[BC] AM Stereo

[Jerry Mathis]

The problem is, the receiver manufacturers NEVER CAME THROUGH with their side of the bargain. They continue TO THIS DAY to make crappy AM radios with an audio frequency cutoff somewhere down around 3 kHz now. I don't even try to listen to AM anymore. Unless you've got REALLY GOOD audio processing, everyone talking on AM sounds like they have their hand over their mouth. My degraded hearing accounts for SOME of that, but not all.
 
AM broadcasters are STILL stuck with the effects of that deal. I would describe it as a "Faustian deal" but it doesn't quite fit. AM Broadcasters sold their soul to the devil but got NOTHING in return. Perhaps it could be better described as a "Jacob-and-Esau deal", referring to Esau who sold his birthright (inheritance) to Jacob for a mess of pottage.
 
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh; I know a lot of people put a lot of time into NRSC. But judging from the effects down the road, AM broadcasters paid (and are paying) a hefty price to comply with a standard that today benefits NO ONE.
 
And I still say that if AM broadcasters were required by force of law to comply with NRSC, then the RECEIVER MANUFACTURERS should have been as well.
 
--
Jerry Mathis

On Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 2:28 AM, Robert Orban <rorban at dslextreme.com> wrote:
>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