I saw this at the Northwest Broadcasters website. (I have a hard copy of the paper at my desk but had not made it to this story.)
ef Vancouver full story at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080206.RAMFM06/TPStory/?query=cbc (with great illustration!) article begins as below <http://ad.ca.doubleclick.net/click;h=v8/365e/0/0/%2a/g;102566815;0-0;0;1402405;1418-330/60;21009687/21027580/1;;~sscs=%3fhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/> BROADCASTING: WHY AM STATIONS ARE DISAPPEARING RADIO SILENCE: Kingston, Ont., is the latest city to lose its AM radio stations, but it likely won't be the last. Tired of stagnant revenue and tiny profits, broadcasters are jumping to the FM dial every chance they get GRANT ROBERTSON MEDIA REPORTER February 6, 2008 Almost 30 years of Ray Bergstrom's life have been spent as a disc jockey on AM radio. But the most agonizing music selection he ever made came last month when he chose Roy Orbison's *It's Over* to be the final song played on Kingston's 960 AM. Oldies 960 was abandoning AM for the smoother-sounding - and far more profitable - FM dial. The station, owned by *Corus Entertainment Inc.*, would remake itself as Lite 104.3 FM, and in January the AM station signed off for good, sinking into a static abyss. It is a growing reality in the radio industry these days as broadcasters seek regulatory permission to flip AM stations to FM, where profits and audiences are bigger and the signal is more reliable in urban centres. The industry has seen the trend coming for a long time, but Kingston is ahead of the curve. When Oldies 960 jumped, so did the other two AM stations in town. For the first time since the dawn of radio there, AM is off the air. "For people like me who grew up in the sixties and fell in love with AM radio, it's the death of something near and dear," Mr. Bergstrom said as he programmed adult contemporary tracks for Lite 104.3's afternoon show. Bittersweet in so many ways for the industry, since most broadcasters see little future in AM outside of the largest urban centres where news, talk and sports stations find success, but music formats struggle to make a profit. Most of Canada's biggest radio broadcasters have either been approved to flip at least a few of their AM stations in certain markets, or are awaiting clearance to do so. Some other small Canadian cities, such as Thunder Bay, have also seen the AM dial fall silent. < snip > go to URL for rest of story _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
