Maybe it's time for WJR to power down and go off the air

[MWmetalhead]

There are plenty of AM stations across the country that are at or near the top of ratings: WBZ, WSB, WBBM, KSL, KFI, etc. With its history, signal, and perch in the Fisher building WJR could rule Detroit if it wanted to.

WBZ - good ratings, old demos.

WSB - has been simulcast on 95.5 FM for about 15 years, and 95.5 several years ago moved its TX site to the heart of Atlanta, from where it now broadcasts with 100,000 watts. (The FM was previously located 40 miles NE of the city.)

KFI - this is the best example from your list.

KSL - huh? This format hasn't been AM-only since 2005. Full time simulcast on the monstrous 102.7 FM signal since then. Guess you haven't been keeping tabs on this one too closely.

[TC Talks]

WLS-complete joke, Don Wade and then Rush Limbaugh went to the great booth in the sky, hasn't even been live and local in afternoons for over five years.

Sure he went up and not down?

WGN's line up is still interesting to me, and they still pull good numbers, more importantly, their power ratio is amongst the highest in the country... One of the few local overnights left, and he's great. I do miss The Girlfriends, Orion Samuelson, and Steve Cochran at WGN...

WEEKDAYS:

4 – 6 a.m.: WGN Early Morning News
6 – 10 a.m.: Bob Sirott
10 a.m. – noon: John Williams
noon – 1 p.m.: Wintrust Business Lunch with John Williams
1 – 2 p.m.: John Williams
2 – 6 p.m.: Lisa Dent
6 – 7 p.m: Your Money Matters with Jon Hansen (Monday-Thursday nights)
6 – 7 p.m.: On the Map with Dave Plier (Friday nights)
7 – 10 p.m.: John Landecker (Monday-Thursday nights)
7 – 10 p.m.: Dave Plier (Friday nights)
10 p.m. – 1 a.m.: Rollye James
1 – 4 a.m.: The Other Side of Midnight with Frank Morano (Monday-Thursday nights)

[Honeyman]

I can't believe John Landecker is still on the air. Records truly is his middle name.

[ChrisWL1980]

oldies format...could'nt be any worse could it?
Zoomer 740 in Toronto certainly gets a lot of chatter on social media
May not make any $$$$ but an alternative...

They're also not AM-only. They have a simulcast in the GTA on 96.7.

[FredLeonard]

Why stop at WJR? Shut down the entire AM band. It has had a 105 year run. Time to let it go. WJR is not the only Detroit station that once represented the pinnacle of radio and is now nothing. If the owners think a format is worth saving, they can move it to FM.

WJR once was not just for white collar baby boomers. Boomers listened to WJBK, WXYZ, Keener or CKLW. All now bottom of the heap, too. Back then the elites listened to WJR. Word is they once ran ads from auto parts manufacturers targeting only three people - executives at each of the big three who could buy their parts to put in cars. Of course, today WJR is returning to its roots. It was once a bastion of right-wing hate speech and came close to losing its license.

[Radiobirdman]

There are plenty of AM stations across the country that are at or near the top of ratings: WBZ, WSB, WBBM, KSL, KFI, etc. With its history, signal, and perch in the Fisher building WJR could rule Detroit if it wanted to.

WBZ - good ratings, old demos.

WSB - has been simulcast on 95.5 FM for about 15 years, and 95.5 several years ago moved its TX site to the heart of Atlanta, from where it now broadcasts with 100,000 watts. (The FM was previously located 40 miles NE of the city.)

KFI - this is the best example from your list.

KSL - huh? This format hasn't been AM-only since 2005. Full time simulcast on the monstrous 102.7 FM signal since then. Guess you haven't been keeping tabs on this one too closely.

My Bad. I'm not in the biz. The Nielsen ratings confuse me when they roll both AM stations and the FM translator into "KSL-AM." I do know that a lot of people do go to the AM band when they punch in WWJ, WBBM, etc. in their cars for traffic as they drive to work.

[MWmetalhead]

I do agree that WJR could improve its ratings substantially with the right programming, but it will never be a major player in the money demo again.

770 WABC's AQH share has nearly tripled since a local businessman purchased that station from Clueless Cumulus several years ago.

