Radio's that receive AM C Quam Stereo

Have you tried the Sangean HD-16 yet?

Lots of Radios Coming and Going

Universal Radio is possibly the largest source in the U.S. for many types of radios.

You may already know about Universal, but here is the front door:

Front Door to Universal Radio

Oh I Know the Answer to That

Druid Hills can't figure it out: "Why would a 50KW blowtorch that's News/Talk transmit in stereo?"

ANSWER: To separate the men on the left and the women on the right.

Now You Got Me Wanting AM Stereo

This is what woke me up: "...some radios will open up their IF bandwidth in the presence of a stereo pilot, making for a cleaner voice quality and also imaging and produced ads can have more impact."

KDX wants to be a news talk station with more impact.

Also, this comment from Boomer reminded me of something: "...it's laying on a dinner plate in the transmitter room."

It reminds me of Ivanka Trump, shallow as a dinner plate.

Visions of the Future

TheLegacy said: "The Legacy will be showing all AM mono stations what a big mistake they're making by not being in C quam AM stereo."

I see tomorrow with great clarity.

The small ripple we are making here at the ALPB will cause larger waves until the surf of The AM Stereo Resurrection will wash across the dial like two meteors!

The fact that I have been working in 95-degree sun has nothing to do with it.

It's dead.

Dead I say.

C-Quam will not make a comeback. Presently (if the list is up to date) 1.9% of AM stations in the country are broadcasting in C-Quam.  I'm sure the listener base is an even smaller percentage.  SAles of stereo AM exciters are zero.  If anything is to change in the foreseeable future it's going to be digital AM, like it or not.

The general public is not going to go out of their way to find a C-Quam receiver. Your list showed three available. Two come up as discontinued by the manufacturer, and one makes no mention of it's ability to decode C-Quam stereo in it's own instruction manual or specification sheet, and no ones web site offering the radio for sale mentions that it's C-Quam compatible, so a random every day shopper isn't going to discover it as a compatible receiver, and won't care because there's no station near them to listen to, odds are.  I checked on a few random stations on that list of 92 using C-Quam and they were no longer using C-Quam, or had changed ownership, call letters, or frequency and have dropped C-Quam as part of those changes.  I doubt anyone has fired up a new full power C-Quam in the last 15 years.  And remember that C-Quam has it's own list of issues and problems even at it's peak of "popularity" (if you can call it a peak).  When that AM stereo gear that was installed 20+ years ago goes on the fritz and needs replacement no station manager or GM is going to spend the money to keep that obsolete format going.

I think it's fine if folks like to experiment with C-Quam. It doesn't hurt anything and people with normal radios (99.999999999999% of the public) can listen just fine as well. But the idea that it will make some sort of comeback and revitalize AM is just not going to work out.  They tried once and failed, and now with digital HD on the horizon there's no chance the industry is going to go backwards.

Incidentally, all those rock classics from the 60's?  They became hits and million sellers from teenagers listening to them on mono AM radio, and buying mono 45 rpm records by the millions. I grew up listening to "California Dreamin" by the Mama's and Papa's on KDWB 630 AM in Minneapolis in glorious MONO. And have my Mono 45 on the shelf. Mono does NOT make you sound like you have a plugged nose, BTW.

Virtually any format anyone wants to listen to is available over the air. Heck even in my small town in northern Minnesota I can choose from three classic rock formats, two oldies formats, God only knows how many country formats, a couple classical stations, three public stations, a jazz station, several "adult contemporary" stations, several talk stations and a couple teenybopper rap/hit radio stations.  Oh, not to mention 3 Christian stations and even a Native American station! --- and I'm 200 miles from the nearest city! And of course damn near any station in the country is streaming now and readily available on a live stream anywhere in the world. Bringing back any sort of format via Part 15 is not reality and trying to sway listeners with an outdated form of stereo broadcasting with no mainstream consumer equipment available is just not going to happen. Offering a unique playlist (if that's even possible these days) coupled with very local (VERY local) information needs to be the focus.  A big city station probably won't promote the local church bake sale, volleyball team fundraising car wash, or that 6th street is closed due to a water main break, but YOU can. And that's what makes your station valuable and unique to your local listeners.  People can find a way to listen to any format. I don't care if it's classic rock or punk, or hip-hop.  But the only place they're going to get very very local information is from a local station, and that may very well be your Part 15 station.

For a minute there I though about ordering one of those fancy Sangean radios that supposedly decodes C-Quam and trying it out.  Research shows the nearest possible C-Quam station is 150 miles away and is a 250 watt station!  So I'd have to take a drive to try it out.  If they are even still using C-Quam.  I've contacted them to find out.

No one (and yes there are surveys and studies that back this up) will say "I'm not going to listen to the classic rock station because it's in mono.  I'd rather listen to the country station because it's in stereo". What they want to hear will trump perceived audio quality every time.  Most listeners don't know or care about audio quality. That's why things like 8-tracks and mp3's were successful. Neither is known for quality. John Q. Public doesn't care. To think "well, MY listeners care" is a very small niche of people within another small niche.

OK, so I strayed from C-Quam into programming a bit there.  C-Quam, even after all this extraneous typing, remains dead.

TIB




TIB