Category: Radio

The AM Sound

When I was doing AM radio DJ duty, I could monitor either what was going to the transmitter from the studio, or what the transmitter was putting out over the air.

If I was working alone on a weekend, I always monitored the over-the-air signal. What I heard wasn’t quite what listeners with regular AM radios heard, because the station’s AM receiver had wideband reception.

My GE Superadio III, now almost 30 years old, has wideband AM reception. It’s only useful during the day, on stations that are well separated on the dial from other stations. Here’s an example of the difference in sound quality, for all that it matters anymore. 🙁