Bad Radio Reception - 02 A4 B6

have had really poor radio reception for years. I thought I just lived in places with bad radio. Turns out, I have a problem. My dad owns an A4 too (01 B5). We had our cars in the same spot. He got over 20 channels. I got 4. We started messing around with the wires behind the radio. Here is what we found:

1) The radio will not turn on unless seated into the bracket in some capacity. Is this normal?
2) We somehow played with the wires so that I could get all the radio stations. Seated the radio, then I drove off. I shut the car off 5 minutes later. Turned it back on - Only those 4 radio stations again. We think it has to do with grounding the radio, but we have no idea what to do now. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!