millercarbon here and for me it would seem you have answered your own (rhetorical) question yet again. Sort of. You kind of left us dangling there without the period. 24 hours of 80's.... what?
That last sentence by the way, the one without a period (the second one not the first) is a run-on. Probably supposed to be two sentences. If you put a period after "outstanding" and capitalized "Vinyl" we could be sure.
For me some posts are unreadable since maybe, well you get the idea.
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Will here.
24 hours of 80's show tunes? Please be show tunes, please be show tunes... that would be totally awesome!
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Greg here and I listen to the NPR station from Seattle all day every work day and it sounds fantastic. |
anonymous here and when I had my Magnum Dynalabs tuner, ST-2, Signal Sleuth set-up in the East Coast tri-state area, I'd tune-in to WBGO (jazz) and WQXR (classical) the latter would broadcast performances live from Lincoln Center infrequently. (may still). Terrestrial Radio at it's finest! Btw, my antenna was mounted outside on a terrace, fourth (top) floor. |
I listen to my McIntosh tuners daily. I have an excellent Rock station close by and 2 more in the Boston area. In the morning, I listen to FM on the big rig when I am too lazy to use the other front end players and in the afternoon while my wife watches TV, I retire to my office upstairs with my other rig where I always listen to FM while surfing the net.
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I was just listening to it in the car this morning and survived.
At home, certain public radio programs are worth it but otherwise streaming has radio’s number these days in most every way when it comes to music. |
I haven't listened to FM radio for music in years. I do listen to NPR news but that's about it.
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1995?
FM Rock radio was already in full rubbish mode for a decade already. Rock radio died here in SoCal, by the end of the 70's.
The Classical and Jazz public stations are still listenable. The once unique alternative stations are gone, and what's left is so-so.
My tubed,1965 Mac MR71 was recently refreshed and it sounds better than it did 55 years ago!
"radio" on the internet..........I don't think so. |
I grew up in Toronto listening to Q107 and CFNY "The Spirit of Radio". I kind of wasted my time with Q107 but CFNY was rather great back in the day, but they were slowly declining when I started listening. They are awful now. Great thing back then was the fact that the DJ’s on CFNY would program their own music.
I am now in Southern California and discovered the incredible KCRW (KCRW.com) on the FM dial. It is an NPR station and they have incredible DJ’s that are allowed to play anything they want (depending on mood). I have stayed up until 3AM may nights listening to incredible tunes. The NPR news stuff starts at 3AM so I usually turn it off then.
Every time I listen I discover a new artist or an old gem that I have to look up via their playlist and add it to my Tidal or Qobuz library. I think they also have an FM signal in Hambug, Germany.
I even bought a second FM/HD radio to listen to the KCRW 24 hour HD on air stream. However, that music stream does seem to have a mix of tunes I like. The main FM broadcast is the gem.
The cool audiophile stores in Southern California have KCRW on the tuners when I have gone demoing. |
@mapman,
'I was just listening to it in the car this morning and survived.
At home, certain public radio programs are worth it but otherwise streaming has radio’s number these days in most every way when it comes to music.'
Agreed. Here in the UK there's one or two old time presenters still worth listening to - on a good day.
Why we get so much news (the usual repetitive uninformative drivel - the royals/Meghan Markle, Brexit, Covid, BLM protests etc) is never made clear.
As for the inane presenter chatter. These guys should be awarded medals for talking so much and saying so little.
I usually end up retreating to Classic FM but I'm now considering getting one of those cheap Bluetooth devices that let you stream your phone (YouTube docs/music) through your car radio.
Especially now since my car CD player has packed in and keeps ejecting discs.
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You’re right, FM sucks! I was listening to the news on my fm clock radio and all the news was bad, In addition, the news didn't sound real, it sounded like fake news. |
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WMMS 100.7 BUZZARD RADIO, best rock FM station in the US of A, in Cleveland, Ohio, home of Rock & Roll!
