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1460 am KYAC 96.5fm KYAC Quadraphonic
- Thread starter gr229
- Start date
Of course the Kirkland site is now a housing development.
FM Quad was weird. Not everything from the labels was mixed in quad in the 1970s, just a tiny handful of then-current titles, the front/rear separation was barely noticeable in most cases. And compared to Rock, Broadway, Middle Of The Road and Classical, R&B quad titles were shamefully rare. So much of what you heard on "Quad" stations (if they had cohesive formats) were still regular stereo recordings.
And at least a few stations said they were in quad and were not. Not like there were a ton of receivers, anyway. KQIV in the Portland market said they were broadcasting in quad (hence the calls), but years later admitted that they never were able to work out the technical bugs and gave up quickly. But since the liners were already recorded....
I do know that KING experimented but supposedly the quad signal traveled maybe 8 miles.
I do know that KING experimented but supposedly the quad signal traveled maybe 8 miles.
I think the biggest problem with KQIV is that they located their tower behind a hill that blocked the signal from most of the market, even though they had line-of-sight to Lake Oswego(COL). I could barely obtain a pilot light with a roof antenna! I called them once and was told that I needed at least 20 elements on my antenna! They began broadcasting in 1972. In 1976, they were shut down by the power company for lack of payment. The station remerged with a new owner from a decent location, Mt. Scott which was used by KUPL for decades and became a real player, eventually topping the market for awhile!
If you have any interest in the "Rockin' in Quad" era of KQIV, this is a fun site: Rockin' In Quad
I'm not clear as to the quad reference in Seattle. I wasn't involved at the time, but remember that one of the FM stations was promoting the ability to broadcast quadraphonic FM. I have it on pretty reliable authority from an engineer at the time, that it was all smoke and mirrors. The station in question wasn't actually broadcasting in quad, because they knew nobody would challenge them.
The problem at the time was few if any quad-capable tuners were around, and the lack of native quad recordings were limited to counting on one hand. I know Steve Miller mastered Fly Like An Eagle in quad at Kaye-Smith Studios, one of the few recording studios actually set up to master in quad. I actually got to hear the Steve Miller master tape played out of the same console it was recorded on before Kaye-Smith closed it's doors. Other Quad recordings done at Kaye-Smith included BTO's BTO II and Not Fragile. Pretty sure Aerosmith re-mastered Rocks, Toys In The Attic and Get Your Wings in quad, but recall there was a debate at the time as to whether a re-master was the same as recording native quad. Some claim that Rick Derringer recorded All American Boy in quad, but other's claim that was just another loose remaster.
But returning from the latest Radio-Discussions trip in the Time Tunnel: Ultimately quad went the way of 3DTV, never to return.
The problem at the time was few if any quad-capable tuners were around, and the lack of native quad recordings were limited to counting on one hand. I know Steve Miller mastered Fly Like An Eagle in quad at Kaye-Smith Studios, one of the few recording studios actually set up to master in quad. I actually got to hear the Steve Miller master tape played out of the same console it was recorded on before Kaye-Smith closed it's doors. Other Quad recordings done at Kaye-Smith included BTO's BTO II and Not Fragile. Pretty sure Aerosmith re-mastered Rocks, Toys In The Attic and Get Your Wings in quad, but recall there was a debate at the time as to whether a re-master was the same as recording native quad. Some claim that Rick Derringer recorded All American Boy in quad, but other's claim that was just another loose remaster.
But returning from the latest Radio-Discussions trip in the Time Tunnel: Ultimately quad went the way of 3DTV, never to return.
I am an Atlanta native and was in my teens during the 1970s. 96 Rock (WKLS) broadcast a few hours each night in quad for a time. My neighbor's dad had a quad receiver in his living room. It was the only one I have ever seen. When 96 Rock turned on the quad at 8 PM, a quad pilot light came on in addition to stereo. I wish I could remember the brand of the receiver. He had some nice speakers in the four corners of the living room. I know the system sounded really cool with the quad 8-tracks he had.
Barry- the only consumer quad capable receivers I ever saw in the wild were from Sansui. I suppose there were others, but that was all I saw back then and all I have seen since in garage sales etc. I had one that I used as my first TV receiver, but that was because it was like 5 bucks at a thrift store.
The demise of quad appears to be an example of "great product and what an improvement -- but no one cares".
It probably wasn't the first -- FM had been around for 30-40 years in different forms before people caught on. Other new tech didn't take so well -- AM stereo, SACD (the only ones that sold were probably the dual format CDs), DAT (only used in studios), Minidisc, etc. You might be able to add HD Radio to that mix, although I think it may have a future, as some HD2 channels get ratings, something that wasn't happening a few years ago.
I never knew anyone who had a quad receiver, quad stereo, quad anything. I recall seeing a few of the quad LPs. Deep Purple, when they remastered Machine Head, included a quad mix of a couple of the songs (Maybe I'm A Leo and Lazy) because they sounded different in stereo.
It probably wasn't the first -- FM had been around for 30-40 years in different forms before people caught on. Other new tech didn't take so well -- AM stereo, SACD (the only ones that sold were probably the dual format CDs), DAT (only used in studios), Minidisc, etc. You might be able to add HD Radio to that mix, although I think it may have a future, as some HD2 channels get ratings, something that wasn't happening a few years ago.
I never knew anyone who had a quad receiver, quad stereo, quad anything. I recall seeing a few of the quad LPs. Deep Purple, when they remastered Machine Head, included a quad mix of a couple of the songs (Maybe I'm A Leo and Lazy) because they sounded different in stereo.
Quadraphonic had an unannounced revival in the early '90s as "QSound". I remember listening to a quad receiver, enjoying the little bit of extra ambience it gives to ordinary stereo recordings, when the QSound remix of Madonna's "Holiday" was played on the radio, and suddenly the rear channels came alive!
Sting, Wilson Phillips, Luther Vandross, Roger Waters, etc., also released QSound recordings in the early to mid '90s. And some Country artists like Suzy Bogguss used a similar neo-quad effect called BASE (Bedini Audio Spacial Environment).
Sting, Wilson Phillips, Luther Vandross, Roger Waters, etc., also released QSound recordings in the early to mid '90s. And some Country artists like Suzy Bogguss used a similar neo-quad effect called BASE (Bedini Audio Spacial Environment).
My dad had a quad 8-track deck back in the brief time that was a thing. Think he may have had 20 or so tapes. The brand of stereo was "Automatic Radio" and I remember there was a different notch on the side of the tape to tell the player you were playing a quad tape. My folks also had a waterbed at the time so that should give you some idea of the time frame. At least the 8 track player was backwards compatible. Same can't be said for the bed.
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