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Old tapes reveal how BAD FM became

A few weeks ago, I opened a box of old reel to reel tapes I made when I was a younger man.
I remember very well when people put serious money into tuners.
Any of you remember the DJ's announcing a week in advance they would be playing a new album front to back, without interruption?

Flash ahead 36 years and one would think the tapes I made as a younger lad on that Teac 4010 would be a joke.

Wrong.

Even though my present system was unattainable 36 years ago, the recording from 102 WAQY FM in Springfield, MA that night in 1976 stands the test of time...and then some.

A few days ago, I heard the opening bars of the same piece on FM using my NAD tuner. (Think about a upper end 90's NAD tuner compared to mid 60's budget Fisher gear.) I remembered that I had the reel still on the shelf, so I quickly grabbed it and cued it up before the song was even finished playing on the radio.
I played the ancient copy. The snap and crackle of the stylus could plainly be heard along with something we seem to have completely lost in broadcast. DYNAMICS!
I feel like a man who opened up a time capsule and found out it was better in the past.
I think through the years, I just became complacent to lousy FM radio.

I thought it was that my system had come to a level that it showed the shortcomings of FM radio. Not true.
36 years ago, with a very basic tuner, I captured real dynamic music that sets toes to tapping.
Stuff on FM radio now sounds like a very poor quality MP3 in comparison.

I understand it is no longer cost effective to have a DJ manning the board and spinning vinyl 24/7...but does it have to be flat, lifeless garbage?

My tape is proof that FM radio, even with its inherent issues, can be a source of pleasant music.
When is the last time you actually sat down and tried to listen to FM radio? What have they done to it?

Why has it been ruined?

gumbydammit
pure_brew
21 posts
 
Our local radio station, WUNH Durham,NH, often plays really good quality recordings. Often eclectic. They also have "vinyl week". No sure how often, but all the DJ's that week will play just vinyl recordings during those sessions.

Worst ever is XM. I got it in my wifes car and she loves it *sigh*. The sound quality is like really bad MP3, or actually, it is.
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
Tapes are still the best reproduction source you may find if the recording was well done. Also the quality of the Tape Recorder and of the Tape itself play an important part, so does the Tuner's quality in a FM session as well.
My god if you receive a good station it still makes a lot of fun listening to Radio, also in terms of sound quality. I would not stop investing time looking deeper into FM.

best & fun only
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
I bought my first stereo in 1972 and by 1975 I was working in a high end stereo store. Back then FM was a serious source of high fidelity. AM was for top 40, FM was for classical, jazz, and album rock (with the same high standards of dynamic range and frequency response) was just getting underway. Saul Marantz's very first product was an FM tuner. It was so expensive that his first customer was an Arab sheik. In 1975 the Sequerra Model 1 Tuner came out. It was the first frequency synthesizing tuner and its 1975 price tag was $2500. That's over $10,000 in today's money. Could you imagine paying $10K for a tuner today?

The abundance of quality FM is one reason that a reel-to-reel deck was an essential component of the serious audiophile. It represented a serious investment. The mid-level R2R's of the mid-'70s were around $350-600, which is $1800-3100 in today's money. One purpose was to record when an FM station was broadcasting a complete opera, symphony, or the latest prog-rock album. Many people amassed libraries of such broadcasts. Another reason was to enjoy complete albums without having to flip the record--like for parties and lovemaking.
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