Vintage Tech: McMartin TR-66 FM-SCA Receiver

Broadcasting, by its very definition, means using an RF signal to reach as large an audience as possible. So the opposite of broadcasting is narrowcasting, targeting a small, niche of the population. In the Internet age, with web streams and podcasts, it’s easy to reach out to a handful of people scattered across the globe. Just twenty short years ago, narrowcasting to a small audience was a much more involved affair. This month's Found in the Attic examines a 1960s-vintage McMartin TR-66 FM-SCA receiver, and the related technology of FM subcarriers.

StereoTool with Hans van Zutphen

What would you think of an audio processor designed by someone with little prior knowledge of audio processing? The very popular software audio processor, StereoTool, is designed and updated by Hans van Zutphen. Hans tells us how StereoTool got started, what portions of it are now in other major audio processors, and how radio enthusiasts are building their own audio processors for AM, FM, and Internet streaming.

Anthony Rudel: A Career Rooted in the Classics

I was honored to speak with Anthony Rudel, the station manager of WCRB/99.5 FM, the classical music station of the WGBH Foundation in Boston. Tony is not only a renowned figure within the classical music world and popular lecturer, but the author of several books including the wonderful "Hello, Everybody! The Dawn Of American Radio." You can order this and his other books, as well as get more information about Anthony's activity at anthonyrudel.com.

I spoke with him from the WGBH/WCRB studios in Boston.

David Gleason Preserves Broadcast History, Tells of His Own 

Every day, the cultural history of America in the 20^th century is slowly slipping away. Along with it goes the history of radio broadcasting. Every time a veteran broadcaster passes away, a station discards old documents or equipment, a tower is demolished, or fire ravages a facility, a few more bits disappear forever. The process is so slow and subtle that nobody seems to know or care. Well, almost nobody. Veteran broadcaster David Gleason has made it his life's mission to preserve as much history of the radio industry as possible. In the process, he has created the web site americanradiohistory.com.

"Workbench" columnist, John Bisset 

What’s your most important engineering tool? An oscilloscope? Volt-ohm meter? Infrared thermometer? Diagnostic software? John Bisset says your most important tool is one you probably already own! Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack are talking with the Workbench Wizard, John Bisset on TWiRT.

Net Neutrality, Maintenance, & Copper

Lots of questions about the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules under Title II, like “when is the Public Internet actually private?”  Plus, Chris Tobin lays a foundation for the value of maintenance, and Kevin Kidd joins us to help stop copper thieves.

MT2000: The Audio Guru's Ultimate Multi-Tool

For years, end-to-end system testing of digital audio in broadcast chains involved large, clunky, pieces of equipment. Bring multichannel and coded audio into the picture, and this became even more complicated. Devices such as the Dolby® DM100 made this a bit simpler, but are now obsolete.

The Linear Acoustic® MT2000™ Multichannel Bitstream Analyzer fills this void, meeting the need for an updated device capable of analyzing audio in multiple formats, carried via multiple interfaces.

Tech Support, This is Ted

On This Week in Radio Tech, Ted Alexander joins Chris Tobin and me, Kirk Harnack. Ted got started in radio way too early - like as a baby! He’s hosted popular shows on-air, plus engineered some pretty big iron. And you may have talked with Ted when calling for Tech Support from Telos! See if Ted tells a Support story about you!

Secrets of Streaming Audio

For several years now, streaming audio has been an increasingly popular, non-traditional format for audio content. While many broadcasters stream their stations online, many in the streaming audio world do not hail from a traditional broadcast background and aren’t affiliated with terrestrial radio.

So what does that mean for streamers? Is there anything they need to pay more attention to so as to ensure the best possible audio stream? Turns out that can be a tough question to answer. And it may depend on the content. Z/IPStream designer Ioan Rus says his first question for streamers is always, “What are you trying to do?”

Vintage Tech: Heath BC-1A AM tuner

The debate about high-quality AM signals vs. adjacent channel interference and occupied bandwidth has been going on longer than most of us have been alive. One of the sticking points was always the issue of 'who goes first?' Station engineers were reluctant to spend the time, money and energy to perfect their signal, only to have it trashed by receivers with misaligned 5 Khz IF stages and a 3-inch speaker. Receiver manufacturers, on the other hand, didn't want to build high-fidelity AM radios when most of the stations sounded like crap anyway.