# FM Radio vs. FMC (IIRC)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483 "2006-05-05T01:29:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/1 "2006-05-05T01:29:02Z")
When FM radio first came out (just after the dark ages), many radios offered FM and a FMC setting, IIRC. It may have been FMA? Do any SDopers recall this? what was the purpose of this as both “bands” seemed equivalent. Some said the FMC setting got better reception, but I never noticed. Bonus: Also, it seemed only portable (transisiter) radios had this setting…not car or stereo radios. Why? - Jinx 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/2 "2006-05-05T03:03:04Z")
Hmmm. I remember the buttons for FMM (monaural) and FMS (stereo) but not FMA or FMC. Are you sure those were the right initials? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/3 "2006-05-05T03:11:33Z")
IIRC, the A and B (or whatever they were called) each had half the FM band, much like short wave radios have the short wave broken out into multiple bands. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/4 "2006-05-05T13:38:53Z")
I just want to confirm **Jinx** ’s partial memory with my partial memory. I recall my first transistor had an AM, FM, and FM(something). The FM band was not split up and I never figured out what the FM(something) was for. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/5 "2006-05-05T13:54:23Z")
I think there was AM, FM, and AFC. AFC wasn’t a separate band, but rather a mode where FM stations “locked in,” instead of needing to be precisely tuned. You used regular FM for more distant stations, where the AFC locking would normally lock in a stronger local station in its place. Digital tuning made AFC obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/6 "2006-05-05T14:54:15Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > I think there was AM, FM, and AFC. AFC wasn’t a separate band, but rather a mode where FM stations “locked in,” instead of needing to be precisely tuned. You used regular FM for more distant stations, where the AFC locking would normally lock in a stronger local station in its place. > > Digital tuning made AFC obsolete. I remember _that_ acronym and feature. (Not FMC or the other variants listed in prior posts). AFC was "Automatic Frequency Control’, I think, and our “stereo” (enormous wooden piece of furniture, with AM/FM tuner, amplifier, turntable, reel-to-reel tape, and a pair of speakers embedded in it) had AFC on the settings dial. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/7 "2006-05-05T19:33:39Z")
My Zenith Allegro stereo system has this setting as well. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/8 "2006-05-05T19:34:01Z")
I can’t think what the name for it was, but some of those old console hi-fis had a mode for stereo reception where one channel was on an AM station and the other channel was on an FM station. Obviously, this didn’t last long before FM stereo multiplex broadcasting was figured out, and it wasn’t overly popular because one channel sounded good and the other sounded like, well, AM radio. ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fm-radio-vs-fmc-iirc/355483/9 "2006-05-06T01:14:08Z")
My [Grundig S-350](http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/3500.html) that I bought a year or so ago has FM-AFC. I leave it off when I’m listening to a weak station, since it tends to drift towards more powerful signals if it’s on.