The death of an AM station in Quincy has put AM1180 WLDS in small company in the region.
Muddy River News reports that WGEM-AM 1440 in Quincy announced last week will be off the air for good on March 1st.
The station has been off the air on the AM dial since June 2022 after the station lost both of its transmitters. The station had been simulcasting on the 98.9FM frequency only since then.
The move by Gray Television, the ownership group of WGEM-AM, means that the Chicago Cubs will not currently be in the Quincy market any longer. WGEM-AM had carried Cubs baseball since 1985. Cubs’ baseball previously was carried by Quincy’s WQCY on 103.9FM.
AM1180 WLDS and AM1150 KCPS in Burlington, Iowa are the closest stations to the Quincy market that carry the Cubs.
The New York Times reported back in December that many AM radio is being dropped out of several new vehicles by auto makers because of audio quality and interference caused by a lack of shielding in new electric vehicles. In October 2020, the FCC gave final approval of a ruling allowing AM stations to transition to an all-digital broadcasting system in hopes of providing better audio quality and to keep AM radio going into the future with a new audience.