Anyone listen to Music on a FM tuner anymore?


I’m not referring to streaming, I mean an actual FM turner. I haven’t had a turner for at least 15, probably more like 20 years. I had a high-end one that went bad years ago and even then I hadn’t really used it in years. Just wondering if anyone still uses one and why?

Added info: back in my college days there were lots of reasons, some great DJ’s in the New York City area and sometimes a live concert broadcasts that were great, but those times are long gone, as is most of my hair and my 32 inch waistline.....I’m not trying to judge anyone for still listening to music on a FM tuner, just asking for the reason to do so.

Hope everyone had a good holiday season.

128x128deadhead1000

I use a Mitsubishi DA-F10 tuner and listen to NPR programming 24/7 on 89.7 WUSF Tampa. Now that WUSF has ended the overnight Jazz program it is news and talk radio. I turn it off when I am asleep.

I live just outside of Boston,  my Magnum MD102 and Fanfare FT1a still get some use.   I live 300 feet above sea level and have a massive aerial in the attic.  I also have a Magnum ST2 antenna up there.   

I get stations in Worcester,  Providence,  Southern NH , and of course Boston.  I usually listen in the morning before I head out.   Some stations are available through my Bluesound Vault or Aurenders VRadio , but some aren't.   I think those tuners both sound fantastic so I prefer them over internet radio.  

I like having multiple sources , last week we lost internet so I cued up some LPs and listened to some FM that night.   Couldn't have streamed if I wanted to .....

 

I have a fully rebuilt PHILIPS AH673 am/fn tuner ( made in USA) from the 79’s that is week regarded in FMTUNERINFO.COM 

FM is alive and well here in Toronto

 

I had a nice Denon tuner back in the 80s as well---I enjoyed the alternative college stations and the Saturday night DJ dance mix shows. Now, I rarely even listen to FM in the car and my system hasn't had a tuner in 20+ years simply because current top 40/pop stations are awful. I've had SiriusXM in my car but I let that expire as well.

I listen to a lot of internet radio, but it’s been at least 20 years since I had a dedicated analog tuner.  I did listen to WFMT in Chicago a few months ago with the analog tuner in my AVR in my HT system, but much prefer the digital stream on the same system 

I still listen to the McIntosh MR80 tuner in my system. The classical station I enjoy sounds much better OTA than it does on the stream, and a few other bright spots remain on FM. But of course, the glory days of FM are long gone.

SoCal here... 

We have 2 decent sounding stations for Classical,- 91.5 and Jazz 88.1.

My 65' tubed Mac MR 71 is a daily driver.

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I use a Don Scott modified Luxman T-110 tuner...have a good NPR classical station...hear lots of music I wasn't aware of, enjoy using the tuner, and it's easier than streaming sometimes...

Not in the 21st century with the exemption of broadcasting USB to FM before some cars supported direct play.

I find much more attractive, commercial free "radio" on the web.

Any radio program of music is overwhelmed by my high quality choice designed for me by me ...😁

I enjoyed FM radio in my car transit while working...I am now retired ...

I remember the time when i was young when there is fantastic musical communicators and not rare few but many here in Canada ...

I dont think that this rare breed exert his vulgarizing and deep thinking about poetry and music on radio now with all the tech progress in the net transfer of information from old tech to new tech ...

I can listen to even past radio program using the net anyway try it  ...

A talented radio broadcaster animator will never go back to radio now ever ... There subsist few exceptions  for sure but i dont know where in North America anyway ...

The trend in past old medias is making people idiots to attract their attention more not to vulgarize poetry and music as jazz, classical or Indian , and iranian etc  as it was the case 60 years ago...I perfectly remember it because i gained so much knowledge it is unbelievable ... In this time i even wrote and read between radio listenings and i never felt becoming an idiot by listening the radio when rightfully selected ......Traditional radio is now mostly a dumpster ... Or a continuous music playing , classical or pop mostly with not very intelligent commentaries... It is my general impressions as  an old duck ...

In the first years of TV i remember being 10 years old and listening a program acted by local comedians about the light scientific problem , corpuscule or wave , opposing comedian playing the script in historical costumes...And it was not an exception ...And the Sunday we had opera and high classical or contemporary theater ... It was education for all ... it is long gone ... Now we can educate ourself even better , thanks to the net, but the social impulse to do so is lost for most people transforming in passive sleepwalker consumers ...

