[charmerci]

And not to mention "the loop" of the same songs over and over on the radio. 


That's one nice thing about Pandora, Spotify, etc..etc... there's an endless supply of "If you liked that, you'll like this too...."

Yeah? I listen to Pandora at work but I listen to the old, classic rock and it is the same old songs over and over...     

[Lancelot]

 
 I've had lots of tuners but my favorite is the Rotel 1080 that I have now ( had a MD 90 before it)  The Rotel has two antenna inputs, a remote , detachable power cord , antenna attenuation switch so local stations won't overload it , wide/narrow etc. On an attic aerial it basically sounds as good as the much more expensive MD.

This would all be for naught but I receive CBC 2 ( Canadian Broadcasting Corporation )  in both English and French and the CBC is renowned for its broadcast quality. I can listen to classical or jazz most of the day on one of the stations with announcers that are well educated in the music styles they present , some of them performers themselves.

I listen often , especially in the morning and after supper.

[Phil A]

I wouldn't mind if MQA took off and they increased the bandwidth of internet radio.  It might push me to look at an internet tuner.  I remember the days when a tuner was important and FM was decent.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yeah? I listen to Pandora at work but I listen to the old, classic rock and it is the same old songs over and over...     

Funny how that happens, isn't it? 

Speaking of NPR... they do have a neat YouTube channel with lots of "Tiny Desk Concerts:
https://www.youtube.com/user/nprmusic

[macrojack]

Knocking NPR is a popular position but they bring a lot of interesting conversation to my house. Yesterday, as a case in point, I heard an interview with William Bell. I had never heard of him but learned while listening that he was a major player back in the days of Stax Records. I guarantee you have heard some songs he's written. "Born Under a Bad Sign" might be the prime example. 
If you can approach NPR without prejudice or preconception, you may find there is a lot of educational and entertainment value to be enjoyed.

[Wayner]

The problem is they can't approach me without slanting or leaning every story they tell. If they would shut their political mouth, all would be fine, but they just can't do that.

BTW, when they start playing opera, I'm outta there.......

'ner

[macrojack]

NPR is rather comprehensive (maybe eclectic is the word) as they cover world news including politics and religion. However, they also regularly cover sports, literature, popular trends, education, human interest, obits of known persons like Scalia, David Bowie or 2 recent racehorses. They really aren't partisan despite popular memes asserting otherwise. And I can't remember anything much on the subject of opera which I think I would notice since it is something I've never been able to embrace. I have, however, heard interviews with rappers, a music form which I avoid more avidly than even opera. At least they cover music matters --- and they do it without promotion or hyperbole.
Public radio gets my vote for not having obnoxious commercials or compressed signals. As for topical concerns: I assume they are trying to provide any and every thing of interest. Naturally some of that will tickle and some will turn off. As in all things, it is best not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. All in all, public radio provides the best on air options in modern uber-commercialized America. What little advertising you may hear is low key and presented in a grown up fashion.

[JakeJ]

The problem is they can't approach me without slanting or leaning every story they tell. If they would shut their political mouth, all would be fine, but they just can't do that.

BTW, when they start playing opera, I'm outta there.......

'ner

Name one broadcast company that doesn't put spin on their news.  Quit listening to any talk programs and listen to music programs if it bothers you that much.

I agree with Macrojack, there's far more good than bad on NPR.  Just my .02.

[rajacat]

NPR is rather comprehensive (maybe eclectic is the word) as they cover world news including politics and religion. However, they also regularly cover sports, literature, popular trends, education, human interest, obits of known persons like Scalia, David Bowie or 2 recent racehorses. They really aren't partisan despite popular memes asserting otherwise. And I can't remember anything much on the subject of opera which I think I would notice since it is something I've never been able to embrace. I have, however, heard interviews with rappers, a music form which I avoid more avidly than even opera. At least they cover music matters --- and they do it without promotion or hyperbole.
Public radio gets my vote for not having obnoxious commercials or compressed signals. As for topical concerns: I assume they are trying to provide any and every thing of interest. Naturally some of that will tickle and some will turn off. As in all things, it is best not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. All in all, public radio provides the best on air options in modern uber-commercialized America. What little advertising you may hear is low key and presented in a grown up fashion.

