[dB Cooper]

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.

I live in their reception area and find their programming to lean strongly towards familiar, "easy listening" style material, which I get tired of quickly. Before KWAX-FM (Oregon) dropped off the internet, they were getting nearly 100% of my classical time. Great programming and great sound.

Around here (WDC Metro) theres one classical station (the aforementioned WETA) and one station which plays jazz about half the time (WPFW), and the usual commercial crapola on the rest of the FM band.. Not a lot of incentive to get and use an old-school Stereo FM tuna, at least around here. 

[Phil A]

I live in their reception area and find their programming to lean strongly towards familiar, "easy listening" style material, which I get tired of quickly. Before KWAX-FM (Oregon) dropped off the internet, they were getting nearly 100% of my classical time. Great programming and great sound.

Around here (WDC Metro) theres one classical station (the aforementioned WETA) and one station which plays jazz about half the time (WPFW), and the usual commercial crapola on the rest of the FM band.. Not a lot of incentive to get and use an old-school Stereo FM tuna, at least around here.

+1 = when I lived up there after just under a year the novelty wore off and that's when I decided to ditch the tuner.  It's even worse where I am now.  I can't even stand to listen to it in the car - have a thumb drive with lots of mp3 and wma songs that I used most of the time.

[Funnehaha]

I blame the FCC. Ever since Reagan deregulated the ability of only one station to be owned by one company in a specific geographic location...

...and what about Edwin Armstrong....!!!! Jeez, those bozos!!!!

[kenreau]

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

Yes, FM 89.1 on 80% of the time.  Great variety of Jazz and different DJ programs.  89.9 All Classical is another great one, commercial free.  A couple of other local radio stations worth a listen are 92.3 KGON Classic Rock and 101.9 KINK.

Kenreau

[thunderbrick]

Up until a few years ago St Louis had a wonderful classical station 99.1 where the people really knew their stuff.  Was owned by a branch of the Lutheran Church, but eventually sold.   

I think all radio programming has gone to hell, hand-in-hand with commercial rock/pop/hip-hop and hick-hop industries.  Reflective, IMO, of the nutso pace of life we live, the internet and the public's attention span of a labrador retriever in a room full of squirrels.

Long been a fan of NPR but it has become so fragmented into little specialty programs that I find it hard to listen.  Ira Glass?  Fingernails on a chalkboard.      

[dB Cooper]

Reflective, IMO, of the nutso pace of life we live, the internet and the public's attention span of a labrador retriever in a room full of squirrels.

Heard of an experiment recently where young peoples' attention spans had fallen below that of a goldfish. No, I'm not making that up:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/humans-have-shorter-attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smart/

[Doublej]

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

For access, I would start with itunes or simply bookmarking the desired streams in your favorite browser. Option B would be an aggregator site such as tunein.com (which has an app for mobile devices)

[steve in jersey]

He,he,he.... It would have been nice if you had placed a "Tunas / (Tuners)" in your original posting . I was about to reply that even Starkist's "Charlie the Tuna" may have swam away !

On a serious note, I have to agree with several other posters in saying that due to the short attention span of
the GP, there doesn't appear to be much interest / support for quality Radio Station Broadcating for sometime
now.

A few years ago I decided to try a Cambridge Audio NP30 Sonata, I have to say that it did'nt take long for me to become disappointed by the small proportion of stations that were broadcasting at 320kbps (or slightly higher occasionally). The actual problem I had with it was that signal strength of the stations I could find wasn't consistent. I'm not sure if this is due to how much bandwidth my ISP (Comcast) is allocating for these
broadcasts or what . I don't recall having nearly the same amount of signal strength inconsistency when I was
listening to FM.

I haven't listened to these Internet stations for a few years, (& having no Memorial Day weekend invitations
to go to) maybe I'll throw the Sonata back into my loop to see if things are any better. If I don't notice that much difference, more than likely I won't be posting a follow up to this "fish tale"

[macrojack]

I don't think our issue really focuses on attention spans, however short they may have become. To my mind the real issue is Americans' insensitivity to quality. We are a quantity focused society. We have to remember (how can we forget?) that we audiophools are an anomaly. Our focus on quality over quantity in most of our decision making causes us painful reminders nearly every day as to what weirdo outliers we actually are. What kind of idiot worries about what he's getting for his money? The American way is to look for a brand name and, once we feel confident about the brand, seek the lowest possible price by hook or by crook. Value evaluations usually play no part. This tendency makes the buying public very vulnerable to exploitation, which naturally follows very closely.

Nowadays, it is all in the marketing. Sussing out the buyers current metric, or better yet, creating it, providing numbers, cosmetics and gizmos, and making all the noise you possibly can  in order to elevate your profile. Getting reviews, product placements, endorsements, retail outlets, word of mouth rumors, etc. is the sum total of engineering effort that goes into many of the items that are offered today.

I've heard a number of talking heads warn about not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. It finally occurred to my slow mind that this advice might well serve audio buyers. Our collective fixation on ultimate performance may be compromising our enjoyment. Good enough might well be good enough. Radio isn't quite high rez. So what. It keeps me entertained and sometimes introduces me to things I might not otherwise encounter. There can be good found on air. Not everything needs to be the best and it is usually wise not to fix that which is not broken. Tune in, turn on, drop out. Still good advice.