[Radiobirdman]

Why stop at WJR? Shut down the entire AM band. It has had a 105 year run. Time to let it go. WJR is not the only Detroit station that once represented the pinnacle of radio and is now nothing. If the owners think a format is worth saving, they can move it to FM.

WJR once was not just for white collar baby boomers. Boomers listened to WJBK, WXYZ, Keener or CKLW. All now bottom of the heap, too. Back then the elites listened to WJR. Word is they once ran ads from auto parts manufacturers targeting only three people - executives at each of the big three who could buy their parts to put in cars. Of course, today WJR is returning to its roots. It was once a bastion of right-wing hate speech and came close to losing its license.

You may be right but I've heard that "AM is dead" and "No one listens to AM" since the late 1980s. There are still 4,000+ US AM stations out there. Lots of them are ethnic stations that are inexpensive lifelines for the community. Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mexican, Indian, etc.

[FredLeonard]

Why stop at WJR? Shut down the entire AM band. It has had a 105 year run. Time to let it go. WJR is not the only Detroit station that once represented the pinnacle of radio and is now nothing. If the owners think a format is worth saving, they can move it to FM.

WJR once was not just for white collar baby boomers. Boomers listened to WJBK, WXYZ, Keener or CKLW. All now bottom of the heap, too. Back then the elites listened to WJR. Word is they once ran ads from auto parts manufacturers targeting only three people - executives at each of the big three who could buy their parts to put in cars. Of course, today WJR is returning to its roots. It was once a bastion of right-wing hate speech and came close to losing its license.

You may be right but I've heard that "AM is dead" and "No one listens to AM" since the late 1980s. There are still 4,000+ US AM stations out there. Lots of them are ethnic stations that are inexpensive lifelines for the community. Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mexican, Indian, etc.

What's left of AM? Preachers selling Bibles autographed by Jesus. Right-wing hate speech. I'm not sure foreign language radio is such a good thing. Radio and newspapers in English once helped immigrants become fluent in English. Now foreign language radio is a way for them to avoid becoming fluent in English and to avoid assimilation.

Baby boomers grew up with AM. Those born later did not. For them, AM radio is alien - like shortwave. Radio wasn't yet dead in the late 80s but it was dying.

[Pearcga3]

Another example of a well-performing AM station is WISN, 1130 Milwaukee Wisconsin. Within the past year or so they became the most-listened to radio station in the entire state.

AM radio presents a worthy alternative to what FM has seemingly become: mostly a spectrum of robotic music stations playing garbage, or government-subsidized public ratio with a decidedly left-wing slant. And if you have a decent radio AM sounds just fine (granted, those decent radios are hard to find these days).

As for WJR, their wounds are self-inflicted: a combination of radio by and for bluebloods, failure to replenish top-tier talent such as David Newman, questionable choices re: syndicated shows, and too much gruesome weekend programming that appeals to hardly anybody. When I travel outstate I get to hear good syndicated weekend programs on smaller stations.

[GrahamWellington]

AM radio presents a worthy alternative to what FM has seemingly become: mostly a spectrum of robotic music stations playing garbage, or government-subsidized public ratio with a decidedly left-wing slant. And if you have a decent radio AM sounds just fine (granted, those decent radios are hard to find these days).

Modern listeners don't go to AM to get away from lame programming on FM. They go to podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, SiriusXM, etc.

I wax poetic about AM and it's history. I still love hearing the crackle when there is a thunderstorm. It's still fun to occasionally see what distant stations I can pull in. But there is next to no programming on AM I find worth listening to anymore. And when there is, more often than not I'm listening to it via streaming. And that goes for any listener under 75.

[MWmetalhead]

As for WJR, their wounds are self-inflicted: a combination of radio by and for bluebloods, failure to replenish top-tier talent such as David Newman, questionable choices re: syndicated shows, and too much gruesome weekend programming that appeals to hardly anybody. When I travel outstate I get to hear good syndicated weekend programs on smaller stations.

[zzand]

700 WLW has all live and local hosts except for over nights and they are always near the top of the ratings and their stopsets are full.

[MWmetalhead]

They are indeed a truly great radio station.

[Hugh Jorgan]

Those are miserable numbers. Management should be embarrassed.

I wonder how much of their demo has moved a little farther down the dial and listen to Adel's offering?