I know that it's always disheartening to see some corporation charge money for something that you used to be able to get for free, but if there is a specific news talk or sports talk station that prompted this thread, have you client look into the growing list of these shows being rebroadcast on XM and Sirius or through web streaming. Your clients' favorite shows may not be in the same time slots or in the same order as the original broadcast, but they consistency of reception and ease of automation will make it better for you.
I have also researched the AM loop thing myself, having found detailed plans for an intellgently engineered system using mast rotors on two seperate axis (axes?) re-orienting hula hoops hand wound with wire and connected to science project breadboards full of variable capacitors, transformer coupled doo-dads etc. These findings, the reasoning behind these tweaks to counter the inconsistent and fickle nature of AM reception, and the continual build up of competing crap flying through the air due to the desire for "wireless everything" has made me look elsewhere.
Hopefully you get out from under this through XM, Sirius, or web re-broadcast or it will be a call back nightmare.