Date:         Mon, 6 Oct 2008 10:05:56 -0700
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Lou Judson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: FM reception way back when
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Being ten miles from Sab Francisco, there are some great sounding  
stations here - all my life "Broadcast Quality" meant *almost* better  
than playing records...

But note that Bob says "in mono" which has stunningly low noise floor  
with good signal. Stereo FM can be a bit like MP3s today, and airing  
MP3s on stereo FM is the lower standard for most commercial radio today.

I have been restoring some broadcast tapes from KMPX and KSAN from  
the 60s and 70s and the sound of their studios when they open the mic  
is like no other noise I've heard... Can't hear their breathing but  
the AC is powerful...

<L>
Lou Judson • Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689


On Oct 6, 2008, at 8:48 AM, Michael Shoshani wrote:

> Bob Olhsson wrote:
>> Some of the most stunningly beautiful audio I ever heard was  
>> Chicago's WFMT
>> picked up in mono around 1965 from my college dorm room in Olivet  
>> Michigan.
>> (Top notch mono hi fi gear was available really cheap at that  
>> time.) I had
>> no idea what FM was capable of before I heard that station.
>
> WFMT still sounds well today, as does the "news/public affairs/Wait  
> Wait Don't Tell Me" public radio station WBEZ. Catch either station  
> on something like a mid-to-late 1950s Telefunken Opus and you can  
> feel the announcers breathe. The late WNIB, Chicago's other  
> classical music station until the founder/owners retired and sold  
> the station, also had very good audio.
>
> Especially with good hi-fi gear, it still sounds as though most  
> classical and jazz stations (old-fashioned jazz, not "smooth jazz")  
> employ much less noticeable compression and limiting than do the  
> hotter-signal pop stations.  Just as with many FM stations of yore,  
> you still get a very slight hum of "room tone" on these stations  
> when the announcers get potted up; for me, that room tone WAS the  
> sound of FM when I was a lad. Gave it depth and made the signal  
> breathe, but I can't explain why....it's intangible, yet palpable.
>
> Michael Shoshani
> Chicago
>