No more Easy 99.1?

TheBigA said:

AM Stereo doesn't address the issues of frequency response, interference, or noise.

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AM stereo doesn't address interference or noise, but if you have a wideband AM stereo receiver such as some that were made in the '80s and '90s, and you're in a spot where you're getting a clean signal on an AM stereo station broadcasting music in the full allowable spectrum, the frequency response on analog AM stereo can be far better than you'd believe if you haven't heard it.

I still have wideband AM stereo receivers from the '80s and '90s, and live close enough to 740 WJIB for it to sound amazing (for AM) in wideband AM stereo, just about as good as FM analog stereo. I don't know what the high end limit is, but it sounds like it goes over 10 kHz.

Some of today's HD radios have chips to decode analog AM stereo, but unfortunately with the same limited frequency response as the analog AM, probably rolling off at well under 5 kHz. They don't have wideband AM stereo like some of the '80s and '90s analog receivers.

Eli Polonsky said:

AM stereo doesn't address interference or noise, but if you have a wideband AM stereo receiver such as some that were made in the '80s and '90s, and you're in a spot where you're getting a clean signal on an AM stereo station broadcasting music in the full allowable spectrum, the frequency response on analog AM stereo can be far better than you'd believe if you haven't heard it.

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Then again, how many people do you think have those receivers?

Least said:

Around here, all they do is put an AM on FM. To me, that's not choice. That's providing me with better sound of an option that I already had, which is something that could be achieved through AM Stereo (technically speaking; however not financially sound these days). I don't see that as choices. Heck, around here, all they do is put AM on HD substations and FM on HD substations as well. Over the last few years we've lost Jazz stations, speciality local themed stations, Live Rock, Blues, Free Form, Deep Cut Rap/Hip-Hop, etc. Now, outside of Irish Music, Christmas Music, Oldies, EDX and a speciality station to play new Pop, which will be on every CHR and Hot AC station within weeks, the rest of HD radio has become AM stations.

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10 - 15 years ago, it looked like HD subchannels were going to become a platform for new choices in niche and specialty programming, and I was excited about the possibilities. There were many great ideas on the HD subchannels here that Least mentioned above, and more. But, the whole platform was never implemented, promoted and marketed well, from the stations and broadcasting companies down to the radio manufacturers and retailers. Many times I went into Best Buy and other stores asking for HD radios and they thought I meant satellite radios! So, we ended up with HD subchannels now being used mostly to get AM stations onto the FM band, or to extend the reach of rimshot FM's into the city. Only a few left here with original programming.

TheBigA said:

Then again, how many people do you think have those receivers?

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When I listen to mine, I feel I'm blessed to be one of the very few!

Eli Polonsky said:

But, the whole platform was never implemented, promoted and marketed well, from the stations and broadcasting companies down to the radio manufacturers and retailers.

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Coupled with the primary fact that consumers simply didn't want to buy new devices that were only radios. The first HD radios were table radios, in the tradition of the Bose Wave, and it simply wasn't practical. People want combo devices, radio with something else, and the HD radios didn't do that. So they flopped. That situation hasn't changed.

For some reason the signal doesn’t seem as strong as it usually is today.