 

Sure.

I use a McIntosh MR 78 in my music system in SoCal for classical 91.5 and jazz 88,1 (like @tablejockey).

In my AV system I am currently relying on the tuner in my Marantz pre pro while my Magnum Dynalab FT101a Etude is on the bench hoping for a new center tune meter.

Mac MR-74, MR-71, MR-65   listen up in the mountains-no wifi or phone

now stream at home but mostly radio station WWOZ!

 

Sure do, [FM Nerd] here too, had more than a few from McIntosh, Fanfare/B&K, Magnum Dynalab, Sansui, and others. Every once in a while it gets turned on in rotation and played for a full day. Easy when you don’t feel like messing with streaming or you are just letting the system play, walking & working around the house.

Some of our local stations play content I don’t normally search for or play on streaming services, and it sounds pretty good when things are warmed up nicely. An old habit to shake after growing up with it all over several decades.

Just seeing it there, playing it, lit up on display still feels like old audio "home" I guess.

Magnum Dynalab MD-102 owner here too, add me to the virtual diehard list.

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only in my vintage Chevy C10 truck that has no CD or BT radio only AM/FM bands.

 

Yeah ,in this world of digital streaming, and a lot of it in hi res, I could never justify using a tuner radio. It really makes no sense anymore IMHO. BTW, I’m also in the NYC area and have found tons of good music from WFUV — Fordham University’s station I think @ 90.7 on the dial.. It’s an awesome station. Then I go find it on Qobuz.

I guess I could be termed a Luddite since I do not stream. Three FM tuners in daily use a McIntosh MR71, Linn Pekin and Mitsubishi DA-F20. FM programming in my area is not exactly stellar, so listening is relegated to one classic rock station and one marginal jazz station. No classical, unfortunately. Boy do I miss KUSC. I tried to quantify for the OP as to why exactly FM is till enjoyed, but…

I see my original post missing the last portion of my reply-

Yes, if one isn't streaming, FM wherever you are likely has a PBS affiliate for Classical/Jazz if that's your thing.

Listening to a R&R station isn't worth the  investment for a proper tuner.

 

It's also not FM or Streaming, but for many it's both or all ... CD, LP, FM and Streaming...

Does HD Radio qualify as FM? If so, then yes. The Phoenix area has a number of HD Radio stations that provide excellent quality signals. The two to which I listen almost exclusively are a jazz and a classical station, both of which are operated by a local college (PBS stations), so are commercial-free.

I listen to FM stereo all day every day. Explanation, I have 2 systems. During the day, my main system is on and 95% of the time I am listening to FM on my McIntosh MR88 tuner. At around 4 in the afternoon, I turn off my main system and go upstairs to my office system where I play around on my computer and listen to FM again, on my office system. The tuner is a McIntosh MR85. I listen to mostly 94.1 WHJY out of Providence and 92.9 out of Boston. They are both Rock stations that plays Classic Rock as well as the new mainstream Rock. That system doesn’t get shut off until 2AM. At night I am listening upstairs, then come down to watch TV with my wife and around 11pm or so, go back upstairs till 2.

 

@tablejockey,  I beg to differ.  I purchased my 2 McIntosh tuners specifically to listen to R & R. No regrets at all ant the best part is I get reminded I on a particular piece of music playing that I have the LP or CD somewhere in my collection.  

I listen to the local classical music station through my main home system on a Denon Japanese tuner that's been worked over.  I prefer the sound of the tuner to the same signal streamed.  I listen to a variety of stations in the car.

I gave away my tuner last year.  Hadn’t used it in years, so it went to a good home where it could feel wanted.😁

Now the only FM I listen to is when I’m driving.

I listen frequently to my McIntosh MR-78. I enjoy having it on in the background. Some decent FM stations in southern Georgia. Also get my morning talk show and NPR in good reception. I know it is a lot of nostalgia but it is enjoyable. Certainly not comparing to vinyl or CD when listening but it feels good when it is on. 

Every day!

 

My Magnum Dynalab Etude gets a lot of use. 
 

Amazing sounding tuner. Had it since new. 
 

