1 of 1- RadioActive
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The Top Format On AM In The U.S.? It's Not Talk
It's easy to think the AM band is filled with nothing but talk and ethnic stations. And while they're definitely there, according to figures released by the FCC for 2020, the talk format doesn't dominate like you might think.
So what rules on AM down south? If you believe the research, it's still music. According to the Commission, music (of all kinds) takes up almost 34% of air time on the non-stereo side of American radio. News takes second place, with religion third. Talk accounts for just 5.6%.
And talk about a lack of diversity when it comes to ownership. iHeartMedia owns way too many stations for my liking, with no one else even close. They're followed at a great distance by Entercom, Townsquare and Cumulus. It's just one more reason why so many stations sound exactly the same - and so many jobs have disappeared over the past few years. And in my addled mind, it's one of the things that's destroyed radio as we know it. 
Radio by the (FCC) Numbers
- radiokid
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Re: The Top Format On AM In The U.S.? It's Not Talk
I think there is too much generic detail in this that doesn't show the reality regarding programming on AM.
In the USA, there has been a huge increase of AM stations adding an FM translator. What this means is a AM station that would never be considering a music format before, is now running formats they would never have considered. Most in fact make no mention of their AM signal and focus only on their FM translator. So factually 33.9% could be correct but only because of an FM translator is it even being done.
Digital only AM, could also see a huge spike in formats that would never have been considered with analog. Today's audiences are not willing to put up with the sound quality issues of analog AM that they can get from a million other sources with clear sound. Unless there is a push by the FCC, industry, auto and manufactuers, like what happened with digital tv switchover, it's unlikely all digital will gain traction or broadcasters will take a risk doing it.
Last edited by radiokid (March 2, 2021 10:45 am)
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Re: The Top Format On AM In The U.S.? It's Not Talk
And this article I just came across from the U.S. would seem to support your theory. It's pretty localized to California, but the point is made just the same. Although station owners may be missing the boat, according to the author.
"AM owners use the FM translator to run innovative music formats. But due to the required simulcast, it automatically puts the signal on AM as well. Thus, when people in such cities scan the band, instead of hearing the same stale political talk, sports, or syndicated fare, they hear Active Rock (KBRE/Merced). Or Hip-Hop (KGA/Spokane, Washington). Or alternative rock (WGMP/Montgomery, Alabama)."
"Often the stations make little mention of the AM signal, which is unfortunate on the part of owners. The translator has just a fraction of the power of the AM signal, and if you hook listeners they will listen on AM if the FM drops out."
How Southern California radio could get a boost from this AM-FM collaboration
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: The Top Format On AM In The U.S.? It's Not Talk
Actually this survey is showing that talk is the most popular format on AM. Sports, news, religion and education are not music and would be considered talk. If you only consider stations with talk shows as talk, I guess, but that makes the survey somewhat misleading.
This survey is showing that 52.4% of AM stations have talk formats and it would be much higher since many of the Spanish and Ethnic AM stations could be news, religion or sports as well, although they could also push up the music. There are lots of AM Spanish sports and news/talk stations. But since the data has been broken down this way the figures aren't really very accurate. And the only real reason music is showing up on AM at all is because the FCC won't allow stations with translators to get rid of the AM frequency. If they allowed them to ditch the AM you would see quite a fair number go away.
Last edited by paterson1 (March 2, 2021 6:00 pm)