Stations who are smart actually PROMOTE wifi radio! One of the leaders in this, is our friends at WRDN in Durand, Wisconsin. "Real Country." VERY involved in their community, and yet VERY interesting to people listening far away. OUR station, WION-AM has been putting REAL AM STEREO on the web for nearly 3 years, and gets noticed by sound quality, and it's actually from an "over the air" tuner. We watch as our weekend feature shows pull in far away listeners, and our morning and afternoon shows "perk up" the listeners from across the United States and the world. The thing to remember, however is that "far away" listeners are a great talking point to stations, but they generate NO income to local advertisers unless the listener visits the town. The COST of streaming is high and requires a significant investment in technology and licensing, and in some cases, (not ours OR WRDN's)....you won't hear 100 percent duplication of the on-air product due to license restrictions. WE don't have that issue, because all of our program providers agreed to allow inclusion in the stream as long as it is not "on demand." But, back to your point. YES, it's a GREAT tool for AM radio stations, and the smart ones will also promote themselves by paying attention to what's called their "air chain" and put quality REAL AM audio on the web to show the world that AM radio, properly done, does NOT have to sound tinny. (that's usually the fault of the receiver manufacturer being cheap.)....The more stations on AM promoting GREAT sound, the better the AM band is, in this day of the FCC visiting the issue of "AM revitalization."
BTW...check out the Satguys Forum for WION radio, too! We'd love to have you tune-in, comment, and be part of what we do!