Old tapes reveal how BAD FM became


A few weeks ago, I opened a box of old reel to reel tapes I made when I was a younger man.
I remember very well when people put serious money into tuners.
Any of you remember the DJ's announcing a week in advance they would be playing a new album front to back, without interruption?

Flash ahead 36 years and one would think the tapes I made as a younger lad on that Teac 4010 would be a joke.

Wrong.

Even though my present system was unattainable 36 years ago, the recording from 102 WAQY FM in Springfield, MA that night in 1976 stands the test of time...and then some.

A few days ago, I heard the opening bars of the same piece on FM using my NAD tuner. (Think about a upper end 90's NAD tuner compared to mid 60's budget Fisher gear.) I remembered that I had the reel still on the shelf, so I quickly grabbed it and cued it up before the song was even finished playing on the radio.
I played the ancient copy. The snap and crackle of the stylus could plainly be heard along with something we seem to have completely lost in broadcast. DYNAMICS!
I feel like a man who opened up a time capsule and found out it was better in the past.
I think through the years, I just became complacent to lousy FM radio.

I thought it was that my system had come to a level that it showed the shortcomings of FM radio. Not true.
36 years ago, with a very basic tuner, I captured real dynamic music that sets toes to tapping.
Stuff on FM radio now sounds like a very poor quality MP3 in comparison.

I understand it is no longer cost effective to have a DJ manning the board and spinning vinyl 24/7...but does it have to be flat, lifeless garbage?

My tape is proof that FM radio, even with its inherent issues, can be a source of pleasant music.
When is the last time you actually sat down and tried to listen to FM radio? What have they done to it?

Why has it been ruined?

gumbydammit

Showing 2 responses by salectric

By today's standards, I am fortunate to have 2 stations nearby that play very good sounding jazz and classical programming. Both are non-commercial university stations.

However, the very best sound I have ever heard from FM was from my college days in the early 1970s. A Philadelphia rock station occasionally had well-known artists in the studio with live performances. I recorded a number of these on my Sony 650 reel-to-reel such as Brewer and Shipley, America and Livingston Taylor. The sound was simply phenomenal. This was when I realized just how excellent my Dyna FM-3 was. The dynamics and detail were an order of magnitude better than normal programming on LPs.

It is truly sad how we have come to accept such an inferior sound from today's FM stations.
Gumbygdammit, I would be happy to send you my tapes but unfortunately I threw them all out when I moved a few years ago. I hadn't had a working tape deck for over 30 years. Now with the resurgence of R2R tape, I wish I had kept them.