1. Home
  2. vintage
  3. 195907-199203

FM Radio, anyone?

I was a kid in the 70s. I remember listening to Detroit Tiger baseball on WJR AM 760 on summer evenings - the voice was Ernie Harwell. And I remember listening to music on our local FM stations, and FM sounded so much better than AM (well, of course it did!). 
I remember the glow of the dial on higher end FM tuners, or on receivers. We had a Pioneer that was nice. But a neighbor had a beautiful Marantz with the heavy horizontal tuning dial. Today I own a Model 19 and a 2215b.

So, today I also own a McIntosh MR87 and I plan to showcase it in a whole house audio rack, with a rooftop antenna for the best possible reception. I also have a Magnum Dynalab MD-108 and I’m not sure where to put it, but it sure is pretty! 
Yeah, I know, the SQ is crap compared to just about anything else these days. And radio stations just aren’t as good as they used to be, or as I choose to remember them (the exception being WXRT in Chicago). But I cannot let go! Anyone else?

mattsca
zavato's avatar
zavato
1,496 posts
 

I regularly listen to FM at home and have 2 tuners- a Marantz Model 20 and a McIntosh MR78. I a sucker for vintage tuners. I’ve also owned a few Dynaco FM3’s, an Onkyo 9090II, and a Magnum Dynalab MD105. I stupidly passed on an opportunity to buy a Marantz 10b for $600, and there’s an SAE tuner that I would not mind at all owning. Aside from the fact that FM broadcasting is pathetic, I do love FM and FM tuners! And until recently I owned a Zenith Transoceanic. Yeah, I like radios 

limomangus's avatar
limomangus
2,028 posts
 

Yes I'm still old school and like FM radio...have a few vintage tube ones Harmon Kardon, Fisher, Marantz.Plus Sherwood,Pioneer,,sorry im down stairs and to tired to get the model numbers. 

mahler123
4,032 posts
 

I grew up in Detroit.  I was 10 years old in 1968 when the Tigers won the championship and I thought that I had gone to heaven.  Who was Harwell’s side kick in those days, Ray Lane?

  I had a Yamaha Tuner and a rooftop antenna in my suburban Chicago home for years and got decent FM reception.  We mainly listen to WFMT and WBEZ.

  However they don’t call this town the Windy City for nothing , and several months of the year it’s just to difficult.  And I now listen primarily to stations from Venice (Italy), Helsinki, and Munich.  So digital it is

More to discover