[BC] In the AM radio wars of the '60s, they talked big and talked back

[Glen Kippel]

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Rich Wood <richwood at pobox.com> wrote:

> ------ At 11:48 AM 10/6/2009, Blaine Thompson wrote: -------
>
> >"KFWB, KRLA and KHJ had colorful deejays with colorful trademarks. The
> >competition was fierce before the superior FM sound won over listeners in
> the
> >1970s."
>
> I'm not sure I'd give all the credit to superior sound. The AMs were
> glutted with commercials (like today) and FM had very few. Once the
> "FM is for Classical" barrier was broken and popular formats with low
> spot loads moved to FM all Hell broke loose. The FCC's prodding by
> forbidding 24/7 simulcasts didn't hurt.
>
> ---------------


I am sure you are correct in that assessment.  I once worked for a station
owner that thought FM stood for "Fine Music."  But, many station owners
thought FM was worthless (and I worked for an FM that bought their license
for $1.00) and let some long-haired people do their thing.  Couldn't hurt --
nobody listens to FM, right?  So, there was a fresh new sound, few if any
commercials, and listeners discovered FM.

So, are we seeing the same story with IBOC?  Nope.  It's the same formulaic
programming (except for Rich's station!) and the extra channels are, for the
most part, glorified i-Pods.  Why buy a new radio to hear that?  Sorry, I
don't see IBOC getting off the ground.