10-23-2016, 07:05 AM
Sarnoff et al were very effective in suppressing the adoption of FM; so much so that it wasn't until the 1970s that FM really started to take off nationwide here in the US. Up until then, FM was mostly the home of easy listening "beautiful" music and classical music.
My parents had a large Sears Silvertone AM-FM table model radio when I was a kid in Kansas City; I do not remember the model number. I do recall switching it over to FM as a child and finding KFMU 94.9 ("FM 95", they called themselves), and only a few other, weaker stations. As I recall, the stations I found were either beautiful/mood music (KFMU) or classical. I didn't leave it on there long - I switched back to AM and WHB, then KC's leading rocker.
Yes, there were a few FM radio stations here and there which began programming popular music, "progressive" rock, etc. in the late 1960s, but it wasn't until the 1970s that popular music, country music, etc. began a mass migration from AM to FM and never looked back. Unfortunately, when rock and country took over the FM band, classical and easy listening/mood music died out on the band for the most part.
I know KFMU switched call letters to KCEZ in the 1970s, and are now KCMO-FM, their original call letters, playing classic hits, I believe. KCMike could confirm if he sees this thread.
Armstrong would be pleased to know that his FM system finally won out, but it took far too long to do so. Were it not for the negative campaign against FM run by Sarnoff and his minions, FM probably would have been accepted much earlier. And who knows what might have happened to AM?
My parents had a large Sears Silvertone AM-FM table model radio when I was a kid in Kansas City; I do not remember the model number. I do recall switching it over to FM as a child and finding KFMU 94.9 ("FM 95", they called themselves), and only a few other, weaker stations. As I recall, the stations I found were either beautiful/mood music (KFMU) or classical. I didn't leave it on there long - I switched back to AM and WHB, then KC's leading rocker.
Yes, there were a few FM radio stations here and there which began programming popular music, "progressive" rock, etc. in the late 1960s, but it wasn't until the 1970s that popular music, country music, etc. began a mass migration from AM to FM and never looked back. Unfortunately, when rock and country took over the FM band, classical and easy listening/mood music died out on the band for the most part.
I know KFMU switched call letters to KCEZ in the 1970s, and are now KCMO-FM, their original call letters, playing classic hits, I believe. KCMike could confirm if he sees this thread.
Armstrong would be pleased to know that his FM system finally won out, but it took far too long to do so. Were it not for the negative campaign against FM run by Sarnoff and his minions, FM probably would have been accepted much earlier. And who knows what might have happened to AM?
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Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