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Detroit metro area still has some good public radio stations. WDET and WRCJ both broadcast in high quality terrestrial. When I had a decent analog tuner, I would listen on some evenings and weekends. My tuner's gone and I stream the same material. Frankly, sounds better. |
My Magnum Dynalabs tuner is in its box and in the closet because as a jazz music lover, I found it pretty useless here in Charleston, SC. I installed a Sirius FM receiver and get a very good signal, especially late at night. |
Thanks for the link to Vinyl Voyage Radio! Been listening for awhile. Pretty damn good. http://www.vinylvoyageradio.com/p/schedule.html The 80’s on Mondays are from 6AM to 7PM, not 24 hours and it states "Manic Monday. All 80’s, all day long". So, maybe show tunes :-) |
Got rid of my tuners years ago. The only time I listen is rarely in a rental car away for local flava.
That station blows bubbles. Stinkin' commercials, greatest hits, sounds like 128k or 96k stream. Since you'ver never defined 1st press I'm sure it's good enough for you.
I'm rather enjoying new (to me) Billy Childs Acceptance
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Sam here and i now believe that when fm radio stations stopped playing vinyl people lost interest because digital audio with it's dynamic compression is unlistenable. |
Seattle and Tacoma are blessed with great music on FM, in particular John Kessler’s show All Blues on Saturday and Sunday evenings. He is also a great bass player, try and catch him live sometime.
My tuner is an ancient 1965 McIntosh MX-110 Z with a Rimo filter mod and the all important magnum dynalab antenna.
gee did I miss a comma somewhere ? |
Hi Sam there I think the iPod killed the radio not the dynamic compression. I believe you give to much credit to the mainstream majority Joe and Jane's who listen to music.. |
I am lucky enough to live in an area with a dedicated classical music station, WQXR, FM 105.9 out of NYC. I probably would not give FM a second glance if not for WQXR. Recently, I emailed them to find out if they were 100% digital recordings, and they confirmed that they are. WQXR is on probably 5-6 hours a day in my house, so I guess you could say FM is alive for me.
Interesting side note: Almost all of my listening equipment is tube based, both restored Sherwood and Fisher Receivers. I sent them out for their annual check-up to my repair guy, Dave451 on AudioKarma. While at the tube hospital I substituted my old SS gear, Pioneer SX-626, Sansui 8010, and HK3490. I knew I preferred the old tube gear but never realized how much the tube gear augmented listening to FM. The digital recordings broadcast on FM sound so much more musical on my tube receivers.
BTW, there was a time when there were actually two classical stations broadcast out of New York City, the second one being WNCN, FM 104.3. WNCN is now WAXQ, otherwise known as Q104, a Q station for progressive rock/classical rock. They took over from the classical format in 1995.
FM radio is largely a wasteland, like AM, unless you are lucky enough to have 1 or 2 station worth listening to.
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@ yyzsantabarbara
CFNY-FM out of Toronto kept me musically au courant all through the 80’s. Phenomenal station at the time, since trashed. I still have about four dozen 2-hour cassette tapes of the station that I made at the time. They’re still playable and I listen to them occasionally for auld lang syne.
Also CJRT (classical) and CBC out of T. O. were wonderful as well. And the women of T. O. kept me VERY happy. Just hung up from talking to one who still calls me and I haven’t been to the town in nearly 30 years. Wonderful burg.
SE PA, where I am now, is close to an FM desert by comparison. Once upon a time I had a 240" [sic] custom-built FM antenna cut specifically for 88 - 92 mHz pointed at Philadelphia. That’s gone, (WXPN now has a local repeater; it's NOT "hi-fi") and my Technics ST-9030 tuner has been put up for sale. And I’ve really not found the equal on the internet. So sad...
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FM radio, like all broadcast radio, is geared to morning and afternoon drive time as people go to work and back home. In some markets, off rush hour programming has added syndicated shows to attract listeners but the ad rates are much lower, reflecting the lower number of them.
What you’re missing completely is that 1- many stations subscribe to programming services that tell them which songs to play and when to play them. Here in Tidewater & Central Virginia, there are 4 Classic Rock stations that play basically the same songs daily but in a different orders. If you don’t like the majority of those songs, you won’t like those stations. 2-Satellite radio has siphoned off listeners that spend a lot of time driving and wish to control their programming by using the stations on it dedicated to specific artists and genres. 3-Most people don’t even own an FM receiver anymore. They listen to music on their laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc. 4-When I was on the road for work I used my cd player far more than I listened to any radio stations.
