What is the future of FM/terrestrial radio?

Rotoplooker

Well-Known Member
I'm new to tuners and I have been playing with the idea of picking up a mid-level vintage solid state tuner. My concern is with the talk that terrestrial radio has officially already been issued a death knell, with the advent of digital/satellite radio (not so much what they are now, but what they will be in the future)

As I understand it, the U.S has even set a date for the cut off, much like the pending demise of CRT/NTSC/non-digital broadcast based equipment and technology. I think here in Canada, we're not far behind.

This is not a troll, so don't come down heavy on me. Money is scarce and I am potentially spending money I don't really have and want to make sure I do the right thing. I love radio and have a handfull of exceptional stations that I would like to listen to.

So, what say you..all in, or buy something inexpensive and watch the house of cards fall down in a couple of years?
 
One thing is for sure, the future of analog(ue) radio is much brighter than for
analog(ue) TV. A few years ago (maybe 15 or so), I read that there was a cutoff
date for radio in Canada (around 2010), it now looks like (traditional) radio will live
after TV is gone.

By the way, don't make this kind of mistake: there ARE tv sets with a CRT and
digital tuner.

It appears that after all the costs of a transition to all digital radio might be too
high to be footed by all the parties concerned, while this would not be the case
for TV.

If there is a date for analog radio cutoff in the US, I would like to see a reference.

In the UK, they are phasing out FM, but they are also phasing out leaded solder,
crazy people!

Sorry, I won't write any further tonight, this is getting a bit messy...
 
Imho FM is going to be around for along time
and a decent tuner is a good investment.
(Say,certain Sansui's have a great resale value)
To do it on the cheap,Step up the search in thrifts
garage sales and craigslist.
Long live FM
 
Rotoplooker said:
As I understand it, the U.S has even set a date for the cut off, much like the pending demise of CRT/NTSC/non-digital broadcast based equipment and technology.
Not that I know of. Think how many hundreds of millions of AM and FM receivers there are in homes and cars. It will be a long time before they can go silent without a revolt. With TVs the number affected is relatively small, and many are worth getting a converter box for so they can continue to plug along. Not so - or not practical - with most radios.

Rotoplooker said:
Money is scarce and I am potentially spending money I don't really have and want to make sure I do the right thing. I love radio and have a handfull of exceptional stations that I would like to listen to.
If you have something you want to hear, I'd say go for it if you're not spending money that is really needed elsewhere. But remember...
Niels Bohr said:
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.
There's no guarantee that those stations will remain worth listening to even though analog broadcasting continues.

Since you say it's money you don't really have, I'd advise you not to spend money on luxuries (and a good tuner is a luxury even if it doesn't go obsolete) if it's needed for necessities like food, rent, transportation and medicine. Oh, wait... you're from Canada, so that last one isn't quite the 500-pound gorilla it is here.
 
AM/FM will indeed hang on for a while. One reason is that the frequencies they occupy are not as sought after as the analog TV bands are. Don't ask me why, though.

Besides, HD radio isn't really catching on last I heard.
 
You apparently have a lot more information than I do concerning the future of FM, but what you are saying makes perfect sense, especially with the digital broadcasting technology starting to ramp-up and come online. Also, considering the multi-headed music copyright monster that seems to be stirring, the future could be subscriber-only digital radio. We've been beating this topic to death in other threads, in case you're interested. Now, having said all that, I'll share my experience with you!

I've got some pretty decent tuners in my accumulation of gear, but I've found that the ones I listen to the most are the newer digital-display units with presets. My $10 Pioneer thrift store find seems to be one of the best sounding of the bunch too! But, I think a lot of that has to do with the quality of the FM stations in this area which ranges from fair to truly lousy.

The newer units seem to have better separation between the stations, but don't seem to be as sensitive as the analog units. Plus, some of them have some pretty goofy setups on their tuning, like autotuning in stereo, but manually tuning in mono, etc. I do like having the presets to quickly and easily changes stations and the digital units never seem to drift off the station. My analog tuners are a Pioneer SX-626 receiver and a McIntosh MR-77 tuner. My digital-display tuners include a Yamaha T-960II, a Sony ST-J55, and lastly a $10 Pioneer TX-970. The Pioneer seems to be the best of the bunch. My antennas are usually the common 300 ohm bi-pole and I have them in various locations with various orientations. So my data definitely isn't scientific test data, it's just what I have observed. If I had to rank my tuners in order of FM quality, it would go: McIntosh MR-77 and Pioneer TX-970 in a dead heat, with the Mc delivering better sensitivity and the Pioneer having better separation. Sound quality would go to the Mc by a nose, with the Pioneer close behind. After that comes the Pioneer SX-626 receiver, the Yamaha T-960II, and then the Sony.

If I was setting up my first system today, I wouldn't tie a lot of money up in the tuner, simply because you don't have to, to get a good one. I've seen lots of real nice digital-display units pass through the thrift stores at around $10 to $20, so they're out there! So, I hope this helps in your decision! :music:
 
First off, I would like to take back the "money I don't have" thing, or at least rephrase it. I am thankful for what I have and I know it could be a lot worse. A lot worse. All due respect to those out there who truly have it bad.
Having said that, I think Thunderroad might have suggested the right approach. Start small and see what happens.

Here's what started it all. I recently had my house re-roofed and the guy asked me if I wanted the antenna tower taken down. Though about it for a second and said "no, I might need it for something..."

Been thinking about a good tuner ever since. $10-50 bucks I can do but I'd have to do some creative banking for the wife to get on board if I started to chase an Accuphase T-101.
 
And what is this purported Cut-Off Date? If you state it on the web be sure you can back that up. I am not trying to be hard on you but repeating a lie does not make it a truth.

