[eternityforest]

I doubt AM is easy to transmit in practice. Complicated modulation schemes cost almost nothing, but high power is still expensive and needs real engineering.

It might be easier on a DIY level, but on a commercial level complexity is free, substance and power are expensive.

[RF_Enthusiast]

AM transmissions (10 kHz) are relatively narrow compared to other broadcast formats, so the power bill is less than FM (200 kHz) and TV (6000 kHz).

The real cost problem in 2022 is the size of the antenna. The entire tower, or array of towers, is the antenna. They can take up many acres of land. It is hard to justify not selling out and replacing those towers with more lucrative residential, retail or industrial development.

A single station's antenna could be 5 properly spaced towers, each hundreds of feet high.