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As a 40 year radio broadcaster, you're not too far off on your AM radio predictions, but as a DXer, I still love the band. I love hearing Oldies stations that still broadcast on AM radio too and I think there'll always be a place for AM radio. Remember that when the internet goes away sometime, somehow, someway...AM/FM radio is going to become VERY important again. ;-)

I still listen to AM for sportstalk in my area. I also know a couple guys that still even listen to shortwave as a hobby.

Dude! You're killing me! I love a.m. radio! And I am under 70.

I'm very sad, from my 33 years old, that you're just waiting for some to dig a tumb for AM radio. While you do that, I can't wait the day i'll have a peice of land where i'll can grab a few sets of mast and rig myself a tall or taller mast to hang various antenna on it, especially something to pickup nicely am stations. U know, I have a Marconi 1961 tube furniture stereo-hi-fi cabinet. And the best AM I EVER HEARD was from that damn thing. Well tuned, it was almost as clear as FM, very warm sound, not the harsh AM sound you get in those automobiles digital tuners anymore. All the brightness was there, there was very little sibillance distortion. I now knew that AM was capable of great results with proper equipments. I hope you will fild the joy to explore AM one day and perhaps, build yourself an am transmitter just for the joy of hearing at the other end the stuff your transmitter transmit. That's how HAM radio starts! Keep going strong with your channel. I really enjoy discovering more about antennas! Cheers

You mentioned you would be surprised if a handful of viewers listened to AM radio so I'm thinking you were shocked when you read the comments. I love your interpretation of AM reception, so damn cute.

AM is great. at night I hear stations from all over the USA.

You're a Great American for helping us old guys listen to the oldies station! Thank you! Stereo receivers are notorious for poor radio reception. Not all of them, of course, but many.

I really like AM radio. One thing I did, used a thread adapter, barrel spring, and one of my unused whips for a cb antenna(4ft I think), and replaced the stock antenna on my truck. It really improved my overall reception

I listen to AM radio just about everyday! I don’t have any issues with it. I think you seriously are underestimating just how many people still listen to AM radio.

We have old house that has a dual electric / AM radio outlet. This was high tech back in the day when radio was king. AM antenna is still in attic, just need to find an old timey AM radio to use the AM antenna outlet ...

We need more videos like this instead of just TV antennas. Radio is very important than just television.

I'm tellin ya, I see a day where we will need the old airwaves again.

Wow, you have a lot of hate for AM radio. I listen to it everyday. It's still a great source for sports radio especially from out of market, out of state games.

A long piece of grounded wire can improve AM reception without directly connecting to the radio. It just needs several loops located near the radio to induce the AM signal in the radio's tuning circuit.

I listen to AM radio daily lol. I use an AM indoor loop antenna. I like to DX far away AM stations. BTW I also own that FM loop antenna and I can tell you it works very well. Thank you for the video.

Tyler, I don't think you realize how many people listen to Talk radio which is primarily on AM stations.

Thank you for this, Antenna Man! One never cares about the subject much... until they need it! Funny thing is I work at a radio station in my area but it's always great to revisit the basics. Thank you for the helpful tips, my friend! Stay well.

I listen to am radio all the time! I listen to sports broadcasts with it.

Most of the noise on AM radio is caused by "noisy" electrical devices with their switching power supplies. Solar panels don't help either. When I go camping in the Adirondacks, away from the noise it's clear as a bell.... at night. During the day it's dead. I use my OTA antenna to my FM receivers and they work very well. They are hard to find but I also have an HD tuner which adds many commercial free programming channels as well as repeated AM stations such as KYW and distant FM stations such as WOLD in north Jersey. Great video. BTW I have a 1938 Philco floor radio 38-7 with all the NYC stations on the dial that works.

this is really a fun video, not only have I enjoyed listening to radio as a hobby, I am an amateur radio operator, so listening to discussion about antennas for radio whether it be for music or other purposes is quite fascinating. I didn’t realize that they were still dedicated outdoor FM commercial radio antennas available anymore so thank you for all the great information.