+1

[Bob in St. Louis]

Well....in this day and age, if somebodys mouth is moving, there's a slant to the words spoken.
As far as I'm concerned, as soon as the music stops and somebody starts talking, I start pushing buttons.

[thunderbrick]

+1

+2!!!!      They nailed it on 9-11!   

[richidoo]

Well....in this day and age, if somebodys mouth is moving, there's a slant to the words spoken.
As far as I'm concerned, as soon as the music stops and somebody starts talking, I start pushing buttons.

+1   

[thunderbrick]

+1   

Yep.  That, too.  Last year I drove a truck to the west coast and back. No CD player so I drove in silence the whole way.  Kinda nice.

[Devil Doc]

Name one broadcast company that doesn't put spin on their news.  Quit listening to any talk programs and listen to music programs if it bothers you that much.

BBC news. Which BTW, many NPR stations carry.

Doc

[kenreau]

I grew up in the 70's in a small town and the FM stations in the big city 100 miles away were my musical education and first hifi experience that hooked me for a life time in this musical hobby.  I live in the big city now and, unfortunately, contemporary FM programing and sound quality is a fraction of what it once was.  I do listen to NPR in the car radio on way home from work in the evenings and channel surf 2 or 3 rock & jazz stations of interest, switching as the annoying commercials pop up. 

Continuing in my car, it came with satellite radio to listen to Sirius.  It has great programming variety, but it is completely lost in the less than AM radio sound quality.  Satellite radio is so low fi, I can only listen in maybe 5 minute increments.

At home on my AVR I can pick up the conventional radio stations and some of them put out a HD channel which is reasonably good sound quality.  Not sure what the HD Radio value business case is all about.

In our current, contemporary world of technology, this leads me to my current interest of investigating online streaming Radio in order to get the www of choices. I dabbled briefly with it while demoing JRiver a couple of years ago but never really got things dialed in.  In addition, I recall most online stations seemed to be over compressed and not very good sound quality.  Not as bad as Sirius, but slightly better than AM radio.

I'm curious if others find the same radio streaming poor sound quality issues.  Plus, I've floundered with how to best access to it. What is the best way to optimize access to it?  I use only apple macs at home. Should I use iTunes? something else? 

If the streaming topic is too much of a tangent, I will move it to another thread.

Thanks
Kenreau

[macrojack]

kenreau - I think you are very much on topic. Without radio stations there wouldn't be much point in a tuner thread.

[HAL]

Still have a working Onkyo T9090MKII tuner for FM when I try.  We are more than 90 miles from most FM stations, so unless I put in a really good antenna only get local stations.  At least we have one decent local rock station.

WETA 90.0 FM use to have a really good broadcast FM station.  They swapped FM transmitters with another station and the sound quality has never been the same for the classical broadcasts.  A shame really as they use to be great.

[JakeJ]

kenreau, do you listen to KMHD?  One of the best NPR Jazz stations I know of.

[Rusty Jefferson]

.......WETA 90.0 FM use to have a really good broadcast FM station.  They swapped FM transmitters with another station and the sound quality has never been the same for the classical broadcasts.  A shame really as they use to be great.

So true. A real loss to the area.  WBJC in B'more still has good quality transmission though.

Scott 310 tuna, with a 355 Multiplex.  Probably 15-20 % of the time the main stereo is on. We're blessed to still have good FM options in the area.  WBJC, WPFW, WYPR, WXPN (via WKHS)

[charmerci]

Ken,
ou
If you go on the internet and hook up to listen to a station, the station then knows that you are listening so they know exactly how many people are listening. It's better for them than listening via the airwaves.