NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/soc/singles/37525

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-23 | 1.6 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!auspex-gw!johnf
From: [e-mail] (John Fereira)
Newsgroups: soc.singles
Subject: Re: Query [FM]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 22 Jan 93 20:02:36 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (keith garrard) writes:
|OK drieux, I'll accept your vignette on AOR as the truth
|because it IS the truth.  However, I feel that I must
|elaborate.
|    FM stations began to proliferate in the early 70's
|because peoples' tastes for quality music began to change.
|By quality music, I am referring to quality of sound, not
|style.  AM stations give static when passing under power lines,
|and fade out when passing under bridges.  FM compensates for
|these deviations.

That's simplifying it quite a bit.  For one thing AM has a high end
frequency cutoff at 10KHZ.  8-Track tapes had a higher frequency range.
Each mode has it's advantages and disadvantages.  FM is typically line
of site propogation.  AM radios range is much greater.  It's not unusual
to hear 50KW clearsignal AM stations from over 1000 miles away.

|    Why and how did FM become popular?  AM radio tended
|to play only the top 40 hits, as you said.  Under that
|format, how many songs can you remember being played from
|the Beatles' white album[which was a double album]?

My recollection is hearing the entire version of "Maggot Brain" by the
Funkadelics late at night on KSJO, which along with KSAN were probably
the first Album Oriented Radio stations.

--
-john