It seems you preferred mono FM. Here's the problem: When FM was introduced (past the first low-band false start), it fought for it's life for 20 years, 10 of that in stereo. For a while, the FCC was literally giving away free FM licenses just to try to get more stations on the air. In the first 10-15 years, many...a great many FM stations made their living with their SCA, and just filled the main channel with whatever they could. There were few FM radios, even fewer FM car radios, and almost no portables. AM ruled. Then in the early 1970s people "discovered" that music sounded pretty darn good on FM vs AM, and things started to change.
So, was Stereo a money grab? Hardly. It sucked wind for at least 10 years, not making any significant inroads. That's a lot of time to throw energy into the air without many people listening. But FM needed to offer something that was blatantly different from AM, and stereo was it. Mono was not.
FM finally won the music market, and now the small-time AM station is about out of business. Another money-grab? Perhaps 20 years ago, but today, the value of all broadcast properties is 1/10 of what it was two decades back, advertising revenue is down, and we can all blame programming.
Or can we?
Good program content, like classical and jazz, has all but left the dial. And those that remain are slipping. Did group consolidation kill the tiny formats? Or do younger audiences not care about those genres? Lots of folk would like to know.
But it's not a technical problem! Never has been. Even with the loudness war, the proof is in the ratings...people will listen to the content they want to hear almost with complete disregard for quality. That's why in my major market the #2, #6, and #8 ranked stations are all AM. And the station with the highest quality audio, least processing, in stereo, and HD1, is #28, a near dead last.
Let's be clear here: FM doesn't push people to HD because it's lackluster. HD Radio is an unqualified failure in the marketplace. The only way it wins listeners is if their new car has an HD radio that defaults to HD. HD signals don't even place in the ratings, their share is just too small. Yes, they encoded and sampled independently, the data is there, it's just tiny.
HD Radio was doomed from the start, the concept was badly thought out. It offers nothing but possibly improved quality, and that's not enough to drive an audience to it. What it did do is offer a small segment of the audience even more alternatives, the exact thing broadcasters do not want. Would you pay extra to receive the same station you have now in possibly (but not guaranteed) better quality? If you say "yes" to that, your'e an exception, not the rule.
Here's what streaming does: it offers options that are global, and more interest-centric, with better "reception". Even though I work in the industry, I can't find a local station I can stick with very long. Some of my favorites are on the other side of the globe, or at least across the pond. Better music, zero commercials, and just plain different.
Then theres the streams like Pandora, which is actually interesting if you participate and tweak it with your preferences. I've discovered more music on Pandora in 7 years than by any other means.
But what's ruined radio in the young market is things like YouTube, where you can hear exactly what you want, any time, for free. Self serving, yes. But they have no need or desire for radio now because they're satiated.
You can look on all of that as good, bad, evil, whatever, but it's what we have, and have had for decades. I don't see where complaining about it helps much.
I picture wiseoldtech sitting in his rocking chair with a shawl in his lap, cranking up his edison standard, throwing on a wax cylinder and lining up his ear trumpet with the cygnet horn for best fidelity.....then mumbling something about how kids today wouldn’t know good music if it hit em in the behind! 😀
I love HD streaming and consider it one of the best things to happen to audio in my lifetime.
I love HD streaming and consider it one of the best things to happen to audio in my lifetime.
Jaddie, first of all, I was not complaining.
I was stating facts.
And no, I don't "prefer" FM mono...... I don't get where you came to that conclusion, unless you misunderstood the context of it all.
And your "timeline" of events is incorrect, as far as American radio.
FM multiplex stereo started in 1960, and soon after became popular, not the 1970's as you said.... you're a decade off there, at least in the American market.
Zenith was the one patenting it's multiplex system idea at the time.
In fact, FM stereo in portables started in the 1970's, with "boomboxes" becoming popular.
And yes, that was a "money grab" to gain more revenue.
My Panasonic "Platinum" RX-5600 boombox came out in 1980 for about $459.00
That "fad" took off marvelously for most of that decade.
The SCA system was mainly used for background music systems in stores and business, it never became popular in the home consumer market.
As for HD radio, contrary to what you said, FM (and AM) does "push" people to invest in it.
I hear advertisments for it all the time on local FM stations, along with "pod cast" advertisments.
If discussing American radio and its tactics, please do some more investigating before wasting time to re-train and convince old guys like me with any misinformation.
Because I grew up in the 1960's and saw the trends happen in real time, as they did.
I was stating facts.
And no, I don't "prefer" FM mono...... I don't get where you came to that conclusion, unless you misunderstood the context of it all.
And your "timeline" of events is incorrect, as far as American radio.
FM multiplex stereo started in 1960, and soon after became popular, not the 1970's as you said.... you're a decade off there, at least in the American market.
Zenith was the one patenting it's multiplex system idea at the time.
In fact, FM stereo in portables started in the 1970's, with "boomboxes" becoming popular.
And yes, that was a "money grab" to gain more revenue.
