ANYONE REMEMBER QUADRAPHONIC RADIO & STEREO SYSTEMS?

[stormy01]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_radio see Quadraphonic FM section

Share your experiences with this technology...

 

[landtuna]

I still have a vinyl album in quad. Can't remember any big difference between it and any other stereo album of the day.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I remember record albums in quad but to not recall any radio stations that ran it.
I am guessing no station tried it where I grew up.

 

[BRNout]

99.1 WPLR in New Haven, CT used to boast that they broadcast in Quad back in the 70s and early 80s. And, if memory serves, the appropriately named KWOD in Sacramento, CA did too. There were probably others, but those are the two that I know of.

Seemed like it was a technology that was geared toward the classical and AOR formats. At least those are the ones that sold a lot of LPs in Quad.

 

[stormy01]

Check these articles out for fun:
http://members.cox.net/surround/quaddisc/quadradi.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFMT
http://www.oldradio.com/archives/warstories/md-quad.htm

I waited to see if Quad would take off, and it didn't - and so I never purchased a
Quad Receiver ...kinda like "HD" Radio

Those Quad LP's were atrociously expensive...I stayed with Record City in Skokie...

 

[dx1ng]

99.1 WPLR in New Haven, CT used to boast that they broadcast in Quad back in the 70s and early 80s. And, if memory serves, the appropriately named KWOD in Sacramento, CA did too. There were probably others, but those are the two that I know of.

The only Quad station I recall was WQIV in New York City (104.3) sometime in the 70's, with an album/progressive rock type of format. That frequency later became a long-time classical (non-quad) station, and is now classic rock WAXQ.

 

[drt]

Here in the St. Petersburg area, we had Quad 102.5 WQSR, that broadcast in quad for several years; they were album rock and always on the cutting edge of music and technology. (now they are a shadow of what they used to be and are owned by Cox; whereas, back then they were locally owned and operated. ) They were at the time dually licensed to St. Petersburg and Sarasota.

I did listen to them on a quad receiver and if you positioned yourself just right between the four speakers, it did sound great.

This would have been in the late 1970's , early 1980's.

drt

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Seems WTUE 104.7 in Dayton,Ohio was proclaiming itself "Quadraphonic FM Stereo" in the 70's. And we can't forget a well known Columbus, Ohio DJ who referred to herself as "Stereo Quad Susie Waad" (not sure of the spelling of Waad, but she was pretty awesome on air). Somewhere along the line I had a "quad" receiver & matching speakers. The receiver was junk...but I can't judge the system's merits as I never heard it on a quality receiver or monitor. The fact that AM stereo was better known (and still in existence today) than Quad FM kinda says it all...

 

[gar hi]

I remember hearing all the rage about quad when I was in my teens and one Christmas time when I wanted a stereo system, my parents took me shopping in an electronics store where they had a quadraphonic system as a demo model and I really didn't notice a difference. I remember thinking we only have two ears, what's the point of four sources of sound? After all, you can't listen to quad on headphones. Or can you?

To me, AM Stereo was was far more exciting and I really had hoped that would take off but, oh well.

 

[stormy01]

I remember thinking we only have two ears, what's the point of four sources of sound? After all, you can't listen to quad on headphones. Or can you?

Quad headphones were made by a number of manufacturers in the Quad era:
http://members.cox.net/surround/quaddisc/quadhead.htm

Never tried any on at the store, no idea how good they were. Speakers made more sense. 5.1 and 7.1 sound is today's version of Quad, though it's not normally broadcast. I believe XM Radio has (had) a few channels in 5.1 sound, and a number of Digital/HDTV channels are, but on FM I have no idea if that is currently done, or has been attempted.

 

[Time Traveler]

Progressive Rock/AOR station WAAF 107.3 Worcester, Ma began broadcasting in quad in early 1972, shortly after significantly boosting their power. I'm not sure how long it lasted but it was definitely back to regular stereo by the later 70s. In recent years, they have also significantly down graded their signal too...

 

[quadraphonic]

Not to toot my own horn, but Quadraphonic sound rocked back in the day. Well, it sounded good on WQDR, the AOR station back then. I don't know if it sounded good on any other stations or formats, because we only ever had one Quadraphonic receiver, and I only remember that one Quadraphonic station. Thankfully the receiver lasted longer than the Quadraphonic experiment on WQDR did, but not much longer....but the legend rolls on.

 

[radioman148]

I still have a vinyl album in quad. Can't remember any big difference between it and any other stereo album of the day.

I had a couple of quad records. A big dud as I remember it. Went the way of the eight track.

 

[DavidKaye]

A station in Sacramento still uses the callsign KWOD because they were originally built to be a quad station. I don't think they ever did quad, even for a moment.

In SF there was a quad experiment which was fascinating in the way it was done. The program contained some kind of music videos with the video on KPIX. I think one set of 2 channels was on KCBS-FM or maybe KIOI, I forget, but the other set of channels was on KPFA, Pacifica's non-commercial station. When the ads ran, KPFA ran two channels of musical bed for the ad, but no commercial content! The ad came out only on the commercial FM and TV stations.

 

[radioman148]

A station in Sacramento still uses the callsign KWOD because they were originally built to be a quad station. I don't think they ever did quad, even for a moment.

In SF there was a quad experiment which was fascinating in the way it was done. The program contained some kind of music videos with the video on KPIX. I think one set of 2 channels was on KCBS-FM or maybe KIOI, I forget, but the other set of channels was on KPFA, Pacifica's non-commercial station. When the ads ran, KPFA ran two channels of musical bed for the ad, but no commercial content! The ad came out only on the commercial FM and TV stations.

I used to hear a station that advertised themselves as "Quad 98" but I doubt it brought them any extra listeners.

 

[vibe]

I remember buying some cheap ass (you get what you pay for) quad system, in the early 70's but I could not discern between quad and reg stereo. But the system was a cheap one....

 

[radioman148]

I remember buying some cheap ass (you get what you pay for) quad system, in the early 70's but I could not discern between quad and reg stereo. But the system was a cheap one....

I couldn't tell the difference either. All I know is it cost me money for more speakers.

 

[Silkie]

I remember buying some cheap ass (you get what you pay for) quad system, in the early 70's but I could not discern between quad and reg stereo. But the system was a cheap one....

I couldn't tell the difference either. All I know is it cost me money for more speakers.

Great big speakers too. With looooong speaker wire, so that you could have one at each of four corners, and then you had to rig the whole thing up so that you could party on the patio under the deck all night long, Perhaps the forerunner to surround sound.

 

[radioman148]

I remember buying some cheap ass (you get what you pay for) quad system, in the early 70's but I could not discern between quad and reg stereo. But the system was a cheap one....

I couldn't tell the difference either. All I know is it cost me money for more speakers.

Great big speakers too. With looooong speaker wire, so that you could have one at each of four corners, and then you had to rig the whole thing up so that you could party on the patio under the deck all night long, Perhaps the forerunner to surround sound.

Yeah I had the 4 speakers--one in each corner of the room.

 

[Wthom100]

In Detroit radio station WWWW (i.e. W4) used to broadcast in Quad back in the mid-to-late 1970's. The station was a rock station (AOR format). Howard Stern used to work at that station if I recall. They used to have a T-shirt: "In Quad We Trust"