There are still a few more high quality broadcast microphones that we have yet to cover in this series of articles on the Modesto Radio Museum website. Shure had a couple of popular mics with radio broadcasters; the Models SM-5 and SM-7.

The Shure SM-5 was originally developed in 1966 as a motion picture and TV overhead boom mic. It had a huge foam windscreen and a swivel yoke bracket that were particularly adapted for this type of use. Soon radio broadcasters discovered this mic was an excellent model for radio control rooms that gave an announcers voice a full bodied tone. The big windscreen was also a big advantage in preventing “P” popping and other breath noises when used closeup like most announcers seemed to want to do! The SM-5 was a dynamic cardioid unit with a relatively flat frequency response. With the large foam windscreen removed the mic unit itself is relatively small and looks similar to the famous Shure SM-7. A later updated version was the SM-5B. I dare say that this mic got far more use in radio than it ever did as a movie or TV boom mic!