 

Oh yes indeed. Maybe not daily but quite often. A tuner from the XDR guy does the job quite nicely. 

Not in a long time, but back in the 70’s and 80’s we were fortunate to have WMMS FM 100.7 in Cleveland, a widely known rock station.

@jasonbourne71 - how do you turn it of if you are asleep? :))

On topic, my Revox B760 tuner died a couple of years ago so now I am using my Meridian 204. That's in my kitchen system. I also listen to a Meridian 101 with a pair of active M2s when working in my garage. I never listened to FM radio on my main system. There isn't the variety in FM radio on this side of the pond that there is in the USA.

I’m one of those that listen to HD radio in my office set up. Found an older Sony HD tuner that is what got me into paying attention to the rest of my stereo environment.

Lucky to have a number of HD stations in the Philadelphia area that are good for classical and contemporary singer songwriter. Big thumbs up to WXPN out of University of Pennsylvania for great programming. They are syndicated across a number of stations throughout the US.

HD beats regular FM and streaming by a large margin. Too bad that it has not become more of a standard with more choices of tuners for the home.

My lp collection was destroyed in a flood in the mid eighties.  At the time I couldn’t afford new CDs, lps were disappearing, and I didn’t have much listening time anyway, but for several years my listening was about an hour of WFMT in the late evening on a cheap plasticky Yamaha tuner, but to me I seemed to work very well and had a nice warm analog glow.  Several years ago I came across a similar Yamaha tuner in a Goodwill for about $5. It had scratched fascia but seemed to work ok in the system, but by now my ears had adjusted to the detailed but crisper digital sound

budjoe

... HD beats regular FM and streaming by a large margin ...

So-called "HD" radio is lossy digital, not unlike mp3 files. It has neither the FR or DR of a good analog FM signal received with a proper antenna and decent tuner. That's part of why so many stations have abandoned the product. HD radio is pretty much DOA in the USA.

stereo5- 

You're fortunate to be in an area with listenable R&R.

 In SoCal R&R station choices are limited to couple of awful sounding commercial stations. 

The days of 70's LP AOR are just memories.

Listening thru a Marantz 10B /REL or the best SS tuners wont undo the terrible sound/programming.

 

I was gifted a Luxman T-450, a few years ago. It's not as good as the Sansui TU-717, I had back in the day, but it's a very nice, all original, fully analog tuner. In the Detroit area, there are still some very high quality broadcast FM stations. I find that broadcasted music sounds less strident than digital streaming, but it is a challenge to get the sound perfect with my limited antenna set up. But when I get it right, amazing.

I too remember the days of commercial free, album rock stations. What an era! How did they survive at all?  I used to play my radio all night to the music. I got so much of my musical background from that format and especially the show King Biscuit Flower Hour.

We still have some good radio with a university station and a couple of listener sponsored/community sponsored stations, not to mention NPR, but I can stream those and my tuners always had reception problems. Strange with the reception thing since I live within 10 miles of the broadcasters antennas.

Do high-end manufacturers even make tuners anymore?

 

I still have my Carver TX-11 Tuner (refurbished about two years ago with new caps and such) and use it, maybe not every day, but at least once a week. There are some great college stations I can get (WNCW, WSGE), along with a nice classical station out (WFAE) of Davidson, NC. Using a Terk FM antenna and the noise floor is fine. One cool program is The World Cafe, which can introduce you to new music.  And I keep up with bluegrass via a local station that broadcasts "Knee Deep Into Bluegrass" on Sundays. No, FM won't touch CD for quality by a long shot, but keep in mind, in the 1970s, it was amazing as it grew. To me it is still a viable way to hear music. 

I listen to FM in my "technologically-challenged" 2009 A4 daily driver -- KSHE out of St. Louis.. (This car is soooo old, I even have to push in a clutch and shift the gears myself!!). When I travel out of the region, I often pull in KSHE via TuneIn, to make me feel more at home.

I don’t have an analog tuner in my main system. And, the other day I discovered that on my HT I "hid" the FM as an input choice on the Marantz AVR. So, I guess that’s a "no" on listening to FM at home.