To your other point about FM signal compression - that is going to be constant whether the sound source is digital or analog, and most major radio stations stopped using turntables decades ago. |
FM here in west NC is basically 'not to my tastes'. I have a receiver that can supply it, but generally not worth the trouble.
I will thank all for their suggestions; having been listening to streamcasters for nearly a decade now, the world is at ones' fingertips. *S*
There's some Euro 'casters that have eclectic formats that make for a fun listen. And the fact that the limited amount of commercials are in a language I don't speak makes bathroom breaks a non-issue. *L*
'Hip-ed' the spouse to streamcasting on her 'puter, so there's no conflicts in that department...😁👍 |
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@lp2cd Here is a Facebook link to a former old CFNY DJ that still spins tunes on the net. https://www.facebook.com/The-Live-Earl-Jive-103836561312635
https://www.facebook.com/RadioJive
You should check out KCRW.com if you liked the old CFNY. KCRW is even better. They play everything from every era and every style and every country. They even play vinyl sometimes because the DJ’s think it sounds better. At the moment the station is a little messed up with Covaid but it still shines. |
WGBH 89.7 Boston, as well as WCRB 99.5 Boston both sound terrific. I use a Cambridge Audio t500 tuner as well as a Marantz st6000. My antenna is a large Winegard in the attic aimed towards Boston. I’m a bit over 30 miles away in the burbs... |
“Unlistenable since 1995”?! Seriously? WBGO Jazz 88.3 Newark, NJ is outstanding with great Jazz programming. +1 WKCR out of Columbia U in NYC has some of the most interesting programming anywhere. This weekend is a case in point. To celebrate Charlie Parker’s centennial (he would be 100) they are featuring classic, archival, rare and bootleg and bootleg recordings and very interesting commentary of this pivotal Jazz artist 24/7 for eight (!) days. Fantastic. Check it out (on line if outside the NYC metro area). https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/charlie-parker-centennial-festival# |
The only time I listen to the radio is in my car. I haven't had a tuner since the early 90s.
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Unlistenable because of content or quality? If stations broadcast and stream, listen to what’s preferred. My Magnum Dynalab sounds great, nothing like vinyl or great digital, but the personalities of the DJ’s and the presentation is entertaining and isn’t what this is all about, being entertained?
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We are blessed here in Austin Texas with some fantastic radio stations. KMFA, KUTX, KGSR and KDRP among others. |
WNCW 88.7
Most excellent eclectic fm radio station.
Spindale NC. |
I have Bluetooth speakers throughout my house and play internet radio stations all day long. Is it reference sound? No it is not. Is it good background music? Yes very much so. We do have access to some decent local radio while in the car. I have a one hour commute each way and can find plenty of radio to listen to.
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Seattle has excellent FM still. Far left end of the dial has a bit of Jazz, Bellevue College broadcasts a massive variety.... KEXP is hard to grab sometimes but I have two NAD tuners that can play it nice and clean. Best part about an FM tuner is that there is very little to fuss around with once you have a good antenna/placement. |
Steve here, so far the best part of my day, besides listening to records, reading this thread gave me lots of laughs.
My local college station is great! They play all genres. I've found lots of great new to me artists there. |
FM radio is not what it used to be.Many more commercials now. I enjoy the satelite radio(xm). Many different genres to choose from.
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Sam here and all digital music stations have dynamic compressed music that depresses you and they give you prozac. Sometimes the conspiracy theory is conspiracy fact! |
Exactly, and it all started in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico.
Do you think Velcro was the only thing we got from that encounter? Nope, microwave oven technology and dynamic compressed music.
No where it all comes from? Beamed out of the sub level basement in the Pentagon, 1 floor above the nuclear reactor.
And who benefits? The pharmaceutical companies, and the government gets a nice docile public doped up on Prozac.
Yup, conspiracy fact. |
88.5 jazz from Minneapolis and PBS 99.5 from St Paul are both superb.
Why I know not but jazz station is owned by Mpls. School Board .99.5 has over 90,000 recordings and is is 3rd highest feeder of classical music to other PBS stations .
Rock stations all stink , not surprising since they play rock .
