Does music on AM radio even exist anymore? In my area, all the AM stations are talk radio except for one which is a blues format.

I remember in the late 70s and early 80s, the best stations were on AM radio. The DJs seemed to be cooler and hipper while the DJs on FM radio were more laid back. Also on AM radio, they used to have more fun shows like "Testify Time" where callers would call in with a problem and the DJ would answer the problem by playing a song that was appropriate. He would have the record cued to start on the direct lyric that answered the caller's question. Then there was the "Top 10" every night where callers would call in and cast their votes. There was also the "Dedication Line". The DJs would have a lot more fun back then like taking the instrumental to a song like "Survival" by Grandmaster Flash and rapping their own lines over it that applied to them or their station. Sometimes they would even mix. My only gripe was, there were too damn many commercials during the daytime.

In the 1990s, when music as a whole had turned to bullshit, I found one little R&B station on AM that was a national satellite broadcast that played R&B oldies from the 70s and 80s. They played the best old R&B jams, and unlike the FM R&B oldies station, the jams they played were a lot more "blacker". In the early 2000s, it was replaced in my area by a local blues station though.

Anyway, who remembers AM stations and do they even exist in your area anymore (the ones that play music)?

I used to listen to AM stations in the late 70s.There was one particular station I really enjoyed...they played disco,pop,R&B and rock songs,all on the same station.You could hear Stevie Wonder,Elton John,Donna Summer and AC/DC all on the same station.I miss that era.

That's how they were down here during the disco era. We had two stations that played pop, rock, and disco all on the same station.

What the fuck is AM radio?

All they play these days are politics and talk radio.

Yeah, that's all it is now down here also. But back in the 70s and early 80s, there used to be tons of music on AM radio.

I was forever recording music off the radio and wish I had saved all my old cassettes because I had some rare stuff recorded. The problem with AM though, is that it wasn't broadcasted in stereo, so when you made a tape, you got tons of tape hiss and the sound was bland and muffled. That's why I didn't save any of my old recordings.

here you can hear latin music, gospel and some country on the am stations.

Mostly talk and sports though.....

I do, I remember transistor radios and 33 records DJ's when the were the coolest thing around!

AM radio, I believe, is what gave me my appreciation for various styles of music.
Showing my age here but I remember hearing Sly, Led Zep, The Beatles, Jackson 5, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Joni, Isleys ,Marvin Gaye etc, all on AM stations. Usually back to back.
You could hear everybody and all styles on one station.
Of course it was mono and a usually a weak signal but you didn't care about the stuff back then. Maybe if I was older back then it would've but I was just a kid and I just was digging the tunes.
Back then we had low quality audio but more music with substance and variety.
Now it's pretty much the exact opposite. IMO. Generally speaking of course.

Back in NY when i was a kid we had WWRL 1600 Am, WABC. WOR, WNBC,

WWRL was the AM version of WBLS
WABC was the pop station of AM
WOR had the Good Guys
WNBC was the other pop station.

still have 2 local stations programmed in my AM car stereo . they play mostly local talk radio or national talk radio ... but also sports ....

oh and old people music .

I remember AM radio.

It seems the only time I hear it nowadays, is if my husband and I are on the road and he wants to listen to a sports broadcast.

I actually hear several AM music stations where I'm at. No idea where any of them are from.

I used to listen to WLS (890 AM out of Chicago) when I was a kid. I'm probably the last kid in the world that listened to WLS My dad listened to it. Although it's was one of the pioneer rock stations in the 60's & 70's. Then they went to talk in 1989.

Then in 1996, I heard that song by the Bodeans one too many times, and I switched over to AM, just to see what was going on over there, and landed on WLS again. I actually listen almost exclusively to talk radio now when I'm in the car. Or when I have any radio on. I hate listening to music radio.

IAintTheOne said:

Right here, man. WWRL was the SH!T!!!! I was born in '61, so I remember the good old days of AM radio. It wasn't as segregated like it is now.

Only music I can get on the AM side is gospel music

I remember AM radio fondly,

In my neck O'the woods back in the late sixties to early eighties. AM stations were hip, the jocks had balls, and the PD's gave the jocks more freedom, and would program shows for the listners and not by who was the so called hot artist at the time like they do now.

Like you say , be it top ten, request and dedications or whatever.The
listners voice counted and was heard.

We still have a local AM station KKDA(Soul)73, that has an Urban Oldies format.
The Mornings are split with talk\ music radio.

The evenings drive slot is filled by the one and only Millie Jackson via "Live & Uncensored" remote from her Atlanta home m-f. Millie's show is wild and untamed.

Tom Joyner was once a Jock @ this station on the AM side from '72 -'77, he left for a Chicago station, after being at a couple of stations in Chcago he returned to dallas in the early 80's to KKDA's sister station on FM K104, then he soon became the "Fly Jock" Mornings in Big "D" and Evenings in Chi-Town.

The station was from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. everyday. The show would close with Jesse Jackson's "I Am - Somebody" poem, and end with Lift every voice and sing.

KNOK AM 970 was another station with an urban format, it would end at 6 p.m. and continue on it's sister staion KNOK FM 107.5

I can't forget the mixed format station (that was well beyond a typical top forty station) we had on AM radio, hearing groups or artist like Sly & the Family Stone, Miles davis, Gladys Knight & The Pips,Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, CSN&Y, The Stories, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Cream,
Funkadelic, James Brown, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, BB King, Gillespie , Coltrane, Holiday, Cooke...to name a few, plus a lot of one hit wonders, all on one station.

I remember on a cloudy or stormy night( with some static) which was a good indicator for lightning storms, I could pick up stations that were inner-state, and outer-state.

Bfunkthe1 said:

In the late 70's/very early 80's I listend to KFI (640) in L.A. I grew up well east of L.A., in the "Inland Empire," but we could pick it up easily. And another local top 40-type station, can't remember the call sign.

But soon I gradually shifted to FM: college radio (the U. of Redlands station, which was only a few miles away but sometimes barely came in!), AOR (KCAL in San Bernardino, in particular), and good old KROQ in Pasadena (a topic worthy of a thread of its own).

Shoot in the 70's, I think AM is all that was heard in our house (other than records)! My mom used to always listen to this local country station (KCKC), so I know a lot of those classics.

When I lived in the Bay area (between 2002 and 2005) I often listened to KCBS (740), a news station, for their traffic reports (every 10 minutes around the clock). When I was out of town, I could often still pick it up at night, so I could keep up with the weather and news in the area.

uPtoWnNY said:

'66 here man, Frankie crocker,Roscoe,Gerry Bledsoe,Gary Byrd,