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FM - no AM - portable CD player

kfbkfb said:
My 30+ year old stereo receiver (set up for Hafler/DynaQuad surround sound) may be failing so I'll need a low priced stereo amp/receiver to replace it.
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Mine (also about thirty years old) also began to fail last year, and I had to replace it. My current system (like yours) apparently also has no AM capability, although I don't really miss it. I wanted something that would allow me to do some internet listening, which I can do, although the wife has to assist me with that.

I am still looking for a good used cassette deck that I can also hook up with this system, mainly because I have a closet full of cassettes. Currently I can only listen to cassettes on an old boombox that I still have. Ironically, the radio and CD player no longer work on that boombox.
 
IMHO, it's odd that the Sony owners manual doesn't even mention that the receiver can't receive AM radio broadcasts.


My plan for digitizing my prerecorded compact cassettes is to use a Sony CFD-S70 boombox + (Windows) software for 70 microsecond EQ & Dolby B NR.

has a lot of discussion about restoring compact cassette decks.


Kirk Bayne
 
Typically, my DVD and Blu-ray player manuals state the optical disc types that they won't play (since there are so many CD size discs other than DVD and [UHD]Blu-ray).

(AM radio has only been around for about 100 years) ;)


Kirk Bayne
 
This is why so many AM stations are scrambling for LP FM translators, they probably see the writing on the wall, I personally love AM radio and still DX with my CCrane Skywave radio.
 
Here, WHB sports radio is on AM only, the only other option to listen is streaming.

I can see eliminating AM in the $12 CD/radio player to keep the price as low as possible, but here's a case where a $200 home audio component is without AM (I thought that home audio [or audio/video]) receivers would be the last devices to delete AM tuners since they are basically selling "everything and the kitchen sink" device functionality [various surround sound decoders etc.]).


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
My 30+ year old stereo receiver (set up for Hafler/DynaQuad surround sound) may be failing so I'll need a low priced stereo amp/receiver to replace it.
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Why are you looking at a radio at all?

I love this industry as much as anyone, and I don't have any radios other than the ones in my cars. OK, I have one collecting dust in my basement that I haven’t plugged in during the 6 1/2 years I've lived in this house. I also have a portable radio/cassette player, but don’t ask me where it is because I couldn’t tell you. The only time I miss having an actual radio is when I’m walking the dog on a football Sunday and have to rush home before the Chiefs game is blacked out. You shouldn’t have that problem since you live in their home market. You also shouldn’t have any trouble getting any college sports available on local radio. I don’t even have trouble with that.

If it were me, I'd be looking at the best way to get what I enjoy, and, unless it comes with something I'm buying anyway, it’s not a radio. I'd have to think, if you were truly evaluating what best served your needs, you’d probably come to the same conclusion.
 
I would only use the stereo amp part, I was just puzzled as to why AM was left out, in another thread earlier this year, an IC data sheet was linked to - the IC decoded AM,FM,HD,DRM,DAB, it seems to me it would be easier to just offer AM reception since the Sony has a digital display and buttons to select the input (all that would be needed is an AM antenna connector on the back panel).


Is there a list of highly rated USA AM stations without FM translators and/or FM HD channels (just streaming as the only other listening option - it is these stations that Sony is ignoring)?


Kirk Bayne
 
kfbkfb said:
Is there a list of highly rated USA AM stations without FM translators and/or FM HD channels (just streaming as the only other listening option - it is these stations that Sony is ignoring)?
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Such a list would be remarkably short, and shrinking all the time.

I took a look at the ratings for AMs specifically in a handful of large markets, and it is rare to find an AM with no analog FM simulcast in the top 10 in 6+ ratings in its market.

Many large markets, especially in the south, have no AM station in the top 15 in the ratings 6+. Nashville, Atlanta, Denver and Indianapolis all come to mind. Many other markets have just one (New York, LA, Chicago, Seattle)

If you change the criteria to include HD subchannel simulcasts, the list shrinks to almost nothing: basically just stations without co-owned FMs. WABC, WGN, and maybe a few others.
 
Milwaukee is a market where you can make the point that AM can be strong...WISN is #1 6+ with no translator. Yes, 6+ numbers may not mean you are doing great in a target demo but still impressive in 2022 that an AM can do that well in any numbers. And WTMJ is #5 overall, although they do have a translator. Not sure how the listening is broken down between the AM and FM on that one.
 
AM radio isn't totally dead outside of homes or cars. Just yesterday I stayed at the Hotel Max in downtown Seattle, and it had a Tivoli Bluetooth radio that could get AM. Anybody else see or hear AM radios outside their house or cars?
 
I was recently at a new (or newly remodeled) Hilton in Orlando. There was no tuner of any sort in the guest rooms.
 
TheBigA said:
You're using the wrong tool for the job. Steve Jobs would say: You don't buy modern technology to receive a 100 year old signal.

Jobs was selling technology, which is why none of his devices can be used for AM or FM signals.
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It was when he was still alive and iPods (the wheel ones) were still around, but weirdly there was an Apple (official) accessory that put FM on an iPod. Little tuner gizmo that plugged into the charger slot. Kind of cool for a geek like I was an am, but even for its short lifecycle, it seemed a bit odd for something Apple would work on, though perhaps there was still enough life left in the Walkman that it let them say "hey, we can do radio, too" as a bridge to the inevitable future.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I was recently at a new (or newly remodeled) Hilton in Orlando. There was no tuner of any sort in the guest rooms.
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I've not stayed at a hotel with a radio for a long time. Most of them have a TV that picks up a small and often random selection of radio stations via the hotel's channel distributor if you manage to find the correct obscure button on the remote. The TVs aren't really TVs but monitors that receive streams that the hotel distributes from a central point somewhere.

I still like checking out the local stations when I'm somewhere new, so I tend to slip a tiny Sony FM/DAB+ (no AM) receiver in my bag and pop it on the windowsill. It's this one, it really is tiny, about the size of a smartphone and easy to pack.
 
FM only radios have been "a thing" since the start of the band. In the 80s and 90s there were a number of such off-brand radios sold at discount stores that were FM only. A lot of them were tiny receivers the size of business cards or cigarette lighters.
 
Miss Tuned said:
I've not stayed at a hotel with a radio for a long time. Most of them have a TV that picks up a small and often random selection of radio stations via the hotel's channel distributor if you manage to find the correct obscure button on the remote. The TVs aren't really TVs but monitors that receive streams that the hotel distributes from a central point somewhere.

I still like checking out the local stations when I'm somewhere new, so I tend to slip a tiny Sony FM/DAB+ (no AM) receiver in my bag and pop it on the windowsill. It's this one, it really is tiny, about the size of a smartphone and easy to pack.
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In the 70s the TV where I stayed at the beach had three FM stations. Later there was a channel with announcements that played the beautiful music station.

Years after that I called and asked where the music was coming from and was told Music Choice. There was a channel with announcements that played something like smooth jazz. another had real estate classifieds and that sort of thing with music from Music Choice at those times when the real estate company wasn't providing its own music.
 
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