How Long Before FM Tuners Become “Typewriters”?
- Thread starter +48V
- Start date
I too wish it would fade out.
Not that it matters. As I won't buy one.
I won't go to a movie theatre because of the Bad and Obscenely Loud Sounds.. So for my bi annual Movie Theatre adventure. I have to take Ear plugs.
Good ones at that, to endure the noises.
Emulating that nonsense in one's home just boggles my imagination.
I agree, nothing screws up a good Harold Lloyd or Fatty Arbuckle movie like sound!
Pio1980
AK Member
c.coyle
Fighting the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I'd be worried about the FM broadcast spectrum being gobbled up by other services in that event. But I have a feeling that low-powered FM stations will be around for a long time, particularly in remote locations, and particularly with the demise of flamethrower, clear channel AM stations. (Horror of horrors, they're running paid infomercials on WBZ 1030 AM in Boston! One of America's great regional radio stations, and a pioneer in quirky, thoughtful talk radio with quirky, thoughtful, intelligent local hosts like Jerry Williams, Larry Glick, and David Brudnoy. Even the news readers were distinctive, like Streeter Stuart. Boy were they good!)
I guess I naively believe that variety, accessibility, and serving local community needs via the publicly owned radio spectrum are still important to the powers that be. Probably stupid of me.
I am not one for nostalgia, and I generally think that things always get better. But, as an old DXer and SWL, I still get a thrill out of turning the dial, hearing the static, watching the s-meter, fiddling with the antenna, and occasionally hearing some far-off station that I have no business hearing. Been hooked on radio since I was a kid.
Last edited:
TudorTurtle
Well-Known Member
Hard to believe for those with broadband, but there are still large swaths of rural US that do not have fast internet. Our old farm is 2.5 hours from New York City and the ONLY options are Satellite internet (bad) and IP over RF (worse).
sxty8goats
Super Member
1. Free OTA reception. Prerecorded music sometimes fits the bill but often I want a little local news and 'flavor' in the broadcast. That is something I can't get from the pay radio, xm and serius.
2. I don't think that apps like Next Radio or Pandora will replace FM as long as the user is paying a subscription and FM is free. Data connection is better in some areas than others and is likely to improve but you will hit data limits of most carriers in a couple weeks if you listen to internet radio on a mobile device.
3. I don't think so. Other services require a paid subscription and or an internet connection which also costs money. The other drawback to Satellite stations and Internet stations is you don't get any local flavor/ news.
A persons value to society is inversely proportional to the time they spend on their PDA's.
As long as College radio stations and such have such HORRID internet streaming quality, the FM tuner is still better. (In DC try the IS for WPFW-89.3FM, then listen to the FM broadcast itself)
As long as College radio stations and such have such HORRID internet streaming quality, the FM tuner is still better. (In DC try the IS for WPFW-89.3FM, then listen to the FM broadcast itself)
sxty8goats
Super Member
I was a Glick Nick as a kid. We also lost two of the finest rock stations on the radio over the past few years. WBCN and WFNX. Both responsible for breaking many huge bands over the years. In the early 90's WFNX was the center of my social circle in many ways. We all listened to it and learned about the local music scene from them. They actually played a few of the larger local bands, Tribe, Letters to Cleo, BCG, The Heritix, the Neighborhoods and Morphine, in their regular rotation. Ran local music shows all the time and advertised shows at the local clubs.
PDA? Haven't heard that since the days I used to browse on the information superhighway.
One other thing about living in a large swath of rural US is the limited selection of radio stations. I haven't listened to FM for music in a couple of decades, but luckily get a rural NPR station for the drive to and from work. Even back when I listened to FM, there were a few C&W stations (not a C&W fan) and a classic rock station that played the same old songs in heavy rotation - I swear the commercials every 5 minutes were the high point- and one Top 40 with fringe reception.
Funny thing is, I still own three typewriters - but the only home FM receiver I have is a VOM 1467, and I've never had an FM antenna attached to it.
MannyE
Exterminate!
FM stereo receivers? Dead as a doornail. Funny thing is that most mid-fi and mid-high end A/V receivers probably have really good FM tuners in them. I know that both my B&K Ref 30 and Ref 50 have fantastic FM tuners.
I hooked up an old TV roof antenna I had been using for OTA HD to the B&K and was truly impressed by the quality of the sound emanating from the speakers. We are living in the golden age of FM technology.
What we are also living in is the apocalyptic world of post monopoly radio. The result is that all these pristine transmissions are presenting the most vapid, soul-less commercial garbage ever to be processed. The entire dial in most major metropolitan areas is controlled by very few companies.
