Analyst predicts 50% of AM/FM stations will disappear in a decade

Top radio analyst Gordon Borrell has predicted that half of all AM/FM broadcast stations will be gone by 2024, thanks to the rise of the digital ‘dashboard’ and more choices for in-car listening.

Speaking to RAIN News, Borrell described his prediction regarding the increase of alternative in-car listening choices as “one of the toughest predictions to make.” He also stated that there are many ways of sending out audio that do not require an FCC license, further adding to the apparently impending doom of AM/FM broadcasts.

Borrell, who presented his views on a webinar that treated attendees to a historical review of media technology disruption, pointed to several examples of media denial in the face of new technology, including newspapers scoffing at the early Internet.

He continued on to say, “There could be some economics in play that will allow some of these stations to continue to broadcast. There aren’t many variable costs. So a tiny AM station affiliated with a church could stay in business. It doesn’t take much money to run a station like that.

“The key thing is that as the listening audience gets smaller, or faces more competition, it coagulate around the most known and powerful stations. There are 36 stations in my market. Probably, only five of them are generally recognised.”