A bit like the previous 4AK playing 80’s to now on AM (and much of 4WK still doing this).
Magic 1278 should drop 60s and 70s music, but add 90s, 2000s and 2010s music
3MP should switch from easy listening to pop music from 2020 to now
Would that help with the ratings?
AM radio’s listener base needs to be younger in my opinion
The slogan for each station could be the following:
“Millennial Music, Magic 1278”
“Melbourne’s Pop, 3MP 1377”
Listen man, I don’t know what to you tell you but young people are not going to listen to music on AM frequencies when they could…not do that.
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No!
Younger people won’t listen to it. That ship sailed 30 years ago. Back then there might have been a glimmer of hope with young people driving around in their parents’ cars that only had AM radios, but 0% chance of that now.
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This would never happen due to two reasons
- Online Streaming and most of the younger audience do not even listen to the radio and get their music fix on the internet.
- The younger people like their sound quality to be top notch and AM Radio does not have the best sound quality, especially due to RF Interference.
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That statement is imaginary, at best false, the younger people you’re talking about have grown up listening to compressed CODEC audio, many would’ve grown up listening to 128k or less mp3 quality audio & they think it’s fine, most (outside of those young ones in here or actual audiophiles) have probably never heard actual real music audio (outside of a live concert situation), all the audio they’ve heard & have in their collections will be either compressed, but maybe lossless digital CODEC audio, they wouldn’t know top notch real audio if they fell over it.
That’s half the reason DAB+ audio quality is so low bitrate, it’s thought those who would be listening to it are used to that quality music on iPods, phones, etc. & don’t know any better/different. You also can’t really use the Mono vs Stereo as a reason they wouldn’t listen, outside of cars, most DAB+ radios are mono, so the young ones who might be listening to radio (DAB+) would be used to mono anyway & a lot of phones only play mono audio either from mp3 files stored in your phone library or streaming off the internet.
There’s some higher quality ones, but you’ll find most web streams of radio stations are still only 56k - 128k mp3 or 32k - 96k AAC+, all of which most people are quite happy to listen to & think is good quality sound, not realising half of it doesn’t actually exist & is just electronically made up in the receiver to trick your ears (brain) into thinking it’s there.
Also another little trick in audio processing 90% plus of listeners wouldn’t realise or be able to tell is, that quite often in a radio web stream, while it might be in stereo, bands 1 & 2 (low frequency bands) & everything over 12kHz will be mono, so the Codec’s don’t have to process the extra data needed to make it stereo, which helps low bit rate streams sound better. So not only do you think you’re hearing a real copy of audio, when your not, you think the audio is stereo, but it’s only partially stereo.
Yes AM radio has a lot of possible external noise interference these days, but don’t claim young listeners wouldn’t listen to AM POP music because they like their sound quality top notch & it’s only mono.
Do I think young people would listen to POP music on AM radio, yes, but not in huge numbers & not if they could listen to the same on FM, DAB+ or streaming, mostly because AM radio isn’t “fashionable” to young people who most would never have had any interaction with it & probably don’t even know it exists. I bet if you had a couple of young influencers on social media telling young people, hey this station is fantastic on AM radio, you’d have droves listening to it.
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They still spend decent money on good quality headphones and Bluetooth speakers thinking it sounds good to them.
And a lot of streaming is via Spotify/Apple and is 256 kbps or better, I don’t think you lose much compared to lossless/vinyl/CD at those higher bit rates.
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Not a lot no, but it’s still a digital Codec that’s not entirely a real copy of what was originally recorded or played.
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In terms of modern pop music on AM - why wouldn’t you just listen to any of the half-dozen FM stations in the area that have a similar playlist?
I would only consider listening to AM if there was a really good classic hits station in the area playing rare tracks. Even then, I prefer streaming or my own CD collection 
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Geez I was in my very early teens back when all the FM conversions took place in Melbourne (3TT to TTFM, 3KZ to KZFM/Gold104). For decades later I was a keen 3LO/ABC Radio Melb and Triple J listener. Now I’m in my 40s, I’m less keen on some of the new music, but I remember back to new music on AM.
I lived in that time, but it still seems inconveivable that I’d return to AM for music now. Even ABC Radio, I listen on DAB+.
There’s no way a Gen Z, with no entrenched radio-listening habit, would tune in to an actual AM broadcast. It’s a fantasy.
And you’ll never convince me that AM is comparable to CDs/MP3s/streams etc.
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Young listeners these days tune into radio via FM, DAB+ and (most of the time) online streaming, AM is only really there as a historical anomaly, designed to play music from the eras when people actually listened to the radio via AM, and when AM was popular. Most of AM’s music playlist these days consists of 60s, 70s and 80s, with some 90s as well on some stations. However, AM music stations in regional areas are now requesting a conversion to FM broadcasting, which means in much of Regional Australia, AM broadcasting’s days, music-wise, are becoming numbered. The only AM station still playing new music on the AM band (and now in AM Stereo of course) is 4WK Toowoomba.