In Miami it's SBS, Univision Radio, Clear Channel and Cox Radio that own a lot of the dial both AM and FM. In the case of SBS and Univision, they own TV stations as well! Putting aside the scary implications about the control of information in the hands of so relatively few people, the proven effect is that radio in Miami is ****.
I only listen to the NPR station and I can only stomach so many hours that depression before I have to turn it off or reach for some lithium.
No decent music, no decent talk. No jazz, no real rock station, no real DJs, a classical station that's barely hanging on, just pop, salsa and hip hop. If you're 14 years old or if you love insipid new formulaic Spanish music, you're in heaven.
Maybe if the whole house of cards falls down when radio over IP takes over, OTA radio will experience a resurgence? That would be nice. And there will be millions of used A/V receivers with great tuners around!
I hooked up an old TV roof antenna I had been using for OTA HD to the B&K and was truly impressed by the quality of the sound emanating from the speakers. We are living in the golden age of FM technology.
What we are also living in is the apocalyptic world of post monopoly radio. The result is that all these pristine transmissions are presenting the most vapid, soul-less commercial garbage ever to be processed. The entire dial in most major metropolitan areas is controlled by very few companies.
In Miami it's SBS, Univision Radio, Clear Channel and Cox Radio that own a lot of the dial both AM and FM. In the case of SBS and Univision, they own TV stations as well! Putting aside the scary implications about the control of information in the hands of so relatively few people, the proven effect is that radio in Miami is ****.
I only listen to the NPR station and I can only stomach so many hours that depression before I have to turn it off or reach for some lithium.
No decent music, no decent talk. No jazz, no real rock station, no real DJs, a classical station that's barely hanging on, just pop, salsa and hip hop. If you're 14 years old or if you love insipid new formulaic Spanish music, you're in heaven.
Maybe if the whole house of cards falls down when radio over IP takes over, OTA radio will experience a resurgence? That would be nice. And there will be millions of used A/V receivers with great tuners around!
Manny's right.
I spent 12 years in radio. It has nowhere to go. Public apathy and the hungry new technology that wants that bandwidth ensure it is doomed.
My old station, independent and great, is hanging on by its toenails.
www.wdnsfm.com
I spent 12 years in radio. It has nowhere to go. Public apathy and the hungry new technology that wants that bandwidth ensure it is doomed.
My old station, independent and great, is hanging on by its toenails.
www.wdnsfm.com
brian222
Super Member
agreed and I must say The Signal ( CBC R2 ) most nights at 10 is my fav. But I also wonder who even listens to radio at 10pm?
MannyE
Exterminate!
So if OTA corporate radio goes bankrupt we won't be allowed a new era of independently owned FM band stations? That would suck. Who is gunning for the FM frequencies? Telecom? I wouldn't be surprised.
Last edited:
Well, while I may agree, let's try not to get too political. That's a thread killer.
Mostly, mom and pop radio stations don't have the capital, and can no longer rely on revenue from commercials. They simply don't work any more, at least in this very different society.
It's bleak, lemme tell ya.
MannyE
Exterminate!
Yeah, I hold out some hope for something similar to what happened with vinyl where it went from way too big for the average investor, to a small business model that allows for a hard working entrepreneur to have a shot.
A small FM radio station that has limited commercial interruptions or maybe uses a branded entertainment format to allow for those limited spots and still pay the bills and a small group of dedicated DJs that love the music as well as an engineer that loves the audio quality... I'd never leave work. Close up shop at 1AM and run infomercials until drive time to pay some more bills! Ahhhhhhhhhh it makes me smile just to think about it.
I'll always have an AM/FM Tuner/Receiver no matter what! I'm only 67 and have had these since day one and even if the Air-Play was/is CRAP I've had them in one form or another in all my systems for 50+ yrs and they are part of any system I'll ever have! I'm a Canadian also and like others from Canada have said I love my different CBC Radio Stations and even a few local ones at that. I don't like everything they play but that seems normal to me as for anyone>
Oh by the way isn't R2R whether it be 1/4" 1/2" or here's one for ya,Wire Recorders almost out of date and yet I got those also? I've seen the advent of all manners of Radio from original AM to present day and will continue to do so for now and probably still be here in one form or another as well,long after I've gone
:thmbsp:
Oh by the way isn't R2R whether it be 1/4" 1/2" or here's one for ya,Wire Recorders almost out of date and yet I got those also? I've seen the advent of all manners of Radio from original AM to present day and will continue to do so for now and probably still be here in one form or another as well,long after I've gone
:thmbsp: