Did Your Cable Provider Promote "Cable FM" Or Stereo Feeds?

[DToTheJ]

Cablevision of Baton Rouge, LA did many years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZwpzGlW8n8

 

[kenrayc]

Yes, Back in the 80s and 90s, all locals and some out of town FM stations were carried, the ones real close, In Town, the 50kw stations were on another frequency do to interfererance, and they had the audio for MTV on 100.1 FM, the Cable company was Media One , Then it was AT &T, then Comcast took over and eliminated it for Music Choice.

 

[kenrayc]

Yes, Back in the 80s and 90s, all locals and some out of town FM stations were carried, the ones real close, In Town, the 50kw stations were on another frequency do to interfererance, and they had the audio for MTV on 100.1 FM, the Cable company was Media One , Then it was AT &T, then Comcast took over and eliminated it.

 

[travisl5678]

I think they still have Cable FM in Canada, right?

 

[KML0224]

Some providers would also call it Enhanced FM Reception. I know the company in Saco and Old Orchard Beach, ME had it for a time. I remember then-United Cable here in New Britain, CT provided simulcasts of HBO and MTV in it's earliest days of 1982 or 83.

 

[w9wi]

TCI in Madison, Wisconsin provided stereo audio for MTV on an FM frequency.

It's been 25 years, so my memory is shot -- they *may* have had an FM stereo simulcast for HBO as well. I'm pretty sure they didn't simulcast any OTA stations (ours was the first to have stereo audio OTA) nor did they import any out-of-town FM stations.

 

[mjlarochelle]

I think they still have Cable FM in Canada, right?

Depends on the provider. Rogers no longer offers it per se, but they have a bunch of radio stations available on a digital tier. Some cable providers still offer it. Back in the late 1970s a cable company here promoted it heavily in the local newspaper, complete with a channel lineup.

Especially before the Internet, some radio stations actually promoted their cable frequency on air.

 

[azumanga]

I think they still have Cable FM in Canada, right?

Depends on the provider. Rogers no longer offers it per se, but they have a bunch of radio stations available on a digital tier.

Don't know if they still do, but as recent as 2005, the Videotron system in Montreal had cable FM available -- that year, I stayed at a motel that offered cable FM on their combination TV/Radios.

 

[kenrayc]

I spent a week in Monterey CA last Spring, and Xfinity there now has the FMs on the digital cable box, right after the Music Choice channels, they carry all Monterey/Salinas, San Jose and San Francisco Market FM stations.

 

[travisl5678]

Back when I had Comcast we had the same thing

 

[kenglish]

I remember it on TCI Cable in Salt Lake, back in the 80's. There were also a couple of extra channels...seems like WFMT was on there, and an FM Stereo simulcast of HBO.

We have FM from the local stations on our (KSL Broadcast House) MATV system, along with a couple of closed-circuit channels of FM. Trouble is, we have a bad Blonder-Tongue processor, and it looks like nobody is making a replacement (88-108 MHz broadbanded), so we are having to repair it ourselves. Maybe they think there's not a market anymore, but it seems that there would be one, especially with HD Radio needing an outdoor antenna in big, high-density buildings.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Slightly OT: In 1997, the cable at the Disneyworld Contemporary result had an audio feed of WCBS AM

 

[pellmell]

Internet streaming has made effectively supplanted the need. An old laptop computer with Internet connected to your stereo system gives you access to stations (AM & FM) worldwide, and the AM fidelity is superior to the on-the-air signal. Get a Part 15 AM transmitter like the synchronized Christmas light homes use, plug it into a computer with Internet access, and you have on-the-air reception to almost any station worth listening to. It's a new day.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Myrtle Beach, SC had something in the 70s. The list of channels, which was shorter than what I have now with the basic package, had channels up to 13 and said 10, 11 and 12 were FM music, though I didn't listen to find out what stations. I figure they were the three local FMs. There were two other Fms nearby which they could have added. In truth, channel 10 had something, and the music was on 11, 12 and 13. One channel had NOAA weather radio with a camera moving back and forth across gauges showing temperature, winds and so on, with ads at either end.

Later a beautiful music station, too far away for good antenna reception, was on a channel with community announcements in lots of pretty colors and one font which looked primitive by today's standards but was exciting back then. I know Myrtle Beach had a part-time beautiful music station, but it's strange that they didn't have that music full-time back when most cities had it.

 

[Robnoxious]

Warner-Amex in Bakersfield (now Bright House) had FM over cable which brought in the big FM signals over the hill from Los Angeles.

KMET
KLOS
KIIS
KKHR/KCBS
KBIG
KOST
and some of the Spanish frequency

Also, they had The Movie Channel and HBO's audio for stereo sound as most tvs in the day were monoriffic. The location of the LA stations weren't always in their correct dial position because it would short space the Bako locals.

 

[upstate29651]

Back in the early 1980's, the cable system in Burlington, VT (forgot the name) had FM on cable, including all the locals in Burlington, Plattsburgh, the big sticks in Montreal, a couple from Montpelier/Waterbury/Barre....as well as WHOM & WPYX (Albany, NY).

G

 

[KML0224]

WHOM-FM 94.9 is licensed to Mount Washington, NH and serves the Portland, ME radio market.

 

[DToTheJ]

Slightly OT: In 1997, the cable at the Disneyworld Contemporary result had an audio feed of WCBS AM

Interesting... You'd think it would be WABC!

 

[upstate29651]

WHOM-FM 94.9 is licensed to Mount Washington, NH and serves the Portland, ME radio market.

I'm fully aware of that.

G

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Slightly OT: In 1997, the cable at the Disneyworld Contemporary resort had an audio feed of WCBS AM

Interesting... You'd think it would be WABC!

This was only about a year after Disney bought ABC, don't know if they still WCBS on there or if/when they removed it