AM radio and Max (Mac?) Richmond

A Joseph Ross joe@attorneyross.com
Tue Feb 20 00:21:12 EST 2018


I had a converter like that in the late 1970s into the '80s, that I got 
at Radio Shack.  I wanted it because WCRB had turned their AM signal 
into WHET, without classical music most of the time.  It, too, required 
tuning the car radio to 1400, but it had a screw adjustment to move the 
signal to one side or the other of 1400.  I set a button on the radio 
for 1400, for ease of using it.  I found that whenever I went out to 
Amherst, the FM converter at 1400 had a strong enough signal to come in 
over WHMP 1400 in Northampton.  And the converter had an off button for 
listening to AM, so that I could listen to WHMP when I wanted to.

I remember that when I installed it in my car, I had to park my car in 
front of my apartment building and run a long extension cord out the 
window down to the car, so that I could solder the connection to the 
car's power supply.


On 2/19/2018 9:01 AM, Bob Nelson wrote:
> I remember my older brother had an AM radio in his truck and bought an 
> FM converter that also had a cassette deck.It was made by Craig.
>
> Example of an FM converter for cars, by Lafayette.Sticker says you 
> must tune to 1400 for it to work (but what if you're near an existing 
> station on that frequency?)
>
> https://youtu.be/P14oRjhxnJ0
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 19, 2018, 8:48 AM Kevin Vahey <kvahey@gmail.com 
> <mailto:kvahey@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Joe
>
>     The automakers resisted but the intense lobby came from the NAB as
>     they
>     didn't want Congress to mandate a rule similar to the mandatory
>     VHF/UHF of
>     a decade earlier. Radio executives in the big markets were for the
>     most
>     part clueless about FM and when the FCC mandated stations in the top
>     markets could no longer simulcast AM and FM more than 12 hours a
>     day we saw
>     automation creep in. RKO General hit paydairt with WRKO-FM and
>     then rolled
>     the dice by blowing up WNAC for WRKO.
>
>     In Boston the first hint that things were changing was when WJIB
>     launched
>     in 1967 and destroyed WEZE in a matter of weeks. The
>     Herald-Traveler was
>     clueless about WHDH-FM as was Plough with WCOP-FM.
>
>     CBS rolled out "The Young Sound' on all their FM's and at least tried.
>
>     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXm2UcOBKWQ
>     <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXm2UcOBKWQ>
>
>     Westinghouse was clueless and wound up selling WBZ-FM to Greater
>     Media in
>     the early 80's for petty cash.
>
>
>
>
>
>     On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 2:31 AM, A Joseph Ross
>     <joe@attorneyross.com <mailto:joe@attorneyross.com>> wrote:
>
>     > I always wondered why it took so long to get FM into cars.  Some
>     people
>     > told me that FM reception wouldn't work in cars, but I couldn't
>     see why
>     > not.  Obviously, once we got FM in cars, it worked fine.
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > On 2/19/2018 12:21 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>     >
>     >> Mac Richmond by 1970 saw that FM was not going away but WBOS
>     was no longer
>     >> for sale. I remember that Mac was concerned by WRKO-FM ( WROR ) and
>     >> WKOX-FM
>     >> which would become WVBF.
>     >>
>     >> What delayed FM was US automakers were reluctant to offer AM-FM
>     tuners and
>     >> the NAB lobbied hard to keep the status quo.
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> On Sun, Feb 18, 2018 at 7:02 PM, Glenn Spatola
>     <gspatola@gmail.com <mailto:gspatola@gmail.com>>
>     >> wrote:
>     >>
>     >> Richmond owned WPGC AM and FM in Morningside, MD,
>     >>> (a suburb of Washington, DC). It was my favorite station when
>     I was
>     >>> stationed in MD in the very early 70s.
>     >>>
>     >>>
>     >>> Message: 1
>     >>>> Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2018 07:54:21 -0500
>     >>>> From: George Allen <gallen2@nescaum.org
>     <mailto:gallen2@nescaum.org>>
>     >>>> To: boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org
>     <mailto:boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
>     >>>> Subject: Re: Arnie "WooWoo" Ginsberg interview: The Sounds of
>     the 60's
>     >>>>
>     >>>>
>     >>>
>     >>> ...In 1971 roughly 2 months before he died I wound up having
>     lunch with
>     >>>> Mac Richmond who owned WMEX and he told me he made a huge
>     mistake not
>     >>>> buying 92.9 when Champion offered it to him for cheap money..
>     >>>>
>     >>>> Mac had problems with a FM he owned in Washington but  he grasped
>     >>>> that college students were buying FM tuners in Boston but the
>     offer
>     >>>> to buy WBOS was off the table.
>     >>>>
>     >>>>
>     >>>>
>     >>>> ------------------------------
>     >>>>
>     >>>> Subject: Digest Footer
>     >>>>
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>     >>>>
>     >>>>
>     >>>> ------------------------------
>     >>>>
>     >>>> End of Boston-Radio-Interest Digest, Vol 22, Issue 19
>     >>>> *****************************************************
>     >>>>
>     >>>>
>     > --
>     > A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton,
>     MA 02459
>     > 617.367.0468 · Fax:617.507.7856 · http://www.attorneyross.com
>     >
>

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton, MA 02459
617.367.0468 · Fax:617.507.7856 · http://www.attorneyross.com


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