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https://radioparadise.com/ public radio streaming at Blue Book CD quality , I give them money every year along with my Qobuz subscription. After I play a few songs on Qobuz Roon Radio kicks in that is pretty good. Can't imagine listening to FM radio in my house with all the commercial free high quality options available. I do listen in FM in the car but if I am in there for any period of time I use the radioparadise app and run it into the car radio. girlfriends audi auto fires up the last music service you phone was on via bluetooth. |
If you like Classical music, here in the Rust Belt Renaissance city of Dayton, OH, we have a fabulous Classical station network 88.1/89.9/89.1. Their on-air ID is "Discover Classical" (DiscoverClassical.org). They are music 24/7/365. And, they use no processing - no limiting or compression - on their air signal. Makes soft passages sometimes disappear at low volumes but otherwise, spectacular sound. I use a Denon TU-680NAB. Wonderful tuner! Denon marketed it to radio stations as an off-the-air monitor (a necessity for a U. S. radio station) back in the 1990's. Had it gone over a few years back. I sold my Magnum Dynalab "Etude" because I like the sound of the Denon better.
Also, for Jazz fans, Jazz24.org comes from KNKX in Tacoma. Great Jazz; very good DJ's; excellent sound. Secondarily for Jazz, I go to WZUM.org in Pittsburgh. A little more white bread Jazz but decent selection and sound; lots of hat tips to Pittsburgh's many native Jazz artists.
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@millercarbon
"
For me some posts are unreadable since maybe, well you get the idea."
-millercarbon
For me, some posts are unreadable since maybe... Well, you get the idea.
I'm presently listening to WJFF 90.5 FM playing a set by Sonny Rollins. Exceptional! |
........you mean FM radio is still around?
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Bunch of good stations still - I am in Northern NJ and use a McIntosh MR71, Fisher FM-1000, MX-110Z, Marantz ST-8...
Philly, NYC and NJ stations are all decent form classic rock to jazz to classical. My favorite is the Temple University station, which is mostly jazz and classical. it is on all day on Saturday and Sundays. |
What timing! I just bought a Magnum Dynalab tuner (MD-90) and have rediscovered FM broadcast radio! I listen to classical and rock and have been looking for jazz, but everything sounds gorgeously analogue. Great way to relax after working all day!
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For people who love jazz I recommend KCSM-FM 91.1 in San Mateo, CA, may be one of the only remaining fully curated 24 hour jazz stations in the country. |
FM radio via "The Current" from Minnesota Public Radio is excellent for alternative/new- release rock. Their other FM music station includes live programing of well recorded and live classical music. (These can also be accessed via internet radio.) I listen in my home office via a Magnum Dynalab 105 modified tuner into PrimaLuna preamp. Depending upon the recording broadcast, both can sound excellent nothwithstanding multiplex stereo signals. |
If you were around in the lat 60s, living near DC, there was a station that still today dwells in the hearts and minds of listeners.
WHFS-DC area.... |
Prices for tuners have gone the same way as people buying dvd's.That should tell you something.I only listen to sports radio because I would rather control what I listen to, than depend on some disc jockey (do they still call them that?).
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WFCR 88.5 in Western Massachusetts plays locally-hosted classical all day, punctuated only by NPR news and then in the evening from 8:00 to 11:00 produces a show hosted by Tom Reney, a nationally recognized jazz expert. Nothing better for a jazz fan such as myself, and the station's technology is top notch. I listen through a thoroughly maintained and updated Dynaco FM3 feeding directly into a VTL ST-85 amplifier (the Dynaco has a front panel volumn control). The amp drives Thiel 2 2 speakers. It sounds as good/better than my Pioneer Universal Disk player through a Bel Canto eOne 3.0 DAC into the same amp and speakers. Totally dimensional and natural sound.
A few notes. The station now feeds a system of transmitters thoughout Western Mass, Connecticut, and the Albany area of New York (at different frequencies.) It also streams over the internet. And Tom Reney, who originated and did all the broadcasts for more than 30 years now hosts only Monday and Tuesday evenings, although he still oversees the "Jazz a la Mode" show. The two folks handling the other nights are also quite knowledgeable. However you can pick it up, I highly recommend it. |
