When I decided that Stereophile should review the McIntosh MAC7200 receiver (see the review in the January 2021 issue), I had several reasons for doing so. First, McIntosh is known for the quality of its radio tuners and amplifiers, so I was confident it would be an impressive product. (It was.) Second, a review of a terrestrial radio receiver in 2021 had a certain retro appeal that I thought Stereophile readers might appreciate. Third, as Larry Greenhill wrote in the introduction to that review, I like terrestrial radio.
I like it despite having lived most of my life in places where the radio offerings were limited. All the jazz I ever heard on the radio was smooth. When punk was happening in New York and London, and then on the West Coast, I was in southern Florida obliviously listening to album rock on some now-defunct station.
In New York City, where I live today, radio may be a shadow of its former self, but even so it offers stations, in and near the city, that are far better than any I remember growing up with.
I can’t get WXPN from here in New York, but when I drive to eastern Pennsylvania, as I often do, I can’t get enough of it. This excellent station is nonprofit and affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania—but it’s not, as you might assume, a formulaic NPR/ Sunday-brunch classical station. “Vinyl at heart” is its tagline, and it specializes in classic American music: roots rock, soul, early rap, country. If you listen, you’ll also hear other earthy, nutritious genres; you may know XPN as the station that produces the syndicated program “World Cafe.”
Among much eclectic programming at WKCR, the radio station of Columbia University, is Phil Schaap’s every-weekday program on Charlie Parker, “Birdflight.” This is not a great time to explore WKCR; its programming has been interrupted by Columbia University’s COVID-related closures (although maybe it will have opened up by the time you read this). “Birdflight” is on repeat because Schaap is seriously ill (footnote 1). But even with the studios closed, WKCR remains an outstanding, idiosyncratic station (footnote 2). (Many will enjoy knowing that KCR’s attempts to “go remote” to sit out the pandemic were complicated by the station’s old-school, analog approach. Vinyl is harder to stream.)
And then there’s New Jersey’s WFMU, which broadcasts from just across the Hudson. Rolling Stone once called this “freeform” station “the best radio station in the country.” Listeners can tune in to “New York Underground” at 9pm on Fridays, “Sinner’s Crossroads” Thursdays at 8, and “Put the Needle on the Record” every Friday evening at 7. Lou Reed was a fan.
Lately I’ve realized that my enthusiasm for terrestrial radio is more in principle than practice. The main reason: reception issues. I can step out my door and in about six minutes, walking, be at the front door of WKCR’s studios—yet I cannot receive their broadcasts clearly.
Is it just me, or has in-car radio reception deteriorated? Maybe it’s those stubby antennas that replaced the whips of yore. Whatever it is, even on strong signals, I hear noise and distortion that’s surely in the 10% range or higher, often in the highs where it’s most annoying. Then, I pull up to a stoplight and am swamped by RF interference.
Which is why, these days, I do most of my radio listening via the internet. All three of the stations listed above can be heard from anywhere via streaming. But with internet radio, I’m not limited to a handful of local stations. In Roon, I maintain links to WWOZ from New Orleans, TSF Jazz from Paris, Radio Paradise from nowhere but the internet (but with studios in Paradise, California), and several others.
Of course, internet radio has its own sound-quality issues. One (hyphenated) word: Bit-rate. Radio Paradise is lossless and CD-rez, and it sounds very good, but that’s rare. XPN and WWOZ stream in MP3 at 128kbps. WFMU’s 256kbps AAC stream is better, even adequate. WKCR? Roon indicates it’s playing right now at a pitiful 92kbps. The programming is superb, but the sound is poor.
What put me in mind of all this was a recent conversation with Rob Schryer about what to call Cambridge Audio’s new EVO 150; see Rob’s review on p.125. The EVO includes a very good streaming DAC, a volume control, and a class-D amp. Is it a streamer with amplifier or an integrated amp with streamer? It’s either; it’s both. But what it really is is the 21st-century equivalent of that Yamaha or Marantz receiver you owned back in the day. Streaming—not just internet radio but also streaming services—is the new radio. Streaming appliances are the new tuners. The internet is the new aether.
That’s hardly a new idea, but it’s timely, with some key implications. First, radio stations should care what they sound like, and that should extend to their online streams. So the quality of those streams must improve. 92 or 128kbps is not sufficient for a serious, high-profile station.
Second: Every component that presumes to deliver an internet radio station or streaming service should deliver all of them—every internet radio station and every streaming service. That’s not the model that’s out there now. It will require some work, and cooperation from all sides—the stations, the services, the developers of streaming platforms such as Roon and BluOS—but it’s essential. Imagine if, back in the day, your new McIntosh tuner or Yamaha receiver got WKCR but not WFMU. You’d send it back, wouldn’t you?
Even 25 years after the internet’s widespread adoption, it’s still early days for the new radio, but it’s not too soon to think about the big picture.
Footnote 1: Sadly, Phil Schaap died on September 7, as this issue hit newsstands and mailboxes; see nytimes.com/2021/09/08/arts/music/phil-schaap-dead.html.
Footnote 2: Kurt Gottschalk, who writes about music for Stereophile, hosts “Afternoon New Music” on WKCR, Tuesdays at 3pm.
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