ls FM radio even listenable any more?

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.

@ 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...