Re: (no subject given!)

[ultra!corin!keving@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Kevin W. Gurney)]

When I first heard this album on the radio, I thought, "Gee, Live 105
(our local Kate ouTlet) must have transferred this to a really dirty cart, 
because this sure doesn't sound like it's a CD".

Imagine my pain when I bought the CD for myself and played it in my own
CD player.  "Gee," I thought, "something must have suddenly gone wrong 
with my player, because this sure sounds like a dirty cart!".  If I had
bought it on vinyl, I would have replaced my stylus pronto.

After playing it a bit more, I was reminded of my experience with British 
radio during a summer vacation back in 1985. I remember noticing when in 
England that the radio stations sounded much more like American AM stations 
than FM stations - there seemed to be no stereo effect, and the frequency 
range seemed to be somewhat compressed (I know "compression" means something 
else in radio.  What I mean is that the highs and lows seemed to be lacking; 
like when your little brother fucks with your graphic equalizer.)

So, a few questions for our UK readers:

1. Do radio stations in the UK broadcast in stereo?

2. For those of you who have been over the pond, does American FM radio
   sound better to you than the BBC, et al?  By "better", I mean specifically
   having a richer sound with a wider frequency range (in a song, not more
   frequencies on which to broadcast.)

3. If the answer to #1 is "no", and #2 is "yes", does anyone think Kate
   could have tailor produced the sound of TSW for British radio, in much the 
   same way that some film-makers will purposely compose shots for a 
   television set's aspect ratio, which is smaller than that of the bigger 
   screen?  Seems pretty far-fetched, but it's better than suggesting that
   Kate's going deaf in the high frequencies.