My Panasonic "Platinum" RX-5600 boombox came out in 1980 for about $459.00
That "fad" took off marvelously for most of that decade.
The SCA system was mainly used for background music systems in stores and business, it never became popular in the home consumer market.
As for HD radio, contrary to what you said, FM (and AM) does "push" people to invest in it.
I hear advertisments for it all the time on local FM stations, along with "pod cast" advertisments.
If discussing American radio and its tactics, please do some more investigating before wasting time to re-train and convince old guys like me with any misinformation.
Because I grew up in the 1960's and saw the trends happen in real time, as they did.
For me streaming HD broadcasts was zero additional investment. My license fee (a quaint notion I know) pays for all the channels I want to get and I already had the tech at home. I repurposed an old tablet computer for the kitchen and all was good. Wonderful commercial free music. With listen again options via my laptop. Life is good.
My chair does rock.... of course it's an office chair.
No shawl, I don't own Edison cylinders.... none of that antique stuff.
But seriously, While I might bitch about some stuff, it's only to prove that things have changed, and often, not for the better if you look deeper into it.
Of course you "love streaming" - it's given you a fresh new way to enjoy music.
Are you paying for it at all? - contract?.... through internet?
Then you've "been bought" and led, thus my previous rants.
Just like those buying an expensive new boombox in the 1980's..... the "cash flow" that makes corporations money, and leaves you with less.
Just like any other fad.
The airwaves were and are free for broadcast reception.
Nope. We pay a fixed annual fee for the right to receive TV and Radio. Not every country is like USA.
I get commercial free tv and radio for £2 a week. Personally I think that's a good trade off especially as that fee supports 5 orchestras, the annual proms and loads of live music events that I can listen to. People of differing musical tastes may not fee as well catered for.
No, you were broadcasting your conspiracy theory.
I'm going to basically agree with Jaddie's post. I switched to streaming about 19 years ago and have never looked back. It's a matter of content, not quality. I have come to the conclusion that people get into the radio biz just to hear themselves talk. Even some of my very favorite FM Jazz stations with smart, knowledgeable DJs just have too much talk, talk, talk. Play some damn music! Pop radio is unbearable and Public radio seems to have all gone to an All Talk and News format. Hawaii Pubic Radio used to be all classical with fabulous programming. No more.
Most of us who have gone to streaming haven't done it because it's the "New Thing" - we've gone because that's where the music is. Radio is nothing but a blab festival.
Ahh, I made no direct mention of a "conspiracy theory", however you used the term because it made sense in the workings of big business and how they use subtle ways of manipulating the public.
You profess that too much talking takes place on radio and limits musical enjoyment, I agree, it's annoying, always was.
Include the advertising which overloads the airwaves, yet another form of manipulation.
I hold form on the belief that streaming/alternative sources also have their own ways of manipulation.
After all, weren't you "shoved to streaming" because of the annoying chatter?
You profess that too much talking takes place on radio and limits musical enjoyment, I agree, it's annoying, always was.
Include the advertising which overloads the airwaves, yet another form of manipulation.
I hold form on the belief that streaming/alternative sources also have their own ways of manipulation.
After all, weren't you "shoved to streaming" because of the annoying chatter?
I believe you made a statement regarding the 15kHz restriction of FMStereo. I took that as a negative.
My “timeline” is correct, but was not specific. FM stereo was standardized in 1961, not 1960. FM broadcasting began in the late 1930s, suffered from lack of stations and receivers, then took a hit with the transition to 88-108mHz, and many FMs went dar until the late 1950s. Mono FM never achieved significant market penetration.
Stereo, standardized in 1961, didn’t begin to gain a significant audience until the early 1970s, but didn’t begin to eclipse AM until the early 1980s, later depending on the market. That’s 20 years of FM Stereo until it became the universal broadcast medium of choice for music.
There were 14 different stereo systems considered by the FCC by 1960. The nearest competitor to the winning Zenith system was rejected because it was incompatible with existing SCA services, but would have provided slightly better main channel stereo performance. See my SCA comments below.
So, any attempt to be financially viable is a “money grab”? Ok then.
Um....well...SCA was never intended to be for consumers. “Storecasting”, as it was called for a while, was a strong revenue source for the FM station without a large enough audience to support a viable advertising cost per thousand listeners. I worked for an FM station in the mid 1970s that took on an SCA client who contracted for $100K/year for the service, which was a combination of voice and data market quotations 8 hours a day, weekdays only. Normal spot loads were under 12 minutes per hour max, billed at a few dollars a minute, or as free bonuses for a large buy on the sister AM station. SCA paid for the existence of many FMs for many years. Eventually the subcarriers were modulated with a digital spread spectrum data signal.
In my market the push is over, it failed. The only repeated mention of HD is at the station ID. No matter, you can prove this by walking into a big box store to search for an HD radio. Upper market car radios and high-end AVRs is the only place you’ll find it.
Sounds like we are about the same age. I should have retired by now but I’m still working in radio every day. You’d think 50 years would have been enough!
I stand by my information. It is correct as stated. Reference can be found on line.
