[BC] AM Stereo

[Robert Orban]

At 06:03 PM 11/23/2010, Kyle Magrill wrote:
>And for the record, I never thought that the NRSC
>did AM any favors by forcing the spectrum to 10kHz.

I was there when the NRSC working group came up with 10 kHz. (In 
fact, I seem to recall being the one to suggest it, although I could 
be wrong.) The representatives for the auto radio manufacturers were 
pushing very hard for *5 kHz* (i.e., basically the same as EBU AM 
bandwidth), which would have protected all adjacent channels at the 
cost of a considerable loss in fidelity noticeable to almost anyone. 
10 kHz represented a reasonable compromise between broadcasters (who 
wanted 15 kHz) and auto radio manufacturers. 10 kHz protected 
second-adjacents from splatter without completely hammering the audio quality.

Bob Orban