lately there has been a lot of doom and gloom about the
future of AM radio with people predicting its impending demise
because in recent years many AM radio stations have been adding FM simulcasts
"1010 WINS at 92.3 FM it's about time"
or going off the air entirely
"Absolute Radio is no longer available on this frequency we're no longer broadcasting on AM"
and more and more automakers are discontinuing AM radio tuners from their new vehicles
"car makers are dropping AM radio from many new electric vehicles
because interference causes annoying static that makes the signal almost unlistable"
so that made it all the more surprising when the ratings for New York City the
number one radio market in the USA for January 2023 were released and the number
one most listened to morning show on the radio is not the Z Morning Zoo it's not
Lite FM it it's not CBS FM especially now that Scott Shannon has retired
it turns out the top rated morning radio show in New York City is AM talk station WABC with
the rating share over two points higher than the next most listened to station
"this is New York's talk leader the crown jewel of talk radio WABC New York"
talk radio has long been considered the savior of the AM band because even as
most music listening moved to FM in the 1980s due to its higher fidelity stereo
sound AM stations were able to remain viable by switching to news, talk, and sports programming
"technology is forcing change FM radios are now popular equipment
in most cars and homes it's a clear high frequency band with high fidelity stereo
perfect for music AM stations are turning to talk"
just as WABC did back in 1982
"well good afternoon everyone welcome in New York to talk radio 77"
many of the people who began listening to talk radio back in the '80s and '90s are
still listening to it today and you may think it's great to have such a
loyal audience but that also means it's an old audience 75 percent of the people
listening to WABC are age 55 even older and less than 10 percent are under the age of 50
but they're not alone broadcast radio in general is attracting an older audience
these days as the younger generations are increasingly switching to streaming
and podcasts that's why some of the highest rated FM music formats are classic rock and
what used to be called oldies but it's now mostly playing music from the 1980s
and in case you haven't noticed there are a hell of a lot of old people around and they
have a lot of money to spend so you'd think these radio stations would be raking in the
dough but the problem isn't attracting listeners it's attracting advertisers
they've historically shied away from older demographics because they consider old people to
be stuck in their ways and unlikely to be swayed by advertising as easily as younger people are
but in WABC's case it helps that they're owned by a billionaire New York City
businessman who unsuccessfully ran for political office no not either of the
ones you may be thinking of but but rather John Catsimatidis better known as Cats he
not only owns the station but also co-hosts its evening drive time show Cats and Cosby
"you're commuting home
with Cats and Cosby now here's John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby on 77 WABC"
so even if WABC isn't making so much money from advertising he probably considers it
to be a great self-promotional tool to be broadcasting himself on a legendary
50,000 watt radio station that's number one in the ratings in New York City
"hi this is John Catsimatidis, Jr. make sure to get my dad's new book How Far do You Want to Go:
Lessons from a Common Sense Billionaire I'm lucky enough to learn from him every day and
now you can too read my book and you'll find out how to make your first billion"
and even if I don't agree with the political views expressed by most
of WABC's programming I do appreciate the fact that they're one of the few
radio stations in the city that never sleeps that has a live late night call-in talk show
and I think if radio wants to remain relevant it has to be live and local
informing entertaining and engaging listeners in ways that stream gaming and podcasts can't
and just like the 1967 General Electric radio I've been using in this video maybe AM radio
still has some life left to it despite what Howard Stern said almost 40 years ago
"nobody listens to AM anymore" "no that's not true" "it's almost impossible to get
people to listen to AM radio there's so much static you can't hear it I mean it's
true you listen to the music there's static and my voice there's static"