BEST SOUNDING AM STATIONS

[Ryan Williams]

The bad AMs get mentioned a lot around here, but I was wondering if there are any current standouts in terms of signal and audio quality? Anyone doing it right?

 

[Bongwater]

The bad AMs get mentioned a lot around here, but I was wondering if there are any current standouts in terms of signal and audio quality? Anyone doing it right?

Tragically few.

BUT.

It ALSO depends on the very radio you're listening to.

Most AM sections of receivers since the late '80s rarely do better than 3 kHz in the BEST fidelity they offer. At the height of the AM Stereo craze, I read in Stereo Review that some stations like WQXR-AM 1560 were said to actually sound BETTER than their FM counterparts, producing up to 18 kHz on the high end (a tad of an exaggeration I'm thinking) with the best AM Stereo radio they tested with. But 10 kHz is possible with the right signal processing equipment and most importantly, the right receivers. Most of the handful of music stations currently on AM rarely do better than 5 kHz, mostly because there isn't much point in doing hi-fi on AM anymore and they're more concerned with the FMs in the clusters. And it shows on better AM radios.

Same with AM signals. But there is only so much that could be done on the engineering end without relocating the entire transmitter. And property values/NIMBYs make that impossible. But then again, AM is usually an afterthought anyway......

 

[FreddyE1977]

CFZM-AM 740 in Toronto is one of the better sounding ones out there currently

 

[trusty]

CFZM-AM 740 in Toronto is one of the better sounding ones out there currently

Same with WSM/650.

 

[JH_Radio]

Any station that does not broadcast IBOC and uses its upto 10KHZ frequency responce is gonna sound decent on a good anolog AM Radio.
Maduci AMX-2000 being used here.
WVLG I think sounds good.
WNTP sounds good.(I'm talking audio quolety, not the compression of the signal. As far as who's not so compressed, I've not heard any on AM.
WBCB is good as well.