AM/FM

[SK903]

What year did AM/FM radios become available?

[Bill Young]

1963 was the first year that AM FM radio was offered.

[m-mman]

. . . . and FM stereo started in 1966 as I remember. . . .

The first factory FM receiver offered by any car maker was Lincoln in 1958. It was a box that sat on the transmission hump and had wires going into the AM radio in the dash. Quite rare

[SK903]

Thanks guys for your replies.

[bcroe]

FM was around before the war.  My relative had a radio phono that covered
both the pre war 45MHZ and post war 90MHZ bands.  However squeezing that
into a car is a little more difficult.  Stereo was done with tubes in the 60s, but
is a lot easier with solid state.  Bruce Roe

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

The story of FM is quite a saga. It was the invention of Edwin Howard Armstrong whose life ended tragically after years of lengthy litigation battling RCA and its president, David Sarnoff. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Howard_Armstrong

[stzomah]

Great story Eric.. I'm an Electrical Engineer so maybe that is part of my fascination!  Thanks for sharing...  BTW.. I just bought a RediRad for my AM radio in my 56...