[BC] FM Stereo Question

[Steve Newman]

Dana...

I worked for KSFR-FM in San Francisco (my second job in radio) fro 1962 to 
1963 as a board op. They were a classical station with SUPERB audio. The 
console was custom designed and all the gear was clean to say the least. You 
might remember a Fisher Tuner that was used for on-air monitoring. It was 
their top-of-the-line unit. At the time we were one of 7 stations in the 
nation to win a best audio award from Stereo Review
Magazine. (We had pristine audio) You could punch from the turntable output 
to the air (Fisher tuner) and could not tell the difference in quality. I 
think I told this story before so forgive me. That station only used a 
Fairchild Conex for processing and the 2 cleanest 15kc lines you could get. 
In those days you had real "High Fidelity" FM stations. What a pleasure it 
was working there. The owner was a madman in his early 30's and would scream 
and yell at times but it was all worth it. Yes, those were different times 
but I loved them. Attention to detail and subtle processing is what it took. 
Of course, the audience was into "Hi-Fi" during that period too. I still am. 
Still have my JBL's from the 60's.

Excuse the ramblin'.

Steve

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From: "Dana  Puopolo" <dpuopolo at usa.net>

> Most radios made in the last 35 years use phase lock loops (PLLs) for 
> their
> stereo decoder.
> A PLL regenerates the 19 kHz by locking onto the transmitted pilot. A PLL 
> can
> find the 19 kHz pilot buried in the noise. I experimented back in the '80s 
> and
> we were able to lower the pilot injection to as low as .5% before the
> 'average' radio went to mono. Now, it is true that some radios blend to
> mono-and may monitor the noise on the pilot to help do the blending-but I
> don't believe that changing the pilot level by 1% is really going to make 
> any
> real difference. We took a rimshot oldies station in Tucson mono and the
> ratings went up a bit-because more people could hear it.