When KLIF 1190 Dallas, Tx. went STEREO 1977

I remember being a DJ in Dallas around 1977 or '78 working at a club in the Anatole Hotel called The Crocodile Club. One of our AM radio stations converted their broadcast signal for the first time from mono to stereo to acquire more listeners, come of age and to finally come out from the shadows of FM radio where they had dominated for years. To test and also promote this new stereo feature the station created a simulcast that would go LIVE to a hot nightclub already in progress as the audience could experience being at the club without being in the club. They could hear new tunes and fresh mixes before radio stations got their hands on them. Nightclubs were usually where record pool DJ's played promo copy's of new releases and club versions for exposure and feedback of the latest dance music, and in this case disco was the craze. I never got a chance to hear the finished product to know what it sounded like. The quality, programming, was it any good? I have heard other radio/club simulcast shows on Friday or Saturday nights since then and a few have been really good. The feeling of being there and hearing DJ's mix good dance music is much better than regular programming, commercials or rambling DJ's. Few were good, some were great. Not done much anymore, that I know of. Wish it would come back. In this bygone era of dancing club music and the energy level it created are but a distant memory in my mind. To be able to relive those experiences again would be incredible. To feel the chest-pounding power of the club sound systems, to lock eyes with an attractive woman and dance till you are wringing with sweat. Those days are gone but the memories aren't. It would be a time capsule to be able to locate (if they exist) any recordings of those nights of simulcasting KLIF 1190 am, Dallas to the Crocodile Club. Or any articles written. Thank you all. TURN IT UP !!!!

I don't remember KLIF 1190 going stereo. Especially in 1977-78. I think that pre-dates the 4 AM stereo methods of transmission. Maybe they were experimenting? I do remember KRQX Stereo 570, I thought they were among the first in '82-83 or so. I remember they did an "All Louie Louie" format when KRQX first went on air!

Stereo was around in '77 but I think the 1190 signal has always been too directional for it to work.

During daylight hours most stations doing AM Stereo sounded pretty good. But at night w/skywave, directional patterns, and lower power, the effect was not that good. Oftentimes you'd get wave motion and start looking for a barf bag. YIKES!

Yes I remember the skywave propagation would cause the stereo channels of the most common Motorola system to shift around and change sides.

Reading up on it, they were experimenting with AM Stereo even back in 1960. No telling that the OP heard on 1190 in 1977.

Megapsycle said:

Yes I remember the skywave propagation would cause the stereo channels of the most common Motorola system to shift around and change sides.

Reading up on it, they were experimenting with AM Stereo even back in 1960. No telling that the OP heard on 1190 in 1977.

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The term used back in the day was "platform motion." It was associated with skywave reception of the Motorola system.
Directional stations often had wonky antenna issues which made clean stereo operation difficult to impossible.

wavo said:

The term used back in the day was "platform motion." It was associated with skywave reception of the Motorola system.
Directional stations often had wonky antenna issues which made clean stereo operation difficult to impossible.

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That was true with Kahn but CQUAM didn't have that issue with DAs...platform motion was skywave more than anything but did have some at fringe groundwave ..it was corrected in later versions..but skywave problem still was there....due to phasing issues associated with skywave...you can't beat mother nature

Megapsycle said:

Yes I remember the skywave propagation would cause the stereo channels of the most common Motorola system to shift around and change sides.

Reading up on it, they were experimenting with AM Stereo even back in 1960. No telling that the OP heard on 1190 in 1977.

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AM stereo was proposed in the 1950s but the FCC didn't see a need for it...Kahn was testing his ISB system in 1960 on XTRA in Baja...which gave it S CA coverage..
But as former CE of 1190, I never saw any indication at either site it ran stereo..

ContinuousWave said:

AM stereo was proposed in the 1950s but the FCC didn't see a need for it...Kahn was testing his ISB system in 1960 on XTRA in Baja...which gave it S CA coverage..
But as former CE of 1190, I never saw any indication at either site it ran stereo..

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That would make sense, I've heard when Clear Channel got the station there was still a lot of McLendon era gear hooked up which definitely would've predated AM Stereo in Dallas. (Wasn't 570 the first here?)

The only AM Stereo stations in the area I'm aware of were 570, 620, 770, 820, and 1400.

Wasn't AM Stereo supposed to save Ancient Modulation? The number of stations running it at the time probably exceeded the number of radios capable of receiving AM Stereo. And of course, two different operating systems didn't help matters. What a joke!

LibertyNT said:

That would make sense, I've heard when Clear Channel got the station there was still a lot of McLendon era gear hooked up which definitely would've predated AM Stereo in Dallas. (Wasn't 570 the first here?)

The only AM Stereo stations in the area I'm aware of were 570, 620, 770, 820, and 1400.

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I think 1310 was too, when they were KAAM, using the Kahn-Hazeltine system.

I recall the old KRQX 570 had gorgeous AM stereo audio quality on my Sony SRF-A1. Also sounded great on mono receivers; very well engineered by then-owner Belo.

Yes, I remember the "in and out" sound of stereo. Quite distracting.

AM stereo was an improvement in sound quality, but it didn't cure the problems with static. I remember when KAAM and KMKI Radio Disney used C-Quam in the 90's and early 2000's. They sounded brighter even on a mono car stereo.

And I remember Motorola was forcing electronic corporations like Sony and Panasonic to buy their AM Stereo decoding chips. Many companies didn't want to to pay for them. So there were very few AM Stereo radios for sale when there should have been a huge flood of AM Stereo radios, boomboxes, receivers, car stereos, walkmans etc hitting the store shelves. The FCC should have forced Motorola to put that chip design in the public domain so any company could make them.

DavidEduardo said:

What killed AM radio was not a system but a person: Leonard Kahn.

While the FCC planned to have one of five systems approved and ready to go by late '77 or early '78 (When AM still had half the listening), Kahn sued and delayed stereo for 5 years... by which time AM was dead as a music medium.

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I would take issue with blaming Mr. Kahn. The FCC and set makers are to blame. In 1980, the FCC selected an AM Stereo standard from Magnavox, only to recind it two years later after a ton of complaints from stations and set manufacturers. By allowing the issue to be decided "by the market" with 4 competing systems, the FCC doomed the prospects of AM stereo. Mr. Kahn had one of the 4 systems. After a year or so, it was down to Motorola's C-Quam and the Kahn/Hazeltine system. If the FCC had stepped in then to select a standard, it might have helped.

Aside from the FCC's unwillingness to declare a standard, the single biggest problem was finding AM stereo radios. Set makers did not want to build radios capable of getting 2 or 4 AM Stereo standards. They wanted the issue settled by the FCC. Many of them weren't keen on building AM radios at all.

Kahn's lawsuit against Motorola came in the late 80s, long after the FCC should have stepped in to declare a winner. By that point, it simply didn't matter. There were few AM stations doing music at that point. The FCC's decision in 1993 to make Motorola the standard was about a decade too late.