I got to listen to a bit of 8DN in 1987 whilst in Darwin.
Yes, morning talkback, broad music format but with plenty of Top 40 hits.
I still remember hearing certain songs on it, which when I hear them these days, it reminds me of 8DN a bit (being “Running In The Family” - Level 42, “Dominoes” - Robbie Nevil and “Wanted Dead Or Alive” - Bon Jovi).
Back then, they had “Take 40” on Friday nights, and a Country music program on Sunday nights.
A bit like Territory FM is today…except they’re technically a community station.
Thunderstorm static would be an issue on the AM band for at least half the year in Darwin, which may have been part of the calculus when deciding not to renew the 8DN licence. The ABA was just starting to map out frequency allocations for FM in regional areas at this time.
That’s a fair point although it still took a long time to get a 2nd commercial station back up. 104.9 was not launched until late 1990s?
Off topic, but related to the AM v FM issue in Darwin, would that also explain why Darwin’s DTV signals are all on UHF as opposed to every other capital city using VHF.
The ABA didn’t finalise its Licence Area Plans (LAPs) until the late 1990s, which might explain the reluctance to issue a new FM licence in Darwin before then. In the mid-90s, the ABA was busily issuing s. 39 (supplementary) licences in the southern states, and poor old Darwin didn’t get a look in.
Al Kirton often in submissions to ACMA complains of the ‘tropical noise’ ie. thunderstorms on his 531 4KZ frequency.
That said, I don’t think he’d been keen to relinquish the AM boomer for the much smaller coverage of FM.
Even then, they still need a total of EIGHT AM and FM transmitters/translators according to their website (the ACMA listing only has 7), and they state their main signal on 531am is 10kw (ACMA has it at 5kw).
Anyone got any recordings of Australian radio in AM stereo? The C-QUAM system sounds miles better than the current basic mono offering.
4KZ broadcast to Karumba on the Gulf Of Carpenteria on 1611 AM. This is a grandfathered licence: commercial stations above 1602 kHz aren’t permitted anymore, in the wake of the Radio 2 saga. There’s no other local commercial station in the Normanton region, though I think Rebel might have a station up there.
Where in the world does a AM station play War of thr Worlds!?!?
Plenty!
Here is one I uploaded to YT of 2WS using the same radio as in that clip. Not perfect reception from Sydney into Brisbane at night but typical for AM to be affected by noise.
That AM stereo does sound pretty good!
I stumbled upon a US station which is apparently still broadcasting AM stereo.
http://woapradio.com/o/landing/
Apparently they only started broadcasting in AM stereo using the C Quam format in February 2012.
So the US hasn’t given up on AM stereo yet??
At last report, 2CA Canberra were still broadcasting in AM stereo (and were the last Oz station to be doing so).
Is that still the case?
To my ears, AM stereo wasn’t far behind FM stereo for sound quality.
It was a shame that it didn’t take off.
I sent in an email to them in 2009, it was mono then due to a technical upgrade. I have an old am stereo radio it was a cheap one from Japan in 2006 ish, maybe I should try again if I go to canberra. I too love the sound. Never really heard it properly except online.
Just check now and 4BC is still transmitting AM stereo.
You can buy this module which broadcasts a low range C-QUAM AM signal for around US$299 online (I believe that’s what the person in the video I linked to was using). http://www.aspisys.com/ampll.htm
I don’t have that kind of money, but I’m interested purely for curiosities’ sake.
The sound of AM all comes down to the receiver. The huge majority don’t provide a wide enough band width to give the full frequency range possible with AM.
WION or I-1430 is also another one that Streams there AM Stereo Signal on the web 
http://www.i1430.com/ (y)
I remember listening to Stereo 10 in AM stereo in the late 80s. It sounded great on one home system (think it was a Pioneer) but not so great on a Sony portable machine - quite a bit of background hiss.
The biggest problem with AM (IMO) is background noise. It is difficult to get a good noise free signal even using an external antenna.
You’d think MML would like to save that money. Plus it’s a talk station. Better if 4BH had it for their networked music from Melbourne as Magic.