101.9 in NYC sounds like a Train Wreck

[satech]

101.9 is using a new tag line this morning: "New York's one and only FM all-news station..."

Gee, I wonder who they're trying to imitate there...

 

[WNTIRadio]

They DID finally fix their audio processing. For awhile it sounded like the left over "laid back" settings from RXP. The source to source consistency and vocal punch is far better this morning. Much smoother sounding going to Metro Traffic and reports from the field. Sounds more like a "news" station now (at least from the audio processing standpoint) than a music station with extended talk breaks.

 

[FLjack2]

So, one poster wants it to be 1978 again...

Sirius/XM channel 15 disco music classics from the days of Studio 54 and a mix with cuts used on the old Disco 102 would easily get the MILF's their trying to appeal to. That train wreck programing fiasco their pushing should be used as torture instead of waterboarding. Never had so many people ask me if I heard the new channel 15. It's like startup days of the original disco 92 WKTU. Good work Sirius. It should have happened sooner.

And another wants it to be 1983 and "Nothing but Love Songs..."

I hope if Merlin doesn't get the job done in the first few weeks, they would either go back to smooth jazz or bring back WPIX-FM since it left back in 1989 for smooth jazz. I've never listened to WPIX-FM since the 80's as a kid, it was a soft AC station playing Air Supply, Melissa Manchester, Christopher Cross, Joe Cocker and a few artists that you remembered from back in the 80's when WPIX-FM was a great station before smooth jazz came along.

WPIX-FM a great station? The home of "Format of the Month?" PIX-FM couldn't make anything work until the early 90's with smooth jazz. Speaking of smooth jazz...

It's not coming back. It just isn't. Smooth jazz isn't looking forward, it's a niche format and not a money maker. It's called commercial radio for a reason, and smooth jazz isn't commercially viable.

Also, comparing the heavily leveraged Inner City to Merlin is apples and oranges. Inner City bought properties at their highest prices, and the revenue isn't there to support the debt. Merlin got relative bargains, and 2 weeks of programming isn't enough to say whether or not they can make money.

I'm telling you... Haters wanna hate, but I say you've gotta give the station a year. Can anyone show me a 100% local 24/7 spoken word format that launched without growing pains?

WHERE IS THE 'LIKE' BUTTON ON HERE?! AMEN

 

[Holland Cooke]

Radio that "sounds like" Facebook might be a big hit in this atmosphere.

That'd be "Talk Radio" if the format wasn't dominated by Rush-wanna-be's in "I-talk-you-listen" mode, and thinking that listeners are obsessed with politics.

Thanks to PPM, we'll know soon how this experiment is doing.

 

[Roger That]

Thanks to PPM, we'll know soon how this experiment is doing.

Not exactly. Of course the ratings will be awful to begin with. They just churned their entire cume, going from a music-based male station to a spoken word female station. Anyone who thinks that the first month or two of ratings will 1) be an indicator of its eventual success, or 2) be a catalyst for Randy & Co to bail on the idea, simply shows ignorance of what they're trying to do. I'm sure people will be excited to armchair program some more when the first batch of ratings come out and pile on about how badly the idea sucks because it doesn't fit their narrow view of what radio should be.

The person that talked about the catch-22 of trying something new was dead on. Everyone claims they want someone to try something different, and then when it's done, they spend the entire time whining about how it doesn't sound like everything else. Combine that with the technical and logistical issues associated with starting a brand new company (which didn't even technically exist until the day the LMA started), and you've got a perfect storm of complications that few on these boards seem to be able to grasp.

Not defending the current product...it's pretty awful, but the only world that the first few months of a format matters to is the radio nerd world.

 

[Bugsy]

101.9 is using a new tag line this morning: "New York's one and only FM all-news station..."

WOW!! Now THAT outta fix it!!

 

[erwin33]

They DID finally fix their audio processing. For awhile it sounded like the left over "laid back" settings from RXP. The source to source consistency and vocal punch is far better this morning. Much smoother sounding going to Metro Traffic and reports from the field. Sounds more like a "news" station now (at least from the audio processing standpoint) than a music station with extended talk breaks.

Do you know what they are using? The streaming audio is still horrible...

 

[erwin33]

I listen again online and it sounds like they changing something indeed, also on the stream everything sounded more on one level. Also that 'ice in glass' imaging for traffic and weather. Before it jumps of my speakers too loud.

