The FCC limitations on AM bandwidth in the late '80s (it now tops out at ~10kHz) really hampered music programming on AM. IMO the few stations that still do it are saving pennies by paying a teenage board-op (still star-struck by the idea his voice is on-the-air reading legal ID’s or two-line PSAs) $8/hr to run a syndication feed.
When Radio Was is a syndicated hour-long radio program which runs most, if not all, of the old shows you mention:
Here in Chicago, it runs on WBBM-AM 780 from midnight to 1am on weekdays.
The same guy who runs When Radio Was, Greg Bell, also hosts a channel on Sirius and XM satellite radios dedicated to old-time radio:
http://gregbellmedia.com/ShowSchedules.html
My personal guess is that (with the possible exception of markets with an older-skewing population, such as parts of Florida and Arizona) the general interest level in old-time radio isn’t high enough to make it a viable format for a terrestrial radio station.
Up until the mid 70’s AM was more popular around here. The best Rock N Roll was on AM. Clear channel stations out of Chicago were legendary. I remember seeing FM adapters in the stores that added FM to cars. Most cars prior to 1970 came with a standard AM radio unless you upgraded.
I don’t have a problem listening to talk radio on AM. In fact, WWL-870 New Orleans has been simulcasting on 105.3 since right after Hurricane Katrina and when I occasionally scan through 105.3 on the FM dial and something catches my interest, I’ll flip over to AM to listen to it.
Some music doesn’t sound right without that AM radio quality.
Back in '06, I was driving through the Florida panhandle and I picked up an FM station that was playing a 70s adult contemporary format and they had the treble turned down the the reverb turned on. It didn’t sound totally like AM radio, but it really brought me back to when there was music on AM. I think it was the reverb that did it since you never hear that effect on FM today.
None of these play on my local AM stations
Originally Posted by Susanann
AM radio needs to offer more. If AM radio would bring back the old radio shows, drama and comedy, like Amos and Andy, Gildersleeve, Our Miss Brooks, Duffys Tavern, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, LIfe of Riley, Ozzie and Harriet, Kraft Theater, Dragnet, Jack Benny, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fibber McGee, etc, then I would listen.
- A person does not have to be “old” in order to listen to comedy and drama radio shows. Young people also like comedy, mystery, suspense, and drama, esp when they get bored with todays sports talk radio shows.
There are people out there today who are younger than 70 who have enjoyed watching, and are STILL watching old historic ** television **shows like Star Trek, I Love Lucy, Bewitched, The Munsters, Are You Being Served, All in the Family, Family Ties, Bob Newhart, etc. Therefore, there is no reason why people younger than 70 might also enjoy Abbot and Costello or a good mystery radio show. YOu dont have to be retired in Florida in order to enjoy: Bewitched.
- AM stations are not limited to only broadcasting 60, 70 year old broadcasts like Tom Corbett Space Cadet. There is no reason why an AM station could not play brand new up to date newly made radio shows. Isnt there anybody in the United States who would like a career as a writer, playwrite, etc? Secondly, many of todays tv and movie stars have already appeared in shows where only their voice was used, e.g. animated movies.
with a good radio and antenna you can listen to that.
with a radio that has an internal antenna it helps to have a wide tuning range (lots of knob turns to move over the tuning range) and the correct position (not near other electronics, where in the room, what direction the radio faces).
much better result is with a radio that has an external antenna (loop style is best), antenna position important (not near other electronics, where in the room, what direction the antenna faces).
i use a boombox and a portable on the second floor, both internal antennas and analog tuning). i use two digital clock radios with loop antennas on the first floor.
i can get an hour every day from one station and 2 to 4 hours (depends on sports, 9 PM to 1AM eastern) from another (CHML, Hamilton, Ontario, 900 KHz). these are syndicated shows of that content with stations in every state of the USA.
you need some radio skill to tune it in. the signal will fade because of the atmospherics as will any distant AM station, unless you are close to it.
http://www.whenradiowas.com/ has a station finder for every state in the USA on the right side of the page.
CBS Radio Mystery Theater ran from 74 to 82 and was quite popular.
No, you don’t have to be old to enjoy listening to comedy and drama on the radio – but I guarantee you that the vast majority of people who do so are, indeed, older.
Yes, there are people younger than 70 who enjoy watching old TV shows…but, there’s likely two things going on there:
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They’re watching the shows which they grew up watching. I enjoy watching old episodes of Bewitched because it’s nostalgic for me – it’s a show which I watched as a kid. Listening to old episodes of The Shadow on the radio doesn’t have that same personal nostalgia for me.
