Quadraphonic Broadcasting

[jon]

An interesting discussion thread has been started on SOWNY.ca about Quadraphonic broadcasting. Developed at the end of the 1960s, using multiple FM subcarriers, some stations dabbled with it.

So far, the only Western station I've found that did any of it was KKHI-FM in San Francisco. And that was just for live local Opera coverage.

One poster thinks CKFM Toronto broadcast in Quad for a while. I'm not so sure as I don't recall the CRTC ever approving Quadraphonic FM broadcasting, which surely would have been required.

What I do recall is some West Coast progressive rock FM stations talking about Quad as if they were actually broadcasting it when, in fact, it was a hoax.

On the other hand, Quad LPs used to play just fine on normal stereo systems at home, so maybe a standard FM stereo station playing one of these same Quad LPs would deliver Quadraphonic sound to the speakers of a Quad home system connected to a standard FM stereo tuner.

Does anyone remember Quad?

[jon]

An e-mail just arrived in my inbox, talking about CBU-FM and CBUF-FM getting together for a Quad broadcast in the early 1970s.

Amazing when you think about it, since CBUF-FM normally ran the mono Radio Canada AM network. I was wondering if they even ran the 19KHz multiplex carrier, then realized that they did quite a bit of local programming, which was undoubtedly in stereo.

[groundwave]

For consumers, the big quad debate in the early seventies was all about "matrix" versus "discreet." Matrix was theoretically compatible with legacy 2-channel media like vinyl, tape and FM, but but was plagued by high inter-channel crosstalk which diluted the 4 channel effect. On the other hand, discreet -- with near ideal separation was available only on specially encoded discs (which required a specially designed stylus, phono cartridge and "demodulator" preamp) and 4 track/channel tapes as well. Those were the days ... Somewhere in my basement there's a barely used Sony SQ decoder packed in it's original box.

[BossRadio]

Hey Kids! Wanna know more about the "Quadraphonic Experience?

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... in/674229/

[Dan Sys]

KQIV 106.7 Lake Oswego, Oregon (in suburban Portland) was supposedly quad for awhile in the early 70's. Whether this was one of the "hoax" stations that Jon mentioned above is unknown. I did discover a tribute site for the station while doing a Google search:
http://www.rockininquad.com/

The station has had a multitude of formats and call letters over the years, currently KLTH (Oldies 106.7) owned by Clear Channel.