I'm in Stamford, CT, so the best sounding stations I pick up are 95.1
WRKI up in Brookfield, CT, 96.3WQXR classical - NYC, 99.1 PLR in New
Haven, Q104.3 from NYC, and 106.7light FM, Lon GIsland.

106.7 "Lite FM" WLTW has commendable dynamic range for a major-market
AC station, but their audio quality is let down by the horrible
digital compression artifacts in their music, which is stored as
low-quality 192 kbps MP2 files on their computer system. Especially
on songs with intense treble content, the "gritty", "sizzly",
"twinkly" artifacts are prominent enough that you can even hear them
on a clock radio with a 3-inch speaker. On a hi-fi stereo system,
WLTW sounds even worse, as the low-end "grunge" and distortion typical
of a clipping-happy Optimod or Omnia become obvious.

Of course, commercials sound the worst on just about all radio
stations these days, because of the multiple digital compression
schemes they are put through. By the time they get on the air, some
sound as bad as a 32 kbps MP3 or WMA file.

Stations that play their music direct from CD and their liners and
commercials from carts (yes, I said CARTS), and who don't use any
digitally compression in the link between their studio and their
transmitter, generally have the CAPABILITY to sound the best, as long
as their audio processing is up to par and was adjusted by somebody
with an ear for crisp, clear, dynamic sound with accurate stereo, no
distortion, and no clipping "grunge".

Of course, there's no reason why *AM* stations can't sound great,
either, as long as you're using a high-quality radio, such as the
popular GE Superadio III or one of the many car radios with AM Stereo.
A well-designed, well-processed AM Stereo signal can easily meet or
exceed all of the performance specifications of typical FM stations,
and many listeners consider it to sound even better than FM because of
the different type of processing that AM Stereo stations use. The CRL
"Amigo AM" is the best-sounding AM Stereo audio processor, with the
older CRL units a close second. The Optimod 9100 series is also very
good for AM Stereo, but tends to lean towards maximum loudness instead
of maximum quality.

Here's a little MP3 sample of an AM Stereo station using
well-configured CRL processing, as received on a $29.99 Sony AM Stereo
Walkman. You may laugh, but I think you'll find the sound to be
surprisingly crisp and clear, with good Stereo imaging:

http://tinyurl.com/hmtm

Even better are some of the powerful AM Stereo stations in JAPAN, such
as 100,000-watt JOLF on 1242 kHz in Tokyo:

ftp://ftp.amstereoradio.com/aircheck...n/jolfclip.mp3

Of course, AM and FM's audio quality both pale in comparison to *TV*
audio, which at least with all-analog broadcast signals, can sound
much better, because there's generally no "loudness wars" on TV. If
you have a stereo TV or VCR hooked up to a good stereo system, you'll
be amazed by just how good it can sound, particularly for music. TV
audio also gives you Dolby Surround Sound from many programs, which is
virtually unheard of on the radio (the closest thing were the few
"Quadraphonic" FM stations in the '70s).