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Even if you have younger people who didn’t watch those particular shows when they were kids, but watch them now…it’s still a behavior (i.e., watching a comedy or drama on TV) which they’ve had since they were kids. Listening to dramas or comedies on the radio isn’t something which they ever did, and so, it’s likely a far more difficult thing for them to imagine or adopt.
I’d imagine it’s a simple issue of lack of demand (or, at least, a perceived lack of demand). No one creates new radio programming like that because no one in the radio industry is convinced that there’s enough interest in it to warrant spending the money to create it and distribute such a thing.
I was going to note that, as well as a show called Alien Worlds, a syndicated sci-fi radio series which ran in the late 1970s (and which I enjoyed as a teenager). So, those are newer than the original stuff, but they still have been out of production for 30 years.
I got into AM Talk radio when The Don and Mike Show was big … or big in the AM Talk Radio world anyway. I used to listen to them every afternoon at work and on the way home. They were pretty much a ‘Morning Zoo’ type thing, but syndicated. And in the afternoons.
Now my AM listening habits are limited to The Bob and Tom Show in the mornings (a great little show mostly focused on interviewing comedians). Somethimes I end up catching some of the freakshows that share bandwith with them (Rush, Beck, Hannity, Dr. Laura), but that ususally only lasts until I hear at least one retarded thing that I can curse them out about from afar and I switch over to my Ipod.
One other note: I listen to When Radio Was semi-regularly (it runs on the station which I listen to for news; I frequently find myself listening to it while I’m getting ready for bed). Frankly, a lot of the programs (particularly the comedies) don’t hold up very well. There’s a fair amount of topical references, racial stereotypes, and humor based on outdated gender roles…all of which would make it harder for many younger listeners to enjoy it.
As others have noted, there may be stations close enough to you that you might be able to pick up When Radio Was, especially if you have a radio set up for pulling in distant signals.
Alternately, many radio stations now have live streaming of their programming on the internet. I know that WBBM-AM in Chicago offers this. (Though, note that, if you don’t have a broadband internet connection, it can be a little iffy to listen in that way.)
Sirius XM is a satellite radio service; you have to pay for a subscription. While it’s primarily meant to be listened to through a satellite radio, you can also listen online. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Classic Radio station is available online (not all of their stations are).
to be clear both digital clock radios came with a small plastic loop antenna (less than 4 inches on a side) so you don’t have to build or buy one else where.
one that is a current item is Sony clock radio (ICF-C707) that is a pretty good radio (with attached wire FM antenna and a loop AM antenna). 5 AM and 5 FM presets. sleep timer from 15 to 90 minutes. dual alarms with 2,5 and 7 day settings.
Yeah! How else are you going to hear about the alien abductions, cattle mutilations, etc? George Nouri (sp?), Art Bell, they’re a hoot!
My alarm clock is also set to talk radio. Much more entertaining than the latest “music.” Ah, those kids of today. They’re probably fed up with commercials. No ads on their iPods.
Oh . . . and get off my lawn, you young whippersnappers!
Yes, plus a lot of radio writers tended to set up the most obvious 3rd-grade puns as if they were Comedy Gold. We must have been a very, very literal-minded society then.
Originally Posted by Susanann
2. AM stations are not limited to only broadcasting 60, 70 year old broadcasts like Tom Corbett Space Cadet. There is no reason why an AM station could not play brand new up to date newly made radio shows. Isnt there anybody in the United States who would like a career as a writer, playwrite, etc? Secondly, many of todays tv and movie stars have already appeared in shows where only their voice was used, e.g. animated movies.
Are you agreeing with me? …or disagreeing?
1974 was 36 years ago!!!
More than half the people in this world were not even born 36 years ago.
What I was saying, again, is that radio does not need to only broadcast old shows that 60, 70, or even 40 years old. Instead, entirely new shows could be made.
Originally Posted by Susanann
None of these play on my local AM stations
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OK, I checked the station-finder, and it says I can get 1 hour, at midnight. 1 hour of adult broadcasting , only at midnight, is not going to “save” AM radio.
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We are talking about AM radio, and the absence of adult entertainment programming on AM radio (not the internet, not Sirius, not cassette tapes, etc)
Have you ever seen some of the nonsensical meaningless superficial boring not-funny television shows being made today?