This article reveals several things I never knew concerning the past competitions between AM and FM, and the rest of the article is pretty interesting too..
COMMENTARY: Alan Cross on why he treasures the magic of AM radio
https://globalnews.ca/news/7616773/am-radio-history/
"... FM listenership was once so low that AM operators simply simulcast their programming on their FM outlet. When broadcasting rules put an end to that in the 1970s, FM was restricted from competing with AM with rules and regulations that ensured programming on FM would be different. No one wanted to disrupt all the cash coming from AM stations.
For example, it was once illegal for a Canadian FM station to go top 40. The rules stated that FM stations couldn’t play the same song more than 18 times a week. And no more than 49 per cent of the songs on the playlist could have entered the top 40. FM was the domain of album tracks, deep cuts, and DJs who (by law) had to talk a lot more than their AM compatriots. There were spoken word requirements for things like “mosaic programming,” “surveillance,” and “foreground.” (Those rules disappeared in the 1990s.)... ... ...
.... Things began to change for AM in the late 1970s as more people gravitated to FM and by 1978 had bigger audiences. Canadian music-based AM stations held on for a while longer because of our unique broadcasting rules. But the writing was on the wall.
AM radio would have all but disappeared in the 1980s had it not been for the rise of right-wing talk radio. AM couldn’t compete on musical fidelity ..."
https://globalnews.ca/news/7616773/am-radio-history/
Yes in the 1960s till the eighties FM couldn't play what AM did so the hit parade(top 40) stations and later oldies stations could only be on AM. I was always an AM listener. But the only way Rock and Roll could migrate to FM was by basing the format on album tracks not singles so the genera of album rock was born. Many bands like CCR and Chicago got their start with FM album play in the late 60s. Led Zeppelin became big stars because of album rock on FM.
But then towards the eighties it seemed to change and now you could have top 40 and country stations on FM.
Don't forget AM wasn't just right wing talk it was for oldies, baseball games, regular talk....it's not all right wing politics.
It is still now for listening to baseball games and other sports for example and all the talk isn't just right wing politics it's for talk about all kinds of things. I am now during these baseball playoffs listening to the Blue Jay Games on the radio not inside staring at a TV. I don't even get the sports TV stations.
Me listen to FM? Yeah just what I want to hear, synthesized pop. If I don't want to hear it or don't like it what does it matter how good it sounds?
I remember AM as still being the primary rock and roll music source when I graduated highschool in 1978. During that time I remember FM as playing of full albums and varied obscure programming, never knowing what to expect. I was not an avid FM listener, but there was one program that I really liked even though it was really pretty stupid. It was some college station (this was when I lived in Englewood Colorado) that one night a week (I forget which night it was but it wasn't on a weekend), the announcer would tell you what channel to put your TV on and to turn the volume all the way down. It would always be a rerun of some old black and white movie. Then on the radio a group of 3 or 4 college students would be the voices of the movie actors on the TV screen. They just made it up as they went along, I if the kissed on screen then over the radio would be exaggerated smooching, for a car crash on screen you'd hear some guy making a lame car crash sound with his voice, conversations on the screen voiced and made up as they went along by those in the college studio.
It would actually get boring after awhile and even the "voice actors" would sometimes abandon it half way through and just start talking about random stuff, forgetting the movie completely, but I usually stayed till the end of the movie anyway.
I need to find out what College that was.
In 1966, Woody Allen made his directorial debut with the film What's Up Tiger Lily, the precursor to what Rich is describing. Allen used scenes from a low budget Japanese spy film and dubbed in English dialogue - he changed the entire plot to a search for the world's best egg salad recipe. The Lovin' Spoonful did a soundtrack album for the film.
I have to say that radio is the perfect platform for that kind of show.
Yes in the 1960s till the eighties FM couldn't play what AM did so the hit parade(top 40) stations and later oldies stations could only be on AM. I was always an AM listener. But the only way Rock and Roll could migrate to FM was by basing the format on album tracks not singles so the genera of album rock was born. Many bands like CCR and Chicago got their start with FM album play in the late 60s. Led Zeppelin became big stars because of album rock on FM.
I recall nothing but music on AM in the early 1970's, and our first FM rock station was KSHE in "Crestwood, MO" along old Rt 66. It did sound better than the AM but didn't play anything I had heard before. Didn't listen to album rock on KSHE until I was almost in high school about 1980.
So the day job plays old 70's pop at times, a little 80's rock, all over mono audio. And it reminds me much of AM as a kiddo! Resolution is still better on parts because it's piped into the work space on a CD quality circuit. It's very nostalgic to hear "Baby you're no good" by Rhonstadt, or King singing "It's too late".
But I have my own AM station to hear what I never hear, and that's is roots music. I haven't wanted to listen to much of anything played using electricity since 2010.
But then towards the eighties it seemed to change and now you could have top 40 and country stations on FM.
Don't forget AM wasn't just right wing talk it was for oldies, baseball games, regular talk....it's not all right wing politics.
AM is still about sports in Saint Louis. I recall hearing politics of all types in a talk format during the 1990's into the early 2000's. I always thought Alan Combs against Limbaugh or Liddy was a nice balance.