I began listening to WHB 710 AM in ~1970 on a pocket/battery powered AM only radio (I won a different AM only radio in 1968 but I rarely listened to the radio until 1970 although I do recall hearing the song "Honey" several times on radios around the house).
In 1972, my parents got a mono FM table radio - I found WDAF FM (102.1) and KPRS FM, WDAF FM played many of the same songs as WHB, but with a less frenetic presentation than WHB.
After moving to Iowa City IA in late summer of 1972, I used a mono clock radio to try to find FM stations in eastern IA playing popular music (I never looked for AM stations playing popular music).
Some of my high school friends listened to the WLS AM (the first time I'd heard about WLS) morning show on their way to school, Iowa City has a local AM station (WSUI 910) which my friends referred to as "the blight" because it made tuning in a clear, daytime WLS signal on a car AM radio a little difficult.
On the aforementioned clock radio I found KIIK FM out of the Quad Cities IA/IL which was the only popular music radio station I listened to until KRNA FM came on the air in the Fall on 1974 and KQCR FM in the Spring of 1975.
I never listened to music on any of the AM stations in eastern IA, the next time I heard WLS-AM was when I was visiting family in WY in the Summer of 1979, after sundown, my cousin tuned in WLS on his car radio.
Probably in one of the monthly audio magazines in 1982/83 mentioned that WLS-AM was broadcasting in stereo so I began listening to WLS from time to time just to see if they mentioned broadcasting in stereo (they did).
Moving back to MO in 1984, I listened to KBEQ FM and KPRS FM almost exclusively, in Mid-MO, I sometimes listened to KSIS AM 1050 (they played popular music, then a daytimer, they converted to stereo in the Spring of 1985), at night I almost always listened to WLS (sometimes WHB) since my car only had an AM radio, when WLS began cutting back on music in the late 1980s and got more talk shows, I put a Radio Shack FM>AM converter in my car and sometimes listened to KTXY FM.
Moving back to KC in 1989, I listened almost exclusively to many of the FM popular music stations (although KMBZ AM did convert to stereo and did broadcast a few songs, I only listened for national and local news).
After the Fall of 1972, the only time I listened to music on AM was from the Fall of 1984 to Fall of 1987 when I installed the FM converter.
My priorities for radio listening are the music and then the fidelity/audio quality (which includes all forms of stereo [surround sound is a form of stereo]), if it's a song I like, I'll listen to it on a noisy AM signal if that's the only option but I overwhelmingly prefer FM for music listening.
(I got an AM/FM/HD radio in 2009 but I rarely listen to HD broadcasts, when I do, it's nearly always K103.3 HD2)
Anyway, that's my story (I have no attachment to AM radio, maybe if the wideband Hi Fi AM experiments + noise blankers had yielded good audio quality from AM radio most of the time, I would feel differently about AM radio as a system).
Kirk Bayne
In 1972, my parents got a mono FM table radio - I found WDAF FM (102.1) and KPRS FM, WDAF FM played many of the same songs as WHB, but with a less frenetic presentation than WHB.
After moving to Iowa City IA in late summer of 1972, I used a mono clock radio to try to find FM stations in eastern IA playing popular music (I never looked for AM stations playing popular music).
Some of my high school friends listened to the WLS AM (the first time I'd heard about WLS) morning show on their way to school, Iowa City has a local AM station (WSUI 910) which my friends referred to as "the blight" because it made tuning in a clear, daytime WLS signal on a car AM radio a little difficult.
On the aforementioned clock radio I found KIIK FM out of the Quad Cities IA/IL which was the only popular music radio station I listened to until KRNA FM came on the air in the Fall on 1974 and KQCR FM in the Spring of 1975.
I never listened to music on any of the AM stations in eastern IA, the next time I heard WLS-AM was when I was visiting family in WY in the Summer of 1979, after sundown, my cousin tuned in WLS on his car radio.
Probably in one of the monthly audio magazines in 1982/83 mentioned that WLS-AM was broadcasting in stereo so I began listening to WLS from time to time just to see if they mentioned broadcasting in stereo (they did).
Moving back to MO in 1984, I listened to KBEQ FM and KPRS FM almost exclusively, in Mid-MO, I sometimes listened to KSIS AM 1050 (they played popular music, then a daytimer, they converted to stereo in the Spring of 1985), at night I almost always listened to WLS (sometimes WHB) since my car only had an AM radio, when WLS began cutting back on music in the late 1980s and got more talk shows, I put a Radio Shack FM>AM converter in my car and sometimes listened to KTXY FM.
Moving back to KC in 1989, I listened almost exclusively to many of the FM popular music stations (although KMBZ AM did convert to stereo and did broadcast a few songs, I only listened for national and local news).
After the Fall of 1972, the only time I listened to music on AM was from the Fall of 1984 to Fall of 1987 when I installed the FM converter.
My priorities for radio listening are the music and then the fidelity/audio quality (which includes all forms of stereo [surround sound is a form of stereo]), if it's a song I like, I'll listen to it on a noisy AM signal if that's the only option but I overwhelmingly prefer FM for music listening.
(I got an AM/FM/HD radio in 2009 but I rarely listen to HD broadcasts, when I do, it's nearly always K103.3 HD2)
Anyway, that's my story (I have no attachment to AM radio, maybe if the wideband Hi Fi AM experiments + noise blankers had yielded good audio quality from AM radio most of the time, I would feel differently about AM radio as a system).
Kirk Bayne
