Common broadcast cartridges?

Every once in a while someone will mention a cartridge that found itself into the broadcast industry, I think like the Denon 103?

Got me to thinking what the most common cartridges used for broadcasting might have been.

Also, what makes a good broadcast cartridge? The ability to back-cue? Anything else?

 

a lot of Shure V15s and Stanton 551 and 881s in the 1980s.

 

Stanton 600 and Shure SC39 are both ones I regularly use and enjoy. Often overlooked, and stylus are more readily available than some.

 

When dealing with broadcast equipment robustness, reliability and predictability are always the big factors. Something that will stand up to a lot of hard use (even abuse at times) and still keep on going is what's needed. The golden rule is always "Keep the music playing" and where pickups are concerned, various designs from Shure, EMT, Stanton, Pickering and Audio-technica were and I think still are the usual go to items to make this happen.

 

Cueing without burn is essential for stations that didn't cart up a short top 40 rotation, and so you get something that current cartridges lack in advertising because they don't have it (except the Denon) - "highly polished diamond".

Denon was not really "widely used in broadcasting" like they claim though, as its moving coil means no stylus replacement and low output. Also cost. Ruggedized with higher tracking weight is the criteria, so the midnight-shift stoner that spins Led Zep won't break the needle or make on-air skips when the console is bumped. The thing has to be reliable and infallible to keep playing when going to the record basement or to take readings.

(These days the playlist is cut-and-paste from corporate headquarters into the computer automation that provides the web stream with art and referral links and tracks royalties, and is remoted to the transmitters of sound-alike stations, with air talent getting paid an hour per station for tracking an entire shift.)

 

Probably only used in Japan. American radio stations would've likely stuck with Stanton or Shure cartridges, AFAIK.