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Philly FM Radio and FM Tuner Redux

This post is principally directed to members who live in the Greater Delaware Valley/Philly/South Jersey area. It's actually a two part question.

The first part of the question pertains to the number of quality classical and jazz radio stations (hi-def if there is such a thing) that broadcast in the area. To the best of my knowledge, I am only aware of WRTI 90.1 FM. Are there others?? If so, haven't gotten out a lot ... so I don't really know.

The second part of the question will now become more relevant in light of responses to my first inquiry. I suspect that there may not be too many more hi-def FM radio stations that broadcast here. Maybe 2 or 3 in total, ... or maybe just one -- WRTI. :(

The second part of the question is if I wanted to add a quality FM tuner to my rig, any obvious suggestions. I checked the Forum archives ... there must be hundreds of tuners that were on the market at one time or another. Two brands that seem to have been mentioned many times are the Tandberg 3001A and the McIntosh MR-78. Lots of MR-78 listed on eBay and A'gon. Just a couple of Tandbergs.

So, on the one hand, I'd like to pick up a tuner that will do a very good job, but on the other hand, being proportional to the reality that there may not be many radio stations that broadcast the type of music I want to hear.

Thanks and sorry for the long post. It's getting to be a habit.
bifwynne

Showing 2 responses by fleib

fleib
1,124 posts
 
There's really no such thing as hi-def broadcast radio. HD stands for hybrid digital and refers to the digital wave that rides on the FM carrier.

There is a good resource for finding out about vintage tuners here:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

In the old days WRTI used to be 24/7 jazz radio. The classical station was 95.7 (I think). They changed their format and RTI picked up their DJs and started daytime classical broadcast. There was a smooth jazz station around 106. They might have moved on the dial or changed format, I don't know. Pretty slim pickins, although RTI is good sometimes.
Regards,
fleib
1,124 posts
 
Bifwynne, I wouldn't put any real money into a vintage tuner unless you're prepared to get it serviced. Most techs aren't really up to aligning and modding a tuner. There were at least 2 versions of the MR78, a good tuner but apparently one version was better. The Tandberg has good specs but can sound a little brittle, maybe the one I heard wasn't 100%. There's a guy with 2 Kenwood L-07T on Audio Circle trading post and there's a Nakamichi ST-7 here, might be worth considering.

You should use that link in my last post. It's really a great resource. On the left - click on the manufacturer and get the low down.
Regards,
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