Clear Channel, which owns WDTW AM 1310 in Dearborn, is turning off the radio station on the last day of the year, and scrapping the transmission towers and associated equipment. The license is being donated to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, whose mission statement reads:

"Since 1997, MMTC Broadcasting, LLC. has distinguished itself as the only nonprofit and only minority owned full service media brokerage in the United States.

"MMTC Broadcasting takes its work to promote minority ownership and participation in the media industry very seriously. And the industry takes MMTC Media Brokers seriously. The industry is standing behind our mission. Media partners have donated over 100 radio and LPTV stations. MMTC Broadcasting has pledged to use these stations to promote ownership and broadcast training opportunities for minorities and women."

Some folks have called this a conspiracy to silence "progressive talk" in the Detroit market. If that were the case, though, Clear Channel could simply stop broadcasting that programming and put something else on the air. Spanish or Arabic programming, some other form of talk radio, even a loop of geese farting on a foggy day. But what this really demonstrates is the sad reality for many broadcasters in today's economy.

Many radio stations broadcast omnidirectionally, with the signal radiating more or less in a circle from a single tower and antenna.

Other stations, especially on AM, need to broadcast directionally, sending more of their signal in some directions and less of it in others. To do this on AM, you need a minimum of two towers for a simple pattern. As the pattern becomes more complicated, or if the station needs one pattern during the day and another at night, more towers become necessary. The more towers you need, the more land you need to own for the towers.

WDTW has a six-tower array near I-94 and Telegraph. WDFN AM 1130 has nine towers. I've heard that the most complicated arrays have 12 towers, though there aren't any like that around here.

Clear Channel has learned the same thing that many operators of such directional stations have found out: The land the towers is sitting on is more valuable than the business itself.

A few years ago, a directional AM station in Jackson went dark when the owners got an offer from a developer to buy the land for a very good price. I think a shopping mall now sits where the antennas were. Other struggling directional AM stations have met the same fate. I suspect some sort of industrial development on that land to be announced soon.

The station has tried many different formats over the last 25 or so years, but none of them made any money.

If MMTC Broadcasting finds somebody who wants the license, that person or company will probably have to construct an entirely new facility. Because of changes in FCC regulations since the station was built after World War II, it will probably have to operate at lower power than it currently does.

I don't expect to hear anything locally on 1310 AM for a long time. As somebody who remembrs the glory days of Keener 13 from back in the 1960s, this makes me very sad.