[Wayner]

Well, you have just described all of the audio manufacturers here at AC that support the site thru their pocketbook, to allow other people (to whom they can advertise to) visit the site for free.

The real problem is that many do not know, or realize who is paying the bill(s).

I would rather have "commercial" radio seek its own level (and position) in the market place. My ears can handle the ads.

'ner

 

[thunderbrick]

I don't think our issue really focuses on attention spans, however short they may have become. To my mind the real issue is Americans' insensitivity to quality.

Excellent points, Tom, but in your quote above I think the two issues go together.

Yet, last Friday I commented on the guitar riffs one of my students was listening to in the office.  Turns out it was CCR, and we need ended up talking for maybe an hour about the state of music.  He was about 21 y/o, yet shared the same feelings about music, quality and the market as we AC geezers do.   In the school's shop the "kids" probably play more classic rock than anything else, and according to this kid, it "says" more to his friends than the drivel on commercial radio these days.   

We are not alone......   

[bacobits1]

Drivil is mild you mean socially musically UN-redeeming value. I laugh at all these award shows, what trash.

Used to have a Magnum Dyna Etude and roof antenna back in Boston. Found good stations only later (like 6 months) to be sold and format changed from say Jazz to country. Sold it.
Been over 16 years without one.

[macrojack]

Excellent points, Tom, but in your quote above I think the two issues go together.

Yet, last Friday I commented on the guitar riffs one of my students was listening to in the office.  Turns out it was CCR, and we need ended up talking for maybe an hour about the state of music.  He was about 21 y/o, yet shared the same feelings about music, quality and the market as we AC geezers do.   In the school's shop the "kids" probably play more classic rock than anything else, and according to this kid, it "says" more to his friends than the drivel on commercial radio these days.   

We are not alone......   

Bob - You are right, of course, as usual. Not always - don't get a big head.
There exists a range of emphasis from cost not object, hand-made artlike expressions to mass produced shells of no discernible utility. We each have our own emphasis and must seek our own sweet spot on the quality/quantity continuum. Problem is: The majority rule enforced by market studies heavily favor consensus value. That demographic is generally not particularly astute so the rest of us see our options stunted by mass market goals. A favorite example is the lite beer phenomenon. America was convinced to prefer a diluted product over what they had been accustomed to. An unintended consequence of that was the rise of the craft beer craze which Anheuser Busch wants to overwhelm now with acquisition of craft brewers, masquerading mass produced beer as the real thing, merging toward monopoly and lobbying legislators. That's how the free market really works. Radio did something similar but was unable, as yet, to eliminate the final listening option, public radio.
Incidentally, public radio and NPR are not one and the same even though there is a lot of overlap. NPR is programming that public stations can buy as broadcast content. Most do as it is a listener magnet.
As for radio advertising, it is almost exclusively obnoxious, over-the-top bombast. I lived in Salem, VA. from 1997 until 2000. The radio options there included obnoxious, repetitive classic rock, religious and country stations or all day talk including a certain (featuring?) certain bellicose voices I actively avoid. The only public station was full-time classical juke box.
While there I sold my MR-78.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Bob - You are right, of course, as usual. Not always - don't get a big head.

Ohh.....We're wwwaaayyy past that point Tom.  Way past.

[thunderbrick]

Ohh.....We're wwwaaayyy past that point Tom.  Way past.

I'll take that as an acknowledgement of superior intellect, thank you very much.

[Speedskater]

I have:
a] Nakamichi clock radio
b] Onkyo T-407 tuner
c] Sony XDR-F1HD tuner
d] two JVC KT-HDPK1. That a got from RadioShack for about $15 each, Had to build DIY 12 Volt power supplies for them.

Now I mostly listen to the HD sub-channels.

[macrojack]

I'll take that as an acknowledgement of superior intellect, thank you very much.

I guess this all started when he won the Miss Information crown at his college. Of course, who among us can say that experience wouldn't pump them up too. It's hard to keep perspective after having an honor like that conferred on you. Is it true he's had to have his crown re-sized twice already? A tiara probably would have been a more practical choice. Was there a new title or, better yet, a cash award included?
I'm not concealing my envy very well, am I?

[Wayner]

Light beer was actually designed to reduce alcohol consumption. Very few people are brought to the local detox center because they were drinking beer, especially light beer. Distilled spirits are the leading cause for visits to detox.

Demonizing beer companies because they make a "lighter" alcohol content beer proves how badly some people completely miss the boat. Again, people were manipulated into thinking "tastes great, less filling", but the real purpose was to be more filling, less drunk. Light beers are heavily promoted at sporting events, because they know that their fan base is filled with beer drinkers, and the goal for the event was to get thru it without casualties. So while some folks think the beer companies are ripping them off, they are actually saving their ass.

'ner

[Bob in St. Louis]

I'll take that as an acknowledgement of superior intellect, thank you very much.

Absofrigginlutely, Sir. 

[charmerci]

I do have hope for the future of high quality sound though. With the price of computer space and speed dropping, hi-rez music will be standard, not the exception, in the not-so-distant future.