Oh, regarding HD radio or what have you for digital...Techmoan on YouTube often has bemoaned the fact that digital stations in the U.K. are compressed to hell and in order to do more in the limited bandwidth, they are often lousy bit rates of maybe 64Kbps or less, i.e. instead of offering one great sounding stream, they'll have two or more bad ones to offer more advertising. They took a technological step forward (digital radio) and sliced and diced it to be a terrible product instead of using it to increase fidelity. Sad. AFAIK, digital radio is dead here in the U.S. There was a push to get rid of AM (550-1710) tuners in cars but with the popularity of talk radio for political discourse and carrying sports, I think that has been pushed back. 

I found a Denon tuner at an estate sale for $10. It even had the optional cherry wood side panels (bonus!).

I bought it to listen to "The Don Was Motor City Playlist" on WDET in Detroit. The combination of Don's ecclectic muscial taste and his fascinating and/or hilarious stories are unlike anything I've heard in 60+ years of listening to the radio.

I have a pioneer sx1250 that’s tuned into wxrt in Chicago all the time. That station still plays great music. 

motown-l

... it is a challenge to get the sound perfect with my limited antenna set up. But when I get it right, amazing.

Yes! Having the right antenna for your location is as important as having the right tuner.

Yes and yes. I listen to FM radio in Denver, Colorado. Mostly I listen to NPR on 90.1 FM and Classical Music on 88.1 FM. My son loves to listen to KOSI 101.1 FM and was bugging me to put that channel which played Christmas songs soon after Thanksgiving. I have a Yamaha tuner.

If anyone has a spare REL they can't get rid of, and it's going in the dumpster, please message me

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I should have mentioned in my earlier post that I use the Magnum Dynalab ST2 antennas (one for each tuner) with my Mac tuners.  None of the so called powered antennas (think Terk) did anything but amplify a lot of noise.  With the Magnum antennas, everything is crystal clear. 

I love my handsome, fully refurbished, fully recapped Marantz 2285B.  
The fact that is has an FM tuner of relatively good quality is cool.  
Using that spinning wheel with the embossed(?) rubber for dexterity, seeing the glowing tuner display and watching that dial move around…a distinct charm.  
I never use it. It is now just an unused feature that says, “hey, I’m a cool feature you may enjoy at intervals very few and far between.”
I live in a small town with few stations available.  
When I lived in a much bigger town with a cool college radio station, I listened to FM quite a bit. Good shows, either of non-music or musical origin.  
There’s something satisfying about firing up the audio system and listening to terrestrial radio, but these days I never do it.
 

This past year I started listening to FM while I work. I have a Sansui TU-7700 that I bought new 45+ years ago. It been in storage for 30+ years. Hooked it up, and it still worked like it did when new. Use a Magnum Dynalab Ribbon Antenna.
I've been thinking of getting another tuner, mainly because I had the same one for so long.
Maybe something like a McIntosh MR 67 or some other tube tuner.

I have a Sony STJ75 That rarely gets used; Commercialized broadcast FM radio no longer cares about the listener's tastes.  I grew up in Saint Louis and as a child of Rock n Roll, KSHE95 was a pioneer of AOR since 1967 . They still survive but are a shell of themselves, playing a narrow band of music that doesn't play the original artist's original efforts but what fits in a 60 minute format.  And the audio is atrocious.  And the COMMERCIALS.  Streaming is SO much better to finding music to your taste.  And the audio is better. And BTW -- for AOR fans out there -- try theroots.fm for a station that relies on user's subscription and plays music how the artists intended.  And it's better than decent audio.

 

I have 4 vintage tuners and a Krell receiver that I use at our mountain cabin. No wifi, no phone, no tv...just WNCW on 24/7 while there. Books, Scotch, Pipes, and dogs. Glorious.

For me, it was listening to the Grateful Dead Hour on our local FM station every Sunday Night from 11-12pm. I think that is where I started to appreciate the wonderful world of music. I remember listening to Sugaree while lying in bed and realizing that music just took me places that no other vehicle could. I think that is one of the reasons why I still turn my tuner on. 

Haven't had a tuner in a while, but my Marantz HT receiver has FM built in. I'm in NYC and we listen to WBGO (jazz) and WQXR (classical). Also 1010WINS when we wake up for news and weather. We stream but sometimes it's just easier to use FM as background music. If a nightstand radio counts, we have a Nakamichi AM/FM radio that wakes us gently.