Finally, some good news regarding AM radio

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by analog

Living here in Southern California I remember the "border blasters" from Mexico.

About 10 to 15 years ago i was in California, and there was this Mexican station on 91.1 FM that played "modern rock" (nowadays we call it 80's music). Yes, in the middle of our college radio subband. Never did figure out what their real callsign was, they ran ID at :15 and :45 of the hour, in Spanish, which was pretty much unintelligible. They had the nickname "91X". You could hear them to about 250 miles from the Mexican border.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I'll add that AM sounds much better to me on a tube radio than on most modern consumer grade stuff. It seems that most of the newer stuff is designed just to pass a signal on AM and that's about it. Even the AM section in my mid '70's Kenwood receiver has poor sensitivity and fidelity. A basic 5 tube radio from the '60's has better fidelity and sensitivity than my Kenwood receiver. I was listening this afternoon on a '50's Zenith Bakelite case AM/FM with good results. The AM sounds almost as good as the FM on that radio.

I had a Zenith integrated stereo system in the early '80s that had about the worst AM tuner I have ever heard. No kidding--mine was so bad I was getting short wave on the AM broadcast band after sundown. (The AM reception in my area at that time, near-suburban Cleveland east of town, wasn't all that great either; I think if I had held on to that system when I moved to where I live now, a small NE Ohio town some 40 miles from Cleveland stations, it would have been a setup for one heck of a letdown--in other words, the AM section of this system was good for near-suburban reception, but get out much further than 15 miles from the stations and the AM performance drops like a stone.) The irony was that the FM reception was very good, typical Zenith. That system must have had an AM tuner section designed as you said; just well enough to pass a signal--nothing more, nothing less. The fact that the AM tuner in my system was picking up shortwave stations on the broadcast band at night leads me to believe that the tuner was extremely poorly designed and usable, as I said, only in strong signal areas.

The AM tuner in my present stereo system, an Aiwa NSX-A888 mini system bought new in 1999, has problems as well--I think. There is a 1kW AM station on 1460 kHz in my area that comes in at two points on the digital AM tuner, 560 and 1460 kHz, 900 kHz apart. If this station were a big 50kW bruiser I would suspect it was overloading the front end of my tuner, but this particular station is only 1kW days and 0.5kW (500 watts) nights. Since my apartment is some five miles (more or less) from the station's transmitter, I don't think I'm getting any huge amount of signal on that particular station. That leaves only one thing--the design of the tuner itself. Again, it goes back to what you said about the slap-dash manner in which AM tuner sections of even expensive stereo receivers are built, especially models of the last 30-35 years or so. Like yourself, I have vintage table radios that sound better on AM than even my bookshelf system; lately I've been listening to my Zenith MJ1035, an early FM stereo receiver from the 1960s. Except for some hum in the sound and not a heck of a lot of audio level (but enough to get decent listening volume), this radio sounds better than any modern radio I own, except perhaps for my 1958 Zenith C-845.

The makers of stereo receivers over the last three decades or so have probably decided to concentrate their efforts on the FM tuners and just put in an AM section that isn't much better than a crystal set. There isn't that much worth listening to on AM anymore anyway (except for stations such as Toronto's AM 740 and possibly other small U.S. stations), most of it being talk, sports or other non-music programming, so there is really no need for wide bandwidth in the AM tuner these days. I don't know if very many people who own these stereo receivers even listen to them on AM (you are apparently one of those few who do); after all, when one spends a large amount of money on a stereo system, he/she will almost certainly be listening to the FM tuner and running their turntables, cassette decks, CD systems, etc. through the amplifier. AM radio was never meant to be a high-fidelity music medium in the first place; but then again, the music played by stations such as AM 740 was never hi-fi stuff either (remember, those songs are anywhere from 30 to 80 years old or more, some possibly even predating electric phonographs and having been digitally remastered).

AM stereo, which was supposed to improve the sound of AM radio, went bust in the early 1980s, as did quadraphonic sound. I'll never forget how an article in a late-sixties issue of the (now defunct) Electronics Experimenter magazine began: "It's fantastic! It's colossal! ... and it is also A BOMB!"

Quad sound was a bomb, all right. It lasted through the 70s and the very early eighties, but it died long about 1983; the same thing happened with Dolby FM, though Dolby has made a comeback as it is now used extensively in home-theater audio systems. I don't know to this day if there were any FM stations in the northeastern Ohio area that broadcast Dolby-encoded signals. I have a Radio Shack SCT-11 cassette tape deck which has Dolby capability for both tape and FM, but I cannot seem to notice much of a difference in the sound when I use the Dolby decoder with my commercially-recorded (Time-Life Music Service) cassettes, almost all of which have been recorded using Dolby noise reduction.

I don't know that the sound of AM radio will ever even come close to the full fidelity of a good FM stereo signal. The reason is the difference in modes and, as I said, the fact that AM by its very nature is not a high-fidelity music medium. I don't care how much processing goes into the signal at the station; if the receiver is of poor or mediocre design, the audio will sound not much better than a table radio, and that's being kind.

[radiotvnut]

There was another oldies station I used to listen to at night: WSAI out of Cincinnati, OH (I think). They played what I call "real oldies" from the '50's and '60's that the FM boys forgot about. Then, one night I turned them on just to discover that they too had switched to talk.

I do have an old Heathkit Hi-Fi wideband AM tuner that I want to play with one day.

[Sandy G]

God, how I miss WSAI ! They came booming in here w/little or no fade...And the music was top-notch, too, the "2nd, 3rd, & 4th" level of hits that the FM hotshots won't touch w/a 10-foot pole...

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

God, how I miss WSAI ! They came booming in here w/little or no fade...And the music was top-notch, too, the "2nd, 3rd, & 4th" level of hits that the FM hotshots won't touch w/a 10-foot pole...

I like oldies as well, Sandy, and would often listen to WSAI in Cincinnati after dark when it played those great old hits (its 50kW signal boomed in at my former home 15 miles east of Cleveland and still does where I live now, 15 miles further east). The station switched to a talk format some time ago, however, and dropped the oldies without a backward glance. Cincy's other music station, WCKY 1530, did the same thing and became an ESPN sports station (1530 Homer, The Sports Animal!), so now, that city's AM dial is like that of almost every other city in the country these days--all or mostly non-music programming.


There is one FM station some 35 miles east of me that plays darn nearly all the hits from the 1950s through the 1970s, even some rare songs that didn't get much air play even when they were new (and would have eventually faded darn nearly into oblivion, if not for unique oldies stations like this); I like it and listen to it often. Using the call sign WZOO, this station is at 102.5 and puts in a very good signal along the Lake Erie shoreline from Erie, Pennsylvania back into the far suburban Cleveland area. The city of Cleveland itself has an excellent oldies station on 105.7 as well. This one is known as WMJI, and has been playing what were at the time America's best '60s, 70s (and now '80s) classic hits since 1981. I listen to this station often as well, especially on my old Zenith MJ-1035. Maybe it's just me, but I think those great old classic gold hits sound better when listened to on a vintage radio with a high fidelity audio stage. What amazes me as far as WZOO is concerned is that a lot, and I mean quite a few, of their oldies are broadcast in stereo. I'm at a loss to explain this, as I'm sure a large number of those oldies were not originally recorded in stereo--especially in the fifties when stereo records were new and there was no such thing as stereo FM yet (the FCC did not authorize U.S. FM stations to transmit under the multiplex system used today until 1961), although there were some experiments done in the late '50s with a system known as "AM-FM stereo" in which the right channel program information was carried over a city's AM station and the left channel would be broadcast over the same city's FM station, or vice-versa. From what I understand of it, the system, which was a Rube Goldberg lashup at best, worked after a fashion but had problems; for example, if the listener were out of range of either the AM or FM station, he/she would not hear fully one half of the program. When the new multiplex standards were approved in 1961 the situation brightened, however, and the old AM-FM stereo system was relegated to the annals of history; by the end of the '60s there were more stations jumping on the stereo bandwagon than one could shake a stick at (the seventies saw a continuation of this trend as well), as the new multiplex system became the standard for stereo FM in this country. Today, almost all commercial (and even college/NPR) FM stations transmit in stereo; only very small low-budget stations in small towns still broadcast in monaural. I remember one FM station in Cleveland in the early '70s, originally set up for full stereo multiplex, that was forced to transmit monophonically for a short time when a fire at a telephone company relay station knocked out one of the station's stereo channels (this was some 35 years before STLs [studio-transmitter links], rather than physical wire telephone lines, were being used to link radio station studios and transmitters). What a mess. The station eventually got back on the air in stereo, but I'm sure any engineer who was working at that station at that time will never forget "the day half the music died" (with apologies to Don McLean and his '70s hit American Pie) at station WGCL (now classic rock 98.5 WNCX) in Cleveland.

[Brian]

I pretty much wrote off AM after selling my old Atwater Kent years ago. Stereo tuners from the latter '60s onwards for the most part suck on AM. Never had an AM tuner in my main listening system until buying a Philips 6731 AM/FM tuner. The AM section is worth the going price of the unit. More recently picked up an Eton S350DL and having a blast doing some DX'ing with it and an old Candle AM/FM/SW portable 12 transistor radio. I am spending as much time listening to AM 740 here in Toronto as CBC-2 on FM that is my main FM station.

[zenith2134]

Awhile back I picked up a Stromberg carlson wood cabinet radio from 1939. It had SW and AM and it was the nicest sounding AM radio i ever listened to. Someone threw this out. It was so clean I could eat off of it. I eventually sold it since I have no interest in SW or AM for the most part. Anyways, my car AM radio is so susceptible to interference it isn't even funny. My vintage Kenwood KT7500 does a pretty great job with a long wire antenna, especially at nighttime.

[Celt]

Scaned the AM dial today and was surprised to hear four stations had abandoned their talk-radio format, returning to music.

Two offered excellent fidelity too.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by Celt

Scaned the AM dial today and was surprised to hear four stations had abandoned their talk-radio format, returning to music.

Two offered excellent fidelity too.

What kind of music?

[Brian]

Last night as I was spinning the dial I hit an AM station playing classical. Did not get the call sign as I was heading down to 740 to listen to the Martin & Lewis show. I don't recall hearing the classical before and on Wednesday, as 740 has the old time radio programs on Monday and Tuesday, I'll search for it again. I'm beginning to think maybe with the realignment of broadcasting AM is making an attempt to come back int the spotlight as the free alternative.

In the car, I'm almost 100% listening to 740 now.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

My vintage Kenwood KT7500 does a pretty great job with a long wire antenna, especially at nighttime.

How? Being in Queens, New York, you are in the primary signal area of every AM station in New York City, most of which are 50kW. I am amazed your tuner isn't overloaded to saturation or worse by the tremendous signal your wire antenna feeds into it; it would seem to me that you would now have so much signal from just the local stations that DXing between stations would be extremely difficult, if not downright impossible. Your tuner must be extremely (almost incredibly) selective, IMHO, if you can hear anything other than local New York stations with a wire antenna.

You are using a part of your tuner (the external AM antenna input) most people don't even know exists, as most people are content just to use the small pivoting loopstick AM antenna mounted to the backs of most tuners if they listen to AM at all. Many true audiophiles, however, will go to the ends of the earth (even to the extent of putting up a deep-fringe FM antenna on a 50-foot tower) to get excellent FM reception from as many stations as possible--even in metropolitan areas with 20 or more local stations. Again, your Kenwood tuner must have an above-average or even excellent AM section (with selectivity variable down to a gnat's eyelash[!]) if you are getting as many stations as you mention; not like the poor excuses for AM tuners found in many otherwise excellent stereo receivers.

[zenith2134]

It's a good tuner but what I meant was that I can listen to local AM with nice fidelity and signal, but yeah I can't get anything else since we are being bombarded by local AM...

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Brian

Last night as I was spinning the dial I hit an AM station playing classical. Did not get the call sign as I was heading down to 740 to listen to the Martin & Lewis show. I don't recall hearing the classical before and on Wednesday, as 740 has the old time radio programs on Monday and Tuesday, I'll search for it again. I'm beginning to think maybe with the realignment of broadcasting AM is making an attempt to come back int the spotlight as the free alternative.

In the car, I'm almost 100% listening to 740 now.

Twenty years ago or more I would have guessed you probably stumbled onto New York's 50kW WQXR-AM 1560. That station simulcast New York's classical WQXR-FM 96.3 for many years, until WQXR-AM was converted to Radio Disney and its call sign changed to WQEW. WQXR is now available in the New York area on FM at 96.3, although it may well have an Internet audio stream as well. I live near Cleveland which used to have an excellent classical music station, WCLV 95.5; that station was purchased by one of its founders several years ago and promptly moved to 104.9, which makes it nearly unlistenable in certain areas 30+ miles east of Cleveland due to a strong station at 104.7, just 0.2 MHz down the dial. Fortunately, however, WCLV does have an Internet stream (www.wclv.com), but it is usable only if your computer's media player can handle Ogg Vorbis streams.

Toronto's AM 740 is a breath of fresh air on today's AM radio dial. My Zenith TransOceanic Royal 1000 is more or less locked on that station due to a broken dial cord, but that doesn't bother me because 740's music is so good. I live very close to the south shore of Lake Erie and hear 740 nearly 24/7. This station is living proof that there are still music radio stations to be heard on AM radio; it just takes a little looking to find them. AM 740 is unique in that it has, as its air personalities (these people are far more than mere disk jockeys, IMHO--they are too darn good at what they do; in fact, one of them, Bill Gable, used to be an announcer, and a darn good one at that, for a Cleveland station some 35 years ago) make a particular point of mentioning, the widest and best coverage area of any Canadian AM radio station. Its 50kW signal covers the eastern Great Lakes area including the entire Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo east to Buffalo, greater Toronto of course, and the entire northeastern United States. I don't know if they reduce their power output or change antenna signal patterns (or both) after sundown (several posters here have mentioned that 740 may only be heard in their areas between seven and eleven p.m.), but that shouldn't matter, as the station has an Internet stream at www.am740.ca as well as their regular 50kW signal on 740 kHz, so you can hear the station even in areas its OTA signal does not or cannot reach. Listen to AM740 on the Internet and you may well find that the stream sounds better than the station's over-the-air signal, especially if, as I do, you have your computer's audio running through your stereo system. The station will also sound great through your car stereo's audio system. If you are up late at night, AM 740 has a very good automated music program from midnight until six a.m. as well; no air personalities, few commercials, just lots of great music from radio's golden age. I forget the title of this wonderful program, although "Jukebox 740" seems to stick in my head as I write this.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Celt

Scaned the AM dial today and was surprised to hear four stations had abandoned their talk-radio format, returning to music.

Two offered excellent fidelity too.

Commercial radio is a very competitive business, where numbers are everything. It may well be that many talk radio stations, especially in very large markets, are finding (sometimes after only a short time as talkers) they are being eaten alive by their competition--especially in huge markets such as New York or Los Angeles. That seems to fit the four stations you mention rather well.

BTW, if two of the four stations sound as good as you say, I wonder if they weren't music stations before they were ever switched to talk; if so, their licensees/owners did the right thing putting the music back. There is entirely too much talk radio on the AM dial in most major cities today as it is. (How many AM talk stations can you hear in Paragould? I would guess quite a few, as you aren't that far from Jonesboro or even Little Rock.) An example of this was when one of the active rock FM stations in Cleveland was switched to talk a couple of weeks ago. Really! The AM radio dial in northeastern Ohio is already full to overflowing with talk/sports/news-talk stations (there is only one AM music station left, WWMK 1260, the Radio Disney station); now there is one (just one) FM talker where Cleveland's first hard-rock station used to be. I certainly hope the other 20+ local FM stations don't get ideas from this and start flipping right and left to talk, although, since Cleveland is the home of rock and roll (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in the downtown section of the city), I don't think any more of the city's music stations will be abandoning their formats any time soon.

[Sandy G]

I wish some of these "Bible-Beater" stations down here would go back to music. Every one of 'em is an "old-timey" full gospel station, which means they scream & shout, & are about as subtle in their message as Little Boy was w/Hiroshima. Furthermore, if all THAT wasn't bad enuff, their chief engineer at most of them must be someone who knows nothing about modulation or broadcasting-Just turn 'er up as loud as she'll go.Gotta get The Word out there to all them there now Heatherns...