Edit: well, not all the time but I hope they put the kinks out of the cables.

 

[erwin33]

It sounded like some reports are recorded louder than the other. Strange that there are no rules for it at the station.

 

[BarryATL]

Apparently, levels are a common problem for some other news folks too. I listen to the CBS Radio News Network app quite a bit. I play it through my car radio. They obviously send raw, unprocessed audio to their server that records the broadcasts for the app. Listening to the top of the hour network is sometimes just painful. A reporter will blast my speakers and then I have to turn it up to hear the anchor. I have found that some of the anchors run their boards too hot consistently and others run low but drive the recorded items too hot.

Bottom line, even a heritage broadcaster has trouble with very experienced personnel. I am just wondering if running good board levels is even a priority any longer.... do they all just depend on processing nowadays?

 

[TheBigA]

I am just wondering if running good board levels is even a priority any longer.... do they all just depend on processing nowadays?

You're assuming there's a board involved.

 

[Element9]

How the fark difficult is it to limit audio to -3dB in Adobe, Audacity, Saw or ProTools, even without crunching, brick-walling it or clipping it? Apparently no audio/production standards have been set or they're being ignored. What the hell, standards are so old school-WCBS-WINS-AM-radio-like. BTW, what News station will New York, NJ and Connecticut turn to when hurricane Irene snakes it's way up the shore? My bet is the big signal AM news legacies, WCBS and WINS.

 

[davideduardo]

My bet is the big signal AM news legacies, WCBS and WINS.

Speaking of WCBS, what is the elevation of the building on the island vs. the projected storm surge? For that matter, what is the possiblity of flooding and high water in the Meadowlands and how high above current water levels are the different transmitter buildings there?

I would imagine that CBS has plans to put storm coverage on some or all the FMs in the event that AM sites are impaired. I've been through hurricanes elsewhere that became FM opportunities to serve when the AM sites in the market all went under water.

 

[davideduardo]

It sounded like some reports are recorded louder than the other. Strange that there are no rules for it at the station.

When KFI in LA added HD (this is not an HD merit / demerit thread) the HD audio had levels all over the place and wide ranges of quality that were not evident on the analog audio. It took them months and months to deal with the issues of dueling codecs in the digital feed; by the time the different codecs hit the HD encoder, they created dreadful artifacts and quality. Perhaps 101.9 is still working on all the audio issues that they did not have as a music station?

 

[milton77]

I would imagine that CBS has plans to put storm coverage on some or all the FMs in the event that AM sites are impaired. I've been through hurricanes elsewhere that became FM opportunities to serve when the AM sites in the market all went under water.

I'm just speculating. But, I hope that CBS decides to temporarily simulcast WINS or WCBS on an FM station Saturday, going into Sunday. Since I'm busy saying "what if". On Sunday the Yankees & Mets both play just after 1pm, Yankees are scheduled to be in Baltimore - Mets at Home. The Mets game will be a rain out, *if* the weather is decent enough to play a game in Baltimore, perhaps they might shift the Yankees game over to WFAN, in another sure sign of the apocalypse.

 

[ercjncpr]

OK, I'm in southern California, I just listened to your 101.9 News online....I did not know that NYC radio stations hired kindergartners as PDs or news announcers ;D. I hope that Merlin changes formats soon, for all your ears sake back there. And btw, sincere best of luck with Irene.

 

[radioman148]

OK, I'm in southern California, I just listened to your 101.9 News online....I did not know that NYC radio stations hired kindergartners as PDs or news announcers ;D. I hope that Merlin changes formats soon, for all your ears sake back there. And btw, sincere best of luck with Irene.

Try 101.1 in Chicago and you'll get a bigger laugh.

 

[satech]

Another new tag line on 101.9 today: "...coverage that wins on clarity"!

 

[Holland Cooke]

RE "...coverage that wins on clarity!"

Just reading that, don't you...see B.S.?

Get it?
"See B.S.?"
"See B.S.?"

 

[johndavis]

Bottom line, even a heritage broadcaster has trouble with very experienced personnel. I am just wondering if running good board levels is even a priority any longer.... do they all just depend on processing nowadays?

Nowadays? We could be having this discussion 30 years ago and still be complaining about people not watching their levels. That's as much of a constant in radio as lousy wages and getting fired.