Technology is AM radio’s biggest threat.
Every year about 60 more AM stations, go dark.
The land the towers are on is more valuable that the operation of an AM stations. Too many of them with multiple towers, taking up acres upon acres in areas being overrun with development. 60 to 70 years ago land that was rural was ‘towered’.
Also killing AM radio is the speed of processors and chips. They radiate noise in the AM spectrum. The FCC must be allowing higher and higher limits on this noise. Every chip in a car running stuff, radiates this noise, it gets to overwhelm the AM receiver just feet away from the chips.