AM radio is on life support ... "simply natural selection at work"

A Quest to Save AM Before It’s Lost in the Static

Excerpt:

Long surpassed by FM and more recently cast aside by satellite radio and Pandora, AM is now under siege from a new threat: rising interference from smartphones and consumer electronics that reduce many AM stations to little more than static. Its audience has sunk to historical lows.

... In 1978, ... half of all radio listening was on the AM dial. By 2011 AM listenership had fallen to 15 percent, or an average of 3.1 million people, according to a survey by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private investment firm. While the number of FM listeners has declined, too, they still averaged 18 million in 2011

... In 1970 AM accounted for 63 percent of broadcast radio stations, but now it accounts for 21 percent, or 4,900 outlets, according to Arbitron. FM accounts for 44 percent, or 10,200 stations. About 35 percent of stations stream content online.

...Critics say its decline is simply natural selection at work, and many now support converting the frequency for use by other wireless technologies

Comment: WSAI was the AM radio of my youth. I occasionally will try to tune into WCTS but most times driving out of downtown the reception is poor. Our radio listening: 10 min to a classical FM station to the clock radio to wake up. XM Sirius in the car ... mainly classical. My first car ('68 bug) came with no radio. I installed an AM radio. My brother, who was always uber-cool, only listened to FM