I've found that 2 75 cm. (length is important) pieces of wire works a treat. Connect one to one side of the antenna input and the other to the other side and orient them in a vertical plane with one wire going up and the other going down and you will have a significant improvement in reception. In my case I had 5 s points across the dial. A pretty good result for stripping the ends off the couple of bits of scrap wire. If you are using external antennas insure that they are mounted vertically.

Excellent video. It's about time that this channel had a video on radio reception, especially FM radio reception. Thanks for sharing and posting.

I've been into radio for decades. I know you're mainly a TV man, but thanks for this video.

I listen to AM radio almost every day.

I've been using my attic TV antenna for my FM for many years. It actually picks up stations from well over 80 miles away very clearly. This setup is now much improved with HD radio. I agree with you though, there's nothing on AM worth listening to so I never did hook up my AM side of my Denon receiver. If there was something on AM radio I would just stream that station, AM doesn't sound any better than ham radio does.

I asked you about FM antennas months ago and you weren't really into them and now you are. All right! I have an omni directional outdoor FM antenna that I use for FM and local TV stations and it works great. I also have a directional FM antenna that picks up KQRS 92.5 from the Twin Cities with a Carver Tuner and I am 95 miles away.

Tyler, your generosity of sharing your knowledge we are grateful for. I happen to be a fan of am radio for talk shows and ball games and sports talk. I seldom listen to music because it's just the same old stuff usually.

This is very useful. Some of still work in factories. 12" thick building with tin roofs and high DC power usage. In the parking lot of my factory I probably get 25 stations, inside I get two.

Tyler this is Chuck Smith the antenna man. One thing that might help depending on the station you are trying to receive if using an outdoor antenna. A lot of radio stations today have better power transmission in the vertical polarity than in horizontal. The reason for this is that 90 % of their listening audience is generally mobile and of course most car antennas are vertical. So for a lot of your DX'ers or just weak signal try your outdoor antenna vertical polarity instead of horizontally.

Thank you for making this video. Antenna Man, your channel name implies an understanding of how antennae work. This video informs about some options but does not impart any understanding. I believe you have the ability to produce a video which not only informs of options, but also explains the underlying concepts of how antennae work. I look forward to such a video.

You are very articulate and knowledgeable! Thanks,Tyler! We appreciate you and looking forward to utilizing your tips!

For FM reception I use a 3 element Yagi antenna has a matching transformer 300 ohms to 75 ohms and can be summed with a UHF antenna for TV using a VHF+UHF combiner. I get 25 out of 28 channels in STEREO the others are in MONO because they are very far from my area. In Romania all FM stations are broadcasting vertically so you need a vertical antenna for a better reception. All the radios in my house have a 75 ohm input just like a TV set. Soon we will have DAB digital radio on VHF High Band. The problem is that FM and DAB especially the ones with weak signal are heavily affected by LED TVs, monitors, LED light bulbs and you don't have a stable reception that's why I use an outdoor FM antenna. The Yagi FM antenna is the best. In some cases an active splitter may be necessary for a stable reception on weak stations.

some of us still listen to AM radio and even shortwave sometimes. AM is where talk shows are like Rush Limbaugh

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is the on I've been waiting for you. The oldies station is a bonus. Again, Thank You!

Thank you Antenna Man. I have a Yamaha receiver HTR 5240 which I acquired used. It had no antenna. For years I messed around trying to get radio reception; even contacted Yamaha. When I saw your video I ordered the dipole antenna thru your link. It works! Now my stereo can make superb radio. Thank you again.

Excellent, I've been waiting for a video about FM reception. Thanks Tyler!

Remember when you could use cable TV to pull in stations? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Thank you for helping Mike. Nothing like classic oldies.

