Time to reconsider AM stereo?

[HowardMBurgers]

It's great to reminisce and all, but the fact remains unless you have receiver manufacturers on board with producing quality synthesized radios (I know that is an oxymoron), then you can be broadcasting the best Amplititude Modulation (okay another oxymoron) AM stereo Hi-FI whatever signal on the planet, and no average consumer could tell.

Granted, C-Quam sounded better than mono AM in theory, but the fact remains that 3-5kHz high end is pretty poor listening response.  The only people that would enjoy the sound are oldsters like us who grew up on AM, and frankly we don't even register on the consumer electronic folks nor advertising executives radar.  And no, young people aren't going to comb fleamarkets to find the few Sony AM stereo radios only to hear Glen Beck in mono with spots in glorious stereo (10dB separation).  They're plugged into their IPods with 50Hz -20kHz reponse and 60+ dB separation.  If you don't think the average person can hear that differrence, then you're completely in denial.

Look I hate to piss in your punchbowl, but the fact is we're living in the fading days of AM folks.  As more of us get older and die off, so goes AM listening. 

[earwig]

i think you are wrong with this one. With more and more people becoming aware of the bias of mainstream media....the importance of AM, the talk shows, the alternative music programming.... I think you should see a swell in their numbers. Look what Beck did with the Van Johnson thing! Also, the freedom of  programming. In our area...we have been listening to 920 and 990...talk and Midday madness variety. Reports from porn valley, good music interviews. When you are driving up and down the highway day after day, AM is a bright alternative to the sterile predictable programming on FM.

[Savage]

Yes, earwig - and as a general rule, AM offers something largely lacking on FM these days: live, relatable human on-air talent interacting with listeners and offering nonrepetitive, engaging content.  (This comment is meant to be politically neutral.  I know that AM offers the neurotic on either end of the political spectrum plenty of reason to have palpitations, but this isn't about that.)

It's blatantly obvious: FM music formats, largely voicetracked or altogether jockless - and devoid of content on the rare occasions when there actually IS live talent - are boring, repetitive and unappealing. 

Radio tied itself to the satrad and iPod railroad tracks when the industry's genius programmers concluded that "a radio station" consists of 14 in a row, a giant gob of cluttery spots, disclaimers and corporate policy blabs, plus an angry-voiced liner guy.

News/talk is one of the only bright spots in terms of audience growth.  Yeah, yeah, I know some of the formats are migrating to FM, but it isn't necessary, nothwithstanding what the defeatists say.  It's still true: listeners will go where the appealing programming is.  Most of what's on AM today represents minimal interest and effort by cluster managers, and the result is predictable.

[KB1OKL]

Commercial FM has become so boring I very rarely even listen to it anymore, mainly AM or Satrad. AM stations can broadcast much higher than 3-5kHz on the top end, Good AM is virtually indistinguishable from FM with a good wideband stereo receiver like The Meduci.

[stacker]

AM stations can broadcast much higher than 3-5kHz on the top end, Good AM is virtually indistinguishable from FM with a good wideband stereo receiver like The Meduci.

Good point.  Unless an AM station is purposely cutting it's high end down do keep from interfering with IBOC, almost all AM stations are delivering audio up to just less than 10 kHz.  The 10k limit is only due to the NRSC mask put in place during the stereo days.  Listening with a nice wideband radio can be a challenge though, since modern processors shelve the high frequency energy way up to compensate for the poor bandwidth in receivers. 

I've said this before here...the perceived inadequacies with AM are due to receiver deficiencies.  Just a few more pennies per unit on the receiver end and AM would sparkle (like it does on the mod monitor).

[TheBigA]

Most of what's on AM today represents minimal interest and effort by cluster managers, and the result is predictable.

Most of what's on AM today was put there before cluster managers.  There's another thread on this board listing the year when numerous local AM Top 40 stations died, and all of them were before 1985.  That's when the public gave up on AM as a source for music.  You can pour a lot of time, effort, and money in a format to bring music listeners back.  But your one station would just be an oasis in the middle of downtown Wheeling.

[KB1OKL]

AM stations can broadcast much higher than 3-5kHz on the top end, Good AM is virtually indistinguishable from FM with a good wideband stereo receiver like The Meduci.

Good point.  Unless an AM station is purposely cutting it's high end down do keep from interfering with IBOC, almost all AM stations are delivering audio up to just less than 10 kHz.  The 10k limit is only due to the NRSC mask put in place during the stereo days.  Listening with a nice wideband radio can be a challenge though, since modern processors shelve the high frequency energy way up to compensate for the poor bandwidth in receivers. 

I've said this before here...the perceived inadequacies with AM are due to receiver deficiencies.  Just a few more pennies per unit on the receiver end and AM would sparkle (like it does on the mod monitor).

Yup, that's a good place to start, we need are better receivers and there is no logical reason why IBOC is still in existence, especially on AM, AM IBOC is especially stupid and useless, it sounds terrible if you can actually receive it.

[JohnnyElectron]

The Sangean HD-1X decodes C-Quam, and Motorola designed a really decent set of chips called "Symphony" that had DSP and C-Quam, but they sold off their semiconductor chip line to "ON" and it floundered after that.  I would love to see someone pickup the ball with the Motorola Symphony chipset.

In additio to the Sangean decoding C-Quam, Fanfare makes a really sharp tuner (FTA-100P) that is C-Quam, plus every T-Bird made the past couple of years has C-Quam. I believe that many of the Ford Visteon receivers that are IBOC are also C-Quam.  Then of course you have all the Chrysler minivans out there that still have C-Quam from 92 to 2001, and the GM Delcos with the "AMST" pushbutton. 

A few of us engineers petitioned the FCC for an "AM Receiver Standards" edict a while back, but we never got even a docket number assigned from the FCC for comments.
The FCC was/is no help to have quality over quantity on the AM broadcast band.

I still listen to CFCO AM Steeo in my Chrysler.

[HowardMBurgers]

So then let's take a little survey of the AM listening choir here.  Please respond back with the letter that corresponds with your age.

Are you:

(A) 18-25 years old  (B) 26-35 years old  (C) 36-45 years old  (D) 46-55 years old (E) 56-65 years old  (F) 66-75 years old

   

[mgpt6]

hearing the WOWO clip from 1992 that Strangelove posted , it breaks one heart to  hear .  what might be possible with AM Stereo