FM Tuner for audiophiles-is it a bad idea today?

The station I listen to spins vinyl, KCRW. They also play auto-tune digital stuff. Can't have it all. However, music discovery is great with this local station.

I have 2 tuners and use both regularly. A Magnum Dynalab MD102 for FM and the following, https://www.xdrguy.com/ for the HD and FM band. HD is awful sonically compared to FM but I need the HD band occasionally.

The Sony HD tuner is pretty amazing at picking up stations. It does not sound as good as the MD 102 but it has a better signal grabber. I say the Sony is 95% of the MD 102 sonically on the FM band.

@tablejockey KCRW broadcasts on 2 bands, FM and HD radio. The HD radio broadcast is 24 hours of music a day but it is not as good as the FM band selections. On the FM band you hear the DJ’s select and play whatever they feel like that day. I love that. Sometimes the DJ’s bring in vinyl because they think it sounds better (mostly the male DJ’s). It a bit of Deja vu listening to KCRW since growing up  in Toronto, back in the 70’s and 80’s, stations allowed the DJ’s to have more say in what got played.

My favorite music these days seems to come out of Africa. There was a French DJ playing at midnight on Fridays I think and he had the amazing music from Africa. With Covid all the DJ’s and programming is messed up. They seem to not have the auto-tune crap. Almost all my new Tidal album additions are from music I heard on KCRW. This station is my last lifeline to radio.

I have a Magnum Dynalab Signal Sleuth and the MD indoor antenna for the MD102. I don’t think the Sleuth helps me since I am around mountains.

@kennyc I bought my MD 102 when I lived in Los Altos Hills. That is your area and there were a few worth while stations up there. I loved the station that played Latin Jazz on Sunday (Jessie "Chewie" Vera sp?) was the DJ. That was a decade ago. The MD102 sounded like CD quality on the Bay Area FM stations.