advantage. Though AM can sound excellent, it is generally easier to get good sound from an FM station than AM. Yet in the three decades I have been writing this column, I have never once received an email or letter stating that someone refused to listen to AM due to sound quality. I have received hundreds of letters and emails over the years stating that no/few AM stations offer the type of programming that appeals to them.

So I asked my 16-year old radio-shunning son, Sean, the essential question: If an AM station played music he liked, especially music you can’t find elsewhere (such as his favorite artist Plini), would he listen? “Yes,” he said without hesitation, “especially if they had things like interviews.”

Remember, he’s 16 ... the age that “doesn’t know about AM.” The truth is he knows all about AM ... he knows it’s awful.

As I see it, there are two pathways AM owners and managers can take: first is the path of least resistance taken since 1979, in which they run syndicated talk, sports, or brokered programming. They can use excuses that AM doesn’t sound as good, that AM stereo died due to the FCC, that HD on AM won’t work, or any other excuse to hide their utter failures as programmers ... therefore why bother trying. This is what has led to the lowest level of AM listenership in the history of the band.

Or they can think outside the box and find formats that appeal to those disenfranchised from FM. Appeal to younger listeners who have no station to call their own, and would love to be different than their parents who all listen to FM or satellite.

 

AM radio needs someone to take the reigns and program without the tired excuses of today’s programmers. If no one will step up, then the future of the oldest broadcast band is dismal indeed. Your comments - next week.