Anyone listen to Music on a FM tuner anymore?

No

+1 to ricmci. 8-12 daily on local NPR classical. MR 88 w/outdoor antenna.

Another overlooked fact is the sense of community when you are listening to a DJ.

@yyzsantabarbara The station that I love to listen to has an emphasis on high quality source material (when possible) The DJ’s bring in vinyl when they can because they say it sounds better.

Nice! Yep, and when it occurs, you can sense it - something more engaging about the sound and music - and it’s noticeable right away. I was sharing with a few friends how I still very much enjoy my MD FM tuner periodically, on late nights. They think Im silly. Hard to explain to anyone who’s never really heard it first hand. Sure helps to have a great tuner and good FM antenna to lock it in. 👍

Some times I’ll swap over to streaming the same track on 16/44 lossless, and while its more clear, it may not always have the "alive" vibe type of sound as it does with good FM sometimes. Like you said, the few Radio DJs that play vinyl periodically.

IMO, even today no "streaming radio" can rival the sonic purity of late-night music programming from a good public radio station using a quality analog FM tuner into the line stage et seq. A better source for discovery of "new" recordings as well. So ditto and +1 to all fellow fossils.

I still have and use my Onkyo T 9090 II tuner sometimes, but mainly to stay up to date on any upcoming concerts announced by a local classic rock radio station. 

The Onkyo T 9090II was considered one of the best tuners ever made, but other sources sound better, so I don't listen to it much.  I see it on the same level as a good old-fashioned newspaper.  Good for news!

Listening to jazz on 89.3, WNUR, Northwestern University as I type this.  I like listening to the college stations here in Chicago; 88.7, WLUW, Loyola, 88.3, WBEZ North Eastern, 90.9, WDCB, College Of DuPage for new and interesting music I'm not familiar with.  Not to mention Public Radio, WBEZ, and for a city this size, one classical station in the middle of the dial, WFMT, 98.7 broadcasts an excellent signal and not bad programming.  We once had a better(I thought) classical station WNIB, 97.1.  The owners, a couple who ran it on a shoestring budget(had a dog running around the place and they drove an old Volvo wagon) and a pure love of music were getting old and nearing retirement when a major radio station corporation who wanted the license for the broadcast frequency to play rock offered them an amount I believe was north of one-hundred & fifty million dollars.  That's a $150,000,000 plus!  What timing I guess.

Nice to see some of the responses here! I used to listen to FM a lot. The only discreet tuner I ever had was a Sansui TU-S77AMX, but one I stuffed that away in the closet(having a new AVR), I seemed to lose interest in FM radio programming. Coincidently this was around the time the FCC allowed the change from 3 mass market stations to (7 in one market????). I remembering MetroMedia coming into Boston and buying up whatever they could.

Suddenly the airwaves changed- Oldies 103 was gone, BCN became a shell of itself, Lorne and Wally(formerly WVBF) were now WROR after their brief intro to Country. Hell- even Country changed big time! WCLB became WKLB and became Hot Country. Hot Country was no longer the Country of the past- it sounded more like Hip Hop!!!

I only commute one a week now(thank you Covid), but at 2 1/2 hrs on the road, I made a USB stick of all kinds of music. I didn't have XM in my car, so USB was it. I actually detested listening to FM Radio on my commute.

Once home- I listen to Sirius XM streamed into my Deon Receiver, as well as various Internet radio stations for Classical and 80's/90's Country. There are a million Classic Rock stations out there, but afraid that much of that is "stick to format" corporate stuff. Some day I'll explore!

The station that I love to listen to has an emphasis on high quality source material (when possible) The DJ's bring in vinyl when they can because they say it sounds better.

This station has an over the airways FM signal, internet stream, and an over the air HD radio signal. I was able to listen to the HD radio signal with the famous Sony XDR unit modded by the XDRguy.com. The radio signal was unlistenable to me (not high quality) compared to the FM broadcast. The internet stream was better than the HD radio broadcast, but not as good as the FM.

Still use my tuners.  Have a McIntosh MR-71 in the great room, and have a MR-88 in my bedroom.  I wish I could adapt my MR-71 for HDRadio.  We have a lot HD stations around here.  The MR-88 sounds better when there is a HD signal, the MR-71 sounds better on a non-HD signal.

We have a fantastic classical and American Songbook station around here.  It is still worth listing to the radio.

Try listening to your FM tuner >> EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. <<.

It’s amazing how it can sound even better with less airwave traffic going on.

Fired up the Magnum Dynalab FM tuner early on the all-tube system today.

98 Rock never sounded better, and the throwback sound can be enjoyable.

deadhead 1000-

1957 REL Precedent was the benchmark for Marantz developing the 10B.

If I remember correctly, the Precedent was inspired by the Art Deco movement, with the Chrysler Building in mind.

An even cooler tuner is the REL 646B(The Green Monster) which precedes it.