Aside from music, AM has become a major source for talkback radio, particularly for news and emergency/disaster information, it was an essential source for Queenslanders earlier this year when Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred hit the South East, though not always reliable, as during the Cyclone emergency ABC Brisbane’s AM transmitter got knocked off-air, and their FM transmitter on 106.1 FM stayed on-air, which also carried emergency information. Of course though, most of the metropolitan AM talkback stations are also available on DAB+ and online. Let’s also not forget that AM radio is also used for Gambling radio, multicultural and religious broadcasts, which all cater for niche groups and interests.
Also when AM Stereo was introduced in the 80s, no one really cared or bothered to listen to it. Stereo AM broadcasting was backwards compatible with normal mono AM radios so there was little motivation to spend money on a new receiver when their old one was working just fine, sure the sound was in mono but people couldn’t really care less. Either that or people were interested in the new Stereo AM broadcasting method, but there were a lack of AM Stereo-capable receivers. As a result it was deemed a failure in Australia and the final straw for Stereo AM broadcasting was that most music stations by the 90s had converted to the FM band, which in turn provided crystal clear stereo, far superior than AM Stereo.
So to top it off, no, young listeners won’t listen to AM radio, they’ll only listen to an AM radio station if it’s on FM, DAB+ or streaming. Young people see AM radio as an oldies bandwidth nowadays. And with AM music stations in the regions making requests to the ACMA to convert to FM, I can’t see music on AM radio in much of Australia surviving for much longer. But what you can do is dream on.
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At the football when you see people of all ages singing ‘West Virginia, Mountain Mama’ and ‘Good times never seemed so good, so good, so good’ AM music has appeal to everyone. I say ‘AM music’ because 4BH is the only station in town that plays these classics.
2025 is set to be the year when AM/FM overtakes TV in ratings (Nielsen). Where AM is set to flourish in the 18-24 demographic, during this time of cost-of-living pressure,s is amongst the budget conscious students and low-wage workers. Cashed up bogans will continue to listen to MMM on FM and DAB+, but there is a niche market out there happy to listen to AM for their entertainment. No need for any subscriptions, indeed, apart from an initial outlay of $28.50 (or 4 payments of $7.13 with afterpay) - AM radio doesn’t even demand any energy costs.
Gone are the days of siren battles, the current trend is the quiet crystal quality of truly free-to-ear AM audio.
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If most AM stations are only listened to by the elderly, how will they survive in 20 years from now when their current listeners have all passed away?
Why would they not listen to an FM station playing the same music?
I’m genuinely struggling to follow the logic of this peculiar argument.
Anyway, what sort of commercial station would want to appeal to poor students and the destitute? There’s not much money to be made from that cohort, is there?
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As somebody who is a member of gen Z, there’s a little bit of misconception here, though there is some truth to it.
We don’t necessarily listen to terrestrial radio, but when we do it’s usually for the novelty and for something different. Streaming services like Spotify, YouTube Music and the majority of the online platforms are all algorithm driven. Radio is usually not.
The reason why AM broadcasting intrigues many of my fellow generational members, myself included is mainly for the same reasons why we listen to records and cassette tapes, it’s again something different and out of the ‘norm’. New music would be fantastic and kind of cool to experience. In a lot of cases, the sound quality gives a very different vibe, with the way certain frequencies get mooshed together. There’s also a growing trend of ‘digital is boring’, hence why these old ways of media consumption have been reappearing.
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I wouldn’t worry about it, there’s many people been killing off AM for the last 80 years.
AM radio, but radio in general was supposed to die when TV started, also depends who you listen to, but according to some, AM radio supposedly was dead & buried back in the 1950’s, 60’s, long before FM radio started in Australia & about when TV arrived.
I’m probably more the exception than the rule, but I’m 52 & listen to AM radio a lot, I actually prefer it over FM & I only listen to DAB+ when I have to for work.
I’ll listen to 2UE on AM over any of the FM’s mostly, when I Melbourne I seek out the AM music stations, same when I’m in Brisbane & anywhere in between, interference/noise aside I prefer the warm sound of AM over FM, which can be harsh to my ears depending on the processing, if it was AM Stereo it’d be no contest for me, would be AM Stereo over FM every day of the week.
I live literally 900 meters away from the 2HD Newcastle (Belmont North) FM translator site, but I always & prefer to listen to 2HD on their main AM transmission.
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Just overly heavily researched music wise! Which is a similar thing in some ways.
I really feel old when listening to 4BH and hearing ads for funerals,mobility aids companies and aged care/retirement villages 
It’s hard to believe I’m in this age bracket now as I feel younger most of the time
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Well you certainly won’t get funeral/retirement village ads on Top 40 FM stations that’s for sure. Not sure if funeral/retirement village ads are also on AM talkback stations too?
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