My home is 75 miles from a major city in each direction and in the mountains. It was built wired for coax cable TV, which I don't use. I have a Philips version of the Bose table radio (better than the Bose BTW but not sold since around 2008)....and it has the coax antenna connection. Hook it up to the cable and then unhook the cable junction for that room on the outside of the house. Plug in a outdoor antenna (in my case I just used a $7 TV dipole rabbit ears fastened to the roof eave) no drilling, no fuss. crystal clear for 50 to 80 miles. Mountain helps a bit.

For improving the reception on internal ferrite rod AM antennas, place the wires of the external antenna wrapped up on top of the receiver. This would couple the signals to the internal antenna. You can also run a long speaker wire and terminate it in a loop to couple the signals to the receiver.

i listen to sports talk radio on am

THANK YOU . This is the ONLY video on KZfaq on this topic. DUDE YOU SAVED MY LIFE . Thank you so much .

I live around the same area. Loved seeing you tuning in 97.9x WBSX Hazleton! Best FM station! Also getting WNEP16 and WVIA. Great videos by the way! So cool watching you tuning in my same TV/FM.

In Vancouver, BC, we have an AM station that is 24 hour traffic reports. It repeatedly gets higher ratings than our two all sports stations.

This is a great topic, I used speaker wire when I was a kid 30 years ago, It works the best in my opinion. The only reason I don't listen to AM is because of bad reception. Could you please explain a way that could work for AM. Thanks and keep up the great work.

I love am radio, love listening to it late at night. Trying to catch really far away stations, i like to pretend im catching stations from centuries ago

Thankyou Tyler. I’m 57 and hark back to the days in Southern England when picking up distant stations meant hearing at least 50% of uncommonly heard tunes . For example receiving a good quality fm signal from the next nearest Local FM station in Portsmouth ( 22 miles away ) was not only a cool technical feat because the signal only reached about 12 miles but their chart depended on sales from 4 record shops in the city . Alas beyond the technical feat of receiving some distant mast , the actual content of most stations in Southern England at least is generic , homogeneous, repetitive and predictable- stuck in the 1980s with the same tired old formats and tunes Perhaps I need the mother of all FM Aries pointing West ☹️👍keep up the good work

AM radio is alive and well. I just paid $90.00 for a CCRadio EP Pro. There are hundreds of oldies stations on AM.

Thanks I've been wondering about an antenna for added strength.👍

Yes people still listen AM radio

I love AM, Thanks for all the info

Haha! Yep Tyler, I'm one of the old few who listens to AM Stations - but as you said...with streaming. Besides a few that's on FM, can't listen to what's on now. Would appreciate you doing a video on the AM topic. Thanks for another informative, funny video.

For the die-hard AM listener, a tuned induction loop like the one Tecsun offers is excellent at helping you get distant AM stations. The problem I have in UK is getting DAB stations. That is a whole other thing and so I got an Internet radio instead and that is fantastic.

Back in the early 1980s my job took me to the Bahamas 180 miles from the Florida coast, where I lived about a year. I really missed Rock music so I bought four of the Radio Shack FM Yagi antennas (tuned specifically to the FM band) and built an array aimed at the Miami area. I connected the four antennas in parallel with 300 ohm twin lead which dropped the impedance to 75 ohms balanced. Then I used a 1:1 balun connected with LMR-400-75 cable. The results were amazing! I picked up FM stations from most of south Florida thus quenching my thirst for American radio.

I always listen to AM radio here in SoCal before getting on the freeways, because it will save you A LOT of time!

I like am radio I look for away stations with a special antenna only nite I live LA I'll get az nv tx

I also listen to AM talk stations quite frequently. I also still do some AM band DXing.

I listen to AM radio every day. Some people enjoying hearing news, talk, weather and sports. On a good crisp night with no clouds or interference, I can pull in stations from Boston, CT and Pennsy listening in NJ. AM will never die.