Amplifiers :: REL 646B tube HiFi Receiver before REL Precedent 646C (hifitown.com)

 An ULTRA RARE, very cool piece that only a tuner geek (like me)can appreciate.

(597) REL 646B Tube Receiver 10 watt 7C5 "Green Monster" (before the Precedent" - YouTube

Find a Cambridge Audio 550T for $100 or less. 

I keep one as a "break glass in case of emergency".

Quiet listenable with a remote and the cool RDS display for the current song playing.

I have a Technics ST-9038 tuner I recently upgraded with better OPAMP, decoupling caps, MUSE bipolar coupling caps and it sounds better than ever. Just acquired a matching MICOM timer unit for it I’m reconditioning (it works after a fashion).

I grew up listening to FM, “Underground Railroad” on WUSF out of Tampa, FL in the early 70’s, stations in San antonio, Monterey (What was the station out of Watsonville? KAZU?) San Diego and other places I’ve lived. I listen to local WAMU for Hot Jazz Saturday Night (and nothing else), FM 89.7 WTMD out of Towson, MD and a few rock stations around DC (101.1, 100.3).

@Table jockey 

Wow, that REL is beautiful! The other Turners are super nice also. It does bring back memories of a Marantz Receiver I had in the 80's. Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I'll continue to live without a Tuner for now. 

Deadhead

I have used a Denon TU-680 NAB for nearly 30 years year. Great sound; so sensitive and selective it' picks up stations after they've signed of (just kidding). I'm thankful to have a 24/7 local Classical station that uses no compression or processing whatsoever, WDPR 88.1. And,, a local school system has a share-time FM that through the day, programs Jazz with only modest processing. The Denon was designed to be an off-the-air monitor for radio stations, so it had to be of high quality. (In case you don't know, in the 90's, radio stations in the U.S. had to monitor their over-the-air signal in the studio so that whoever is on the air knew if the station was off the air. Not as much need now as digital monitors are even better.)

I listen to NPR and other talk radio on tabletop FM radios.

I have two Luxman tuners but rarely use them anymore, in part because the audio quality of several local FM music stations in my isolated area has gotten pretty poor.  I would use them more if the stations sounded better.  Most of them sound better using the Tune In streaming app, although one rock station sounds even worse on Tune In--unbelievably bad, in fact.

For those who don't know about Tune In, you can use it to listen to just about any
radio station that outputs an online signal, and store the ones you like as "Favorites."  It's free with commercials or $10/mo. for ad-free.

I listen every workday at least until 12PM. I am lucky that one of the worlds best stations is local to me, KCRW.com. The amount of music discovery for me from this station is amazing.

My latest KRCW discovery are:

• Island in the Storm - Mia Doi Todd
• 38th & Chicago - Jose James

This is why I like radio still. Musical discovery, especially new releases like the 2 above.

My tuners

• Magnum Dynalab MD108T (a great tuner)
• Sansui TU9090 (pretty good)
• Accuphase T-101 (modded to almost great level)

When working from home I listen to KNKX on a Magnum Dynalab Ft-101a Etude tuner.  Sound quality is close to CD with my roof antenna, even though I'm about 40-50 miles from the tower.  Not all FM broadcasts are equal, but if there's a good one in your area you may be surprised at how good it can sound.

Oh man! Not since my Onkyo T-9 died in '79.  I did buy a Harmon Kardon Citation 18 in the mid 80s and literally never even hooked it up.  I think the cassette tape followed by the CD craze got me. Plus I was thrilled to not hear all those irritating ads. 

I lived in the Detroit suburbs in the 60s and 70s. There were 4 Album Oriented Rock stations then- Steve Dahl on WLLZ, Howard Stern on W4, Arthur Penhollow on WRIF- man those were the days! I couldn't even burp as low as Penhallows voice was. Irreverent humor, solid B side records, competition for audiences kept the car dealer ads to a minimum. What a great trip it's been to be born in Detroit in 1962. Fantastic cars, great rock n roll, and the HiFi boom all at once. I was in heaven! 

Here in the Phoenix area there is a solid classical station I frequently listen to on my office set up, via a Sansui 8080 receiver.

I can only get a highly unreliable dsl service in my current location. Streaming has not been possible. Also, the topography between my house and my preferred stations is full of hills up to 1500'. I have tried as many highly thought of tuners as I could find locally. Sansui's, Mac's, Kenwoods, Magnum dynalabs,... Sensitivity of every one was insufficient? Or something?  I finally settled on a cheap old Sony ST-J75. Hands down the best of the lot for dealing with my situation. I listen to the Jazz, Classical, and community radio stations in Portland, Oregon. It sounds quite good too and locks on stations. I never have to adjust the antenna. And I can get an excellent variety of music 24/7.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

@pwerahera Go Nuggs!!

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.
 

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. 

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Saturday morning flashback 9 to noon on xrt chicago.

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 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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

@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.

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.

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

Every day!

My Magnum Dynalab Etude gets a lot of use. 
 

Amazing sounding tuner. Had it since new. 
 

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. 

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.