There are some other 'new' radio technologies that either can not seem to gain traction or are burning through their cash reserves on the way to a hoped for profit. Some may also want to spread misinformation about analog FM.

Thanks,
Ron-C
 
So because it's on the web, it might not be true? I get your point.

In my haste to research tuner info, this issue came up. I'll try to retrace my footsteps to revisit where I saw it. (gotta start bookmarking sites!) I never spend any time in the Tuner forum and it is noticeably smaller than most of the other forums, so I thought you guys might have been the last few aboard while the ship was sinking. Sorry.
The talk is out there. Some earlier posts seem to reflect that, so either:
A: I am wrong and have unwittingly fanned the flames of conjecture. Damn internet!
B: There is truth to this and some countries have already committed to the switch. In which case, I say don't shoot the messenger.

As mentioned previously, I think I know my buying strategy now and will proceed to enter the tuner pool, albeit somewhat cautiously.
 
I really doubt that FM is to be cut off as no cellphone companies are lobbying for their bandwith as they did for analog TV.
 
AM/FM used to be fairly simple with slight variations on spacing, de-emphasis, etc from one market to the next. Now we have added features in the different markets that are not shared across all countries world wide. In the US Hybrid Digital digital is the buzz, DAB and RDS in Europe, and so on. From a manufacture perspective we now need a whole series of different modules, at least 3 to have a tuner work worldwide.
New tuners are always based on AM/FM and adding whatever else the local market needs. Only Canada has shut AM off as far as I know. In the US AM stations are still going strong as is FM. I doubt these will go away soon if ever as these are the established free services.

thanks,
Ron-C
 
Canada still has AM!

AM/FM used to be fairly simple with slight variations on spacing, de-emphasis, etc from one market to the next. Now we have added features in the different markets that are not shared across all countries world wide. In the US Hybrid Digital digital is the buzz, DAB and RDS in Europe, and so on. From a manufacture perspective we now need a whole series of different modules, at least 3 to have a tuner work worldwide.
New tuners are always based on AM/FM and adding whatever else the local market needs. Only Canada has shut AM off as far as I know. In the US AM stations are still going strong as is FM. I doubt these will go away soon if ever as these are the established free services.

thanks,
Ron-C

Where did you get this idea? Even a (small) number of CBC stations
are on AM, and there is a fairly large number of private stations as well.
I understand that a number of countries have dumped AM (and I won't
give names in order to avoid making the same mistake as you), but
Canada is not one of them.
 
When training dealers from Canada we were outlining the use of the powered AM antenna that comes with the TM1 tuner. On three separate occasions the dealers said that Canada no longer used AM. Obviously I have been misinformed by Canadians!

Thanks,
Ron-C
 
When training dealers from Canada we were outlining the use of the powered AM antenna that comes with the TM1 tuner. On three separate occasions the dealers said that Canada no longer used AM. Obviously I have been misinformed by Canadians!

Thanks,
Ron-C

What they meant was: "we don't give a d... about what's on AM". I guess
most Canadians under 40 or so would agree with this statement. Here in
Montreal we have at least 6 AM stations, but it's true that life is hard
for them. An all news station (940 kHz) recently fired most of its staff
and moved to an oldies format.
 
AM radio in Canada - still there

I live near Cleveland, Ohio, about one mile from the south shore of Lake Erie. Here I can still hear Windsor, Ontario's CKLW-AM 800, Toronto's CHWO-AM740 and other Canadian AM stations, so Canada has not yet shut down AM radio--at least not in southwestern Ontario. The CBC network affiliates are the only stations in Canada I am aware of that are largely on FM these days; I can often hear at least one CBC Radio One FM affiliate here in the summer. Also, I can get stations such as CIDR-FM 93.9 (formerly CKLW-FM) from Windsor, CKSY-FM in Chatham, et al. which are music stations.
 
Last edited:
I really doubt that FM is to be cut off as no cellphone companies are lobbying for their bandwith as they did for analog TV.

I think one huge mistake the cable companies here in the US made some years ago was to discontinue FM stereo radio service. There are many areas of this country that either cannot get any FM (due to terrain features, sheer distance from the stations or both) or just have one or two local stations that may appeal to only a small part of the city's/town's population. Internet radio isn't much of a solution, IMHO, because some people will have nothing to do with computers or do not know (and/or don't care) how to connect a computer's sound card to their stereo system.

Some cable operators such as Time-Warner offer digital music channels, but these are not available on analog cable service. Seven months from now that will change, when analog TV is shut down in favor of digital (everyone will have digital cable/satellite or a digital OTA set-top box by then, whether or not they have a flat-panel TV), but for now we are stuck with the digital music channels and/or Internet radio, neither of which, IMO, are any match for the stereo FM music service which used to be an optional feature on cable until perhaps 10-15 years ago.
 
What they meant was: "we don't give a d... about what's on AM". I guess
most Canadians under 40 or so would agree with this statement. Here in
Montreal we have at least 6 AM stations, but it's true that life is hard
for them. An all news station (940 kHz) recently fired most of its staff
and moved to an oldies format.

Interesting. Here in northeastern Ohio and elsewhere in the U.S. many AM stations are going the other way, i. e. dropping music and going to all-news, sports or talk; in most major cities the AM radio dial is almost nothing but non-music programming (except for Radio Disney--most big cities have an affiliate of that network). A small AM station on 1360 kHz about 35 miles east of here flipped to a non-music format several years ago; it used to be an oldies station, programmed from New York City (the True Oldies Channel), but it dropped that format and went with satellite-delivered religious programming. The oldies format (live all day and until midnight, then automated all night) moved to an FM station in the same area, displacing that station's adult-contemporary music; the latter format was picked up, I guess, by yet another station in the same city.
 
Back
Top Bottom