I listened to more FM radio before the internet came out. On a 30 foot tower using a VHF Antenna that had VHF low and VHF high. With preamp FM trap out was able to pull in stations from Cleveland, Ohio 150 miles away. Plus using a larger Antenna you get better highs and better stereo separation. Plus with the rotor you can fine tune the signal strength. Personally all the FM stations suck in my area. One station I do get and like is WOMC Detroit 104.3 (Detroit's Greatest Hits). As for long distance AM reception is to run a single lead wire from the radio outside to two insulators mounted on two different trees or two poles then run bare copper wire between the insulators and attached that wire coming out of the house to one insulator. Will greatly improve AM reception.

Tyler, I was shocked to hear the assessment on AM radio! It seemed it was still popular and I checked the Nielson ratings through June 2020. AM stations are #1 in Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta. In the Boston, Philly, Los Angeles, and Houston markets, AM stations are in the top 5. There are two AM stations in the top 10 in the largest radio market of New York. Excellent reception can be gained with an inexpensive AM Loop antenna which could fit on a small dinner plate. For FM, I use the folded loop antenna that you mention and it brings in stations from Oregon to British Columbia from inside the house. FM radio is a double edged sword where too much range creates interference from multiple markets that operate on the same frequency.

AM is for us old guys. I live in the Ozarks and would like to get better reception as cable/internet are not available except by satellite and we all know how well that works.

Medium wave or better known as AM is still very much alive though greatly diminished. Where I live there is a local class D station that airs "When radio was" on weekday evenings for two hours. I listen to it regularly and the station comes in as good as it ever could, sounds fantastic with the old reruns.

1. On one of your speaker wire antennas, try splitting the two wire at the end not connected to the receiver, for about 28 inches (a bit under0.75m), and extend the two ends in opposite directions, and preferably not along the remainder of the wire going to the receiver (a "T" configuration). It should do noticeably better than the piece that is still joined. If you're going for stuff at the low end of the FM band, make the arms slightly longer; high end, slightly shorter, but it shouldn't be all that fussy. 2. Some receivers have a little jumper wire for you to connect or not to one of the terminal screws (or maybe optionally to a third ground screw). This choose between 300 ohm and 75 ohm impedance. For a dipole, including the T configuration above, 75 ohm is the better choice. In the old days we used to have "folded dipole" antennas, also a T configuration, but made from 300 ohm twin lead, including the arms of the T. The conductor path is like drawing an outline around the T (you can look at it as a squashed loop. The extra conductor going across the top manages to make this antenna about 300 ohms at resonance, which is a good match to the feed line portion going to the receiver, which is what those 300 ohm screws were designed for. 3. It's also worth trying a single wire connected to just one of the 300 ohm screws, try each screw in turn to see which one is better than the other. Or if you just have a 75 ohm F connector, try connecting a single wire to the center connector (sewing pin in the hole and a clip lead is good enough for testing. The length is probably best around 28 inches (about 1/4 wave at 100 MHz, reduced slightly for velocity factor). Try to route the wire so that it spends as little of its length as possible close to the receiver or any of its wires. If you've ever had a portable radio with a telescoping antenna, that's the scheme that we're going for here. (The radio and its other wiring act as a ground plane or counterpoise, and the impedance is lower, often quoted as 50 ohms, though it's quite variable depending on the details of the counterpoise and other conductors around.) 4. Many newer homes have foil backed insulation in the walls. Much older homes may have something like chicken wire as part of the support for actual plaster. And there are usually wires in the walls. Most antennas will work better if not to close to such conductors. Even better if they can be outside of such a conducting (even partial) box, i.e.; outdoors, as we see with TV antennas. But there is a trade off between getting better signal by putting the antenna "over there" or "out there", and the losses in the "feed line" connecting the antenna to the receiver. So try the simple things first. With FM, once the signal is good enough to get rid of the static, it's not worth trying for more. And I only rarely listen to AM, unless you want to count SSB on the ham bands. But that's a whole other kettle of fish.

