[Bwanagreg]

A local Chicago station, WDRV ("The Drive - 97.1) is celebrating the 55th anniversary of the 33 1/3 LP today by playing 20 of the most influential albums (Rubber Soul is on as I write) start to finish USING VINYL!  They let the needle drop sound go on air and everything.

They are making a big deal out of having a turntable, Discwasher ("anyone remember those" said the DJ ) and a backup stylus. The funny thing is, even on my humble JVS executive office stereo, it sounds damn good! I have no idea what sort of table and cartridge they are using.

This station seems to have a clue as to how to distinguish themselves from the pap most radio stations broadcast. They launched the station a few years ago by playing non-stop music with no commercials or DJ breaks for two months or so. The format is all "classic rock", which gets old after a while, but it is by far the most listenable station around here.

On the other hand, I heard what I hope is the future of radio for the first time over the weekend - satellite (XM Radio).  100 channels, with many of them commercial free. I was hooked when I found the "Progressive Fusion" channel. First artist, Frank Zappa: hook sunk.  Camel, early Genesis, King Crimson, Spock's Beard, Eric Johnson, and a lot of good new stuff to me... No commercials, no DJ. Now that's road trip music!  

[doug s.]

on a good stereo, you will hear yust how crappy xm radio sounds.  and, while it may appear to offer more selection at 1st, when one or two companies own the entire usa communications network (thanks, fcc!!! ), you will have 100 channels of crap.  i hope it dies a painful death.

with a quality fm broadcast signal, & a quality tuna, the sound easily rivals that of the best digital & analog set-ups.  if ya don't believe it, then ya haven't tried it.

doug s., long live public radio.

[JackStraw]

on a good stereo, you will hear yust how crappy xm radio sounds.  and, while it may appear to offer more selection at 1st, when one or two companies own the entire usa communications network (thanks, fcc!!! ), you will have 100 channels of crap.  i hope it dies a painful death.

i was reading an article just yesterday about xm vs. sirius radio, and i was wondering what the quality is like. what equipment led you your assessment of "crappy"? i'm not surprised, but i'm curious about what you tried.

incidentally, i picked up a kenwood kt-615 on ebay and i'm contemplating having mods done by Ed at antennaperformance.com. trick is that the mods cost 3x what i paid for the tuner. we'll see...

[Bwanagreg]

I only heard XM  on a car system, so the quality (or lack therof) wasn't apparent. I have a Jolida tube FM tuner that , when it works, sounds pretty sweet, so I know how good FM can sound, and how bad.

I love public radio, too (pledge drives and frequent banal programming aside). The problem is, when I want to hear something other than jazz or classical, I need another option.

Consolidation has already largely destroyed quality commercial radio (that didn't always have to be an oxymoron), and the recent rules changes will only make it worse. All I can say is I was able to find a few stations on XM that had excellent programming - far better than anything on the FM band.

My brother (it was his XM radio I heard) used to own a local radio station in Southwest Michigan, and worked in the industry for years. He sold the station a few years ago to one of the big boys. It's ironic that he only listens to XM now.

[doug s.]

re: the xm i've heard at my friends' house, his equipment is what i'd call entry-level hi-end.  certainly not the most resolving set-up, but enjoyable, & resolving enuff to hear the harsh edge & flat soundstage that compressed-data xm radio imparts to the signal.  i haven't heard sirius, but i imagine it's the same deal...

re: ed's mods, they're definitely worth it.  if he's charging three times what ya paid for the tuna, then that means a family meal at mickey-dees was the cost of the tuna!     the bottom line is you'll have someting likely better than a $2k+ new tuna when yure done, for relative peanuts.  i paid $300 to stephen sank in albuquerque nm, to hot-rod the h/k i got for $75.  worth every penny; i'd put it up against *any* tuna at *any* price...

re: public radio, i'm fortunate to have wpfw, which plays a *lot* of latin, caribbean, & african music, which i love...  and wshc, a small wva college station, which plays only rock, and it's all obscure non-commercial indie-label stuff, which i really enjoy.  

doug s.