The Top 40 radio station I worked for in south Florida was owned by Muzak and we provided the SCA Storecasting feed. There was a button on the rack you had to push every few hours to check the Muzak stream. I don't remember it ever failing.
So even some #1 rated radio stations were subsidized by the SCA. 😉
FWIW, I was working in a fancy 70s vintage county club last week and I believe that had honest to god Muzak playing. That's a blast from the past. Embarrassingly, I knew all the songs. 😱
What difference is it if you have to pay for a service?.....there’s plenty of free streaming services if you don’t mind a few commercials (same as radio) radio is still alive and well and it will probably be around for some time to come.
Maybe when 5G takes over every street corner it might be a different story.
Maybe when 5G takes over every street corner it might be a different story.
There's no need to discuss with me about timelines, I've been a service tech for audio/video for 45+ years, and asides from the experience, am well aware of what happned and when.
More stereo consoles were sold since the mid 1960's equipped with FM Multiplex - yet you insist Mpx didn't take hold until 1970?
I said 1960 for the Zenith Multiplex birth, you said 1961, let's not bicker over a meazily year now, shall we?
The one thing that irks me is someone attempting to correct me about a little year off about something - that's nitpicking, plain and simple.
We're certainly not selling classic cars here, where a model year can make a difference.
And no, I never mentioned anything about 15 khz limit on anything, that was another poster.
Decades ago, 1974, when I sold audio/video, in addition to providing service, when Quadraphonic equipment came out, I knew it was going to be a short-lived thing.
And it was.... I was right.
The masses didn't bite..... for long.
I knew at the time what the consumer wanted, and what they didn't.
And I sold my azz off in the 2-channel stereo market.
I smell 5G as another folly.
You can only push the consumer so far...
Quadraphonic wasn’t meant to take over the industry was it?
I saw it as more of a sales gimmick.....I was young at the that time and barely remember it.
I think streaming has a pretty good foothold, you might as well get on the crazy train and see where it takes you. I’ve expanded my musical horizons immensely......music I never ever would have been exposed to if it weren’t for Tidal hi-fi (best $20/month I’ve ever spent)
I saw it as more of a sales gimmick.....I was young at the that time and barely remember it.
I think streaming has a pretty good foothold, you might as well get on the crazy train and see where it takes you. I’ve expanded my musical horizons immensely......music I never ever would have been exposed to if it weren’t for Tidal hi-fi (best $20/month I’ve ever spent)
That's such a strange statement that I'll have to say "no".
Streaming for me in the beginning was a sideline. My main focus was to build a music server, which I did circa 2001. I liked streaming simply because they had more music than I did. Gradually over the years I've streamed more and more because more music I like is becoming available and the streaming libraries now have far more content than I do. I still spend a lot of listening time with my own library of tracks.
We had FM for most of the 1960s but it sucked. The BIG stations with big listenership and big ad traffic were such as WABC(AM). Top 40 was king.
In the late 1960s, Summer of Love, some FM stations started playing album tracks too long or odd for Top 40. Probably because revenue was so small the owners didn't care what got on the air. That's when I switched to WDAS-FM and WMMR-FM. That's about when Allison Steele captured the NYC "hip" market. Even then it was not lucrative; stoners don't need ads to buy munchies and don't buy much else.
Neither our 1966 or 1967 cars had FM radio. Optional, but why?
There was growth from 1968, but FM was not making money well into the 1970s.
AM survives (not thrives) here in coastal Maine. Every 1,000 people, there is a mountain. You need long-wave to throw over several mountains and hit enough ears to justify leaving the transmitter running. All this may be long-amortized towers and rigs from the 1960s-1980s, probably not worth a dime of new investment today. Yes, there are 2 or 3 FM stations audible here (King's WKIT-FM), as long as you don't get far out of town. WKIT fades-out at 15-20 miles (the first big hill).
In the late 1960s, Summer of Love, some FM stations started playing album tracks too long or odd for Top 40. Probably because revenue was so small the owners didn't care what got on the air. That's when I switched to WDAS-FM and WMMR-FM. That's about when Allison Steele captured the NYC "hip" market. Even then it was not lucrative; stoners don't need ads to buy munchies and don't buy much else.
Neither our 1966 or 1967 cars had FM radio. Optional, but why?
There was growth from 1968, but FM was not making money well into the 1970s.
AM survives (not thrives) here in coastal Maine. Every 1,000 people, there is a mountain. You need long-wave to throw over several mountains and hit enough ears to justify leaving the transmitter running. All this may be long-amortized towers and rigs from the 1960s-1980s, probably not worth a dime of new investment today. Yes, there are 2 or 3 FM stations audible here (King's WKIT-FM), as long as you don't get far out of town. WKIT fades-out at 15-20 miles (the first big hill).
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It sounds good to me. Lots of people here are just so anti-goverment that they would prefer their lives controlled by corporate overlords versus an elected government.
FM Radio in the US died when Clear Channel bought up pretty much every station and turned everything into vanilla clone stations. Streaming put the final nail in the coffin.