I listen to AM radio all the time to get local news and events. I also listen to FM, Shortwave, and 2 Meter Amateur Radio.

I have a Weingard dedicated fm antenna,30 bucks,hooked to a vintage receiver and its awesome!

You can also use a paper clip as an antenna for coaxial inputs, although it would only pick up strong signals. Speaker wire can be used for coaxial inputs by using a balun adapter.

I listen to radio differently than most people. I don't listen to radio to hear the closest radio station in my area. I listen to the radio to try to get the furthest stations i can possilbly get. I have a 4 1/2 foot copper wire vertically tied to a screw in my room. I can get radio stations 130-160 miles daily. Sometimes up to 200, I enjoy Dxing FM radio. I can safely say that I CAN get 160 miles daily on radio unlike TV, where 40-60 miles is the best I can do. The best FM antenna is one placed vertically because you can get stations in every direction. Straight up in the air catches signals 360 degrees. I build my own FM antennas.

AM is perfect for talk radio. I listen to it every morning for news, weather and sports. I seriously doubt it is as dead as you say. Of course, for music, I switch to FM.

I listen mainly to AM. First, even oldies stations, keep in mind that music recordings were made back in the 50s and 60s with the thought that they'd be played on AM stations and were tailored as such. They sound good on a good quality AM receiver. Remember the old chest high console AM receivers of the 1940's? They sounded great on AM. At one time, car radios sounded great on AM, manufactures now have played around with the AM band on car radios to try to supress static and ended up ruining AM in car radios. I also think talk radio on AM sounds softer than FM. I have the option in this area to hear a talk station on AM and simulcast on FM, I prefer the AM. I'm also a DXer from way back and still enoy that, it's a nightly occurance not just e-skip as FM, which is limited basically to certain times mainly in the summer months. Additionally, I spend a considerable amount of time in the Adirondacks, my radio with a loop such as a Terk AM Loop alongside gets me stations from all over. All one needs to do is place the loop in close proximity to the AM radio to passively RF couple it.

This Ant.Man is out of this world. Loved it all. And his home stereo is way beyond "classic". Thats a killer set up. Great. Thanks.

Hey, great video. I have a question. What kind of (if any) FM signal amplifiers do you recomend? I mean a small powered box whitc is connected in the FM antenna port and antenna is conected in that box. I am asking, because I want to listen a lot of FM radiostations but the transmitter is 60 km away and my plug-in wire is recieveng a lot of static and I have no option to put a outdoor antenna (local radiostations are coming through crystal clear). I am using Sony AM/FM reciever STR-DE675

AM is mainly useful for talk-radio and sports radio listeners, at least where I'm at. The very few music stations are usually Spanish language, not my thing. As for FM, I suppose an outdoor antenna is especially useful if you have an HD radio tuner.

I still listen to AM, albeit in the wee hours of the morning on the way to work for news, weather, and the like (WBZ 1030 Boston). Trip back home, or other trips, FM. AM still has the ability to go very far with low power. WBZ is a 50KW station, can easily be picked up over the Canadian border, and maybe in your area (it can hit PA). Granted, the noise and blocking can be bad, but in an emergency, an AM station may be working where the FM one isn't, being AM travels farther, it might be out of harm's way. That depends though.

Any tips/hope to increase automobile FM signal using an internal antenna? Would installing a splitter with two internal antennas off of the stereo deck run in two opposite directions help/hinder?

I had a 1990 Dodge that could get AM stereo. It was short lived. Many years ago, I had a Radio Shack "twin drive" FM antenna. It worked pretty good.

I believe Rush Limbaugh is the most listened to radio personality (AM)

Great video! I’ve always wondered about FM antennas. I still listen to AM everyday, I’d hate to loose my hometown am station that’s really an important part of our community. I sometimes wonder what will happen when the owners retire. I do listen to FM when I leave town but I usually cant find anything to land on so I mostly just listen to “scan.”

Love how The Antenna Man has a picture of Mike The Mailman! Great stories! Love AM radio! And FM!

Thanks Tyler, you got any tips on improving reception for car stereos? I noticed that reception is very bad while traveling up or down the mountain. I just thought that reception gets better the higher the elevation. As for AM, maybe you're right that it's dead or dying. I can't remember the last time I listened to AM station in the car. Back in the day, KNBR 680 and KGO 810 were the stations i listened to all day.

Listen to AM all the time

It's a shame that SW has sort of fallen away. It was fun to see what you could pull in. AM is still interesting if you're trying to get distant stations.

Thanx very much for the video, Please tell if computers can affect the FM signals radio stations.

Hi, I ordered the Superbat antenna linked in your description. I was wondering if a 6 foot coaxial and a 6 foot length from the antenna together would be bad? Since it is about 12 feet.

Really liked this FM video. You should do more. Also what about how transmitters work and things like that?

Damm I listen to AM. But for mostly sports and sometimes news. I am kind of done though with most major sports now so oh well. But I think maybe sports and sport talk keeps AM alive.

I have a vintage Marantz 2270 with different plugs in back. Any recommended antenna for that design you can recommend?

Tyler, I have an older Kenwood Receiver in my outside Metal building. What should i try and get to hookup FM stations. I see A 75 plug and al;sop two wire connectors. You think Speaker wire will work for me or should i go outside!

With those AM loop antennas I've found that removing the wire from the plastic holder and unwrapping it to make a larger loop greatly improves reception. This large loop can then be fixed to the wall with painters tape.

I still listen to AM and short wave too

I love am radio. I really enjoy the nighttime listening more, as you can pick up stations over 1000 miles away. Here in California, WHO 1040 comes in pretty good on winter nights. The rest of the year, it’s there on good radios with internal 200mm antennas, but not easy to hear. Am radio is definitely low fi, which is part of its appeal.

Have a little portable RCA cassette radio..no signal. I found the wiring for antenna was coming loose from the control board inside. I fixed that up and it worked great. then I accidently broke off the base of the antenna on top of radio..and it is attached inside . No screw on top to just replace the antenna. What is the best way to get reception again ? I dont think it is possible to replace the antenna. it is an RCA RP 7702 . thank you! I will try some wires in the meantime. I tried earlier today but nothing seemed to be very stable.

My tube radio only picks up AM

My receiver has a "Female 75ohm" connector for the FM antenna - proving to be more difficult to procure. I miss Radio Shack.

What would you suggest for improving a motorcycle FM stereo antenna?

Tyler, My New Sony receiver has a wimpy Single wire FM antenna ( Sony STR-DH190). Would I hook up the single antenna wire coming out of my receiver which is approximately 3-4 feet long to both the wires of the speaker wire? or just one wire? Still cut the speaker wire to 6 feet long? Thanks!

I love AM and I love DX'ing AM too.

Wow! Amazed looking at comments how many still do radio. I am in my 60s and spoiled by new technology. Amazon (yes I have prime) Spotify (free version) and USB port in car. I just cannot do commercials anymore. Also cannot listen to all the mutants jobs calling in to talk radio. Do not even have a tuner in the house and in car USB , sometimes spotify thru phone and some FM (But change channel on comercials but find many stations run comercials at same time). Find most in my sons (2, ages 25 and 33) age bracket never listen to radio. Wife and I have huge lot of CDs and do not have a CD player either except in my truck , her 2018 jeep does not have a CD player. RIP the CDs to MP3 and take flash drive with. Very interesting video, amazed at how many still do radio especially AM.

I used to do on am radio back when I was a young man. I switched to fm later to do my dxing on. That brings back memories Tropospheric ducting. We used to call that skip.

Thanks again Tyler! You Rock!