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Best and worst sounding stations in WNY; The technical side

I'll tell you who's audio impresses the Hell out of me in WNY, and that's Q107 out of Toronto. Loud and clean - from 60 air miles away.

I'll also tell you who the biggest disappointment is - Star 102.5. They used to be loud and clean. Now they're loud and badly
overcompressed.
 
For AM hands down the worst is 1520 KB, what is their deal? They have been running at maybe 40 percent modulation for weeks now. Fix it or turn it off. The worst for FM is something that few even hear and that it 102.5 HD2 running WBEN audio out of phase mono. That is very strange sounding. I have one more bad FM and that would be 101.1 WFLZ from Niagara/St Cath has an audio buzz all the time.
Best AM is a tough one. I like deep bass and at one time 1520 was the best. Funny now they are the worst! I guess I do not have a best AM. For FM, WNED FM sounds best to me although I don't listen to it much. I agree that Star102.5 is very loud and I would bet over limit. Oh FCC!!!
 
SirRoxalot said:
I'll tell you who's audio impresses the Hell out of me in WNY, and that's Q107 out of Toronto. Loud and clean - from 60 air miles away.
Click to expand...

I would make an educated guess on why Q107's audio is so good compared to most everyone else and that's that they use the flagship processor from the 'other' O big company. Without getting too deep in the engineering weeds, I installed and adjusted an Omnia 11 on a mom and pop FM many hundreds of miles from WNY about a year ago. It is flat out an amazing box and I speculate one is in use on Q107. Buffalo stations sound like they because it has always been an Optimod market while Toronto isn't a market that's stuck to one company just because they've always used their gear.

And based on what I heard the last time I was in town, I agree with other sentiments about the poor audio on the Entercom stations. Back in the day they were the best sounding (during the time of a very different engineering regime) and it's sad how they sound now.
 
When judging processing, I pay attention to the way microphones sound as well as the music. The combination of mic processing and station processing can present challenges. Add to this the way jocks use a microphone and the type of mics that may be in place and it gets more complicated. (CHR had its shouters, Progressive and Jazz had its lip smackers and heavy breathers and Talk had its hosts on the other side of the room.) Also, there's the way production guys/ladies process the commercials.

All things taken into account, Jazz FM 91.1 Toronto gets a nod from this listener for nicely processed audio that cuts through without being harsh. Q-107 sounds bold and up front, without distortion and excessive clipping, but the mics sometimes sound crunchy. ("Crunchy?" What the hell is crunchy?) From what I've been told and seen, a number of Buffalo FMs are using Omnia processors, some use the latest Optimod processors and there still may be a few older Optimods in combination with other black boxes like Texars and/or Compellors in the chain that sound pretty good. I know jocks aren't fond of the slight delay (totally different than the delay associated with HD) that often results from digital processors. It takes a while to get used to. It's been my experience that any processor can be made to sound pretty ugly if it's not properly set up.

As to AM, I'm sometimes surprised at how good some of the country classics sound on WXRL AM 1300, as well as the Oldies/Standards on AM 740. Many of us in Buffalo are fortunate to have worked over the years with good (if not great) engineers who listen, understand and can explain the intricacies of processing as it applies to different formats and applications. This is often not the case in other markets (larger and smaller) where engineers, VPs and PDs think they know everything about processing and impose their will on the equipment.
 
Thank you so much, Ed. We do take pride in our signal. As far as KB goes - did I read somewhere they're trying controlled-carrier modulation to save on the electric bill for their 50kw rig? I wonder if so, if it's problematic?
 
Bob, is that the same a modulation dependent carrier level? That's what WBT is using on their new Nautel transmitter and it sounds fine. Maybe KB is trying to do this on a Harris and having a problem?
 
There are a couple different versions. But the premise is the same - instead of generating a constant RF carrier to which modulation is added, the carrier is only present during the delivery of audio. This allows some savings in power consumption; I've heard conflicting claims about just how much more efficient controlled-carrier is compared with traditional AM. I know it's been used, with success claimed, with AMs in Alaska where the technique was authorized experimentally for several years. But you can put me solidly in the "skeptical" column on this one. Alaska is not typical of the RF environment in which most US AM exist. Especially in the northeast there is a lot more QRM & QRN. I've got to think that the absence of the quieting provided by a constant carrier is going to allow a lot more annoying noise to come through - and, as we all know, "an annoying noise annoys an oyster."
 
The technique was used as far back as the '60s or earlier in transmitters which were close to the limit of power dissipation rating for their tubes. (I had a Heathkit ham transmitter that used it.) I guess it could have similar application in solid state, but the savings on the power bill is more plausible.
 
Controlled-carrier AM was used in ham rigs and even in some phono oscillators. But of course with civilian gear, the savings came from economical design in terms of parts saved instead of power saved. The stuff was usually designed to be cheaper, eliminating components like transformers and tubes.
 
As I run around the dial, the best AM I think is CFZM. It is double processed and sounds very clean. The worst AM is WWKB. The best FM is 104.5 out of Canada, and the worst is WTSS.
 
For all the criticism of how wretched Star 102.5 may be, Kiss 98.5 sounds pretty good for a CHR that more than likely plays over-processed music from the music labels. Within the last week while driving around Clarence and East Amherst I noticed that WWKB sounds better. The modulation was improved and the audio was cleaner. Maybe it was the programming. With all the hubbub about how nasty WWKB has sounded, nobody's mentioned WBEN, which at times sounds muddy and distorted. Then again, it could be the way the news anchors and air talent use the equipment.
 
Element9 said:
For all the criticism of how wretched Star 102.5 may be, Kiss 98.5 sounds pretty good for a CHR that more than likely plays over-processed music from the music labels. Within the last week while driving around Clarence and East Amherst I noticed that WWKB sounds better. The modulation was improved and the audio was cleaner. Maybe it was the programming. With all the hubbub about how nasty WWKB has sounded, nobody's mentioned WBEN, which at times sounds muddy and distorted. Then again, it could be the way the news anchors and air talent use the equipment.
Click to expand...

I'm wondering if the Bisons complained about the poor sound of WWKB. It may just be coincidence. But KB's audio was back at normal levels when I tuned in the Bisons last weekend. While on the topic of the Bisons, let me say how much I enjoy listening to Ben Wagner and Duke Maguire calling a game. It may be Triple A. But Bisons' games on the radio are a pleasure to hear.
 
Element9 said:
For all the criticism of how wretched Star 102.5 may be, Kiss 98.5 sounds pretty good for a CHR that more than likely plays over-processed music from the music labels.
Click to expand...

I remember back in the late 1990's when 102.5 had some of the best audio I've ever heard on FM. 102.5 had bright, crisp high frequencies with probably the best sounding low-end. It was powerful, boomy - but not muddy, overwrought with pumping, or squeezed to the 100% modulation mark. That was not an easy feat to pull off given the technology at the time.

On another note, some of the audio processing companies are working on audio restoration algorithms for over processed audio. The concept is to digitally recognize the over processed audio waveforms and try to reconstruct them without being overly compressed or clipped. I've read somewhere that Omnia may be implementing this into their latest box.
 
You read correctly, Brian - the Omnia.9 is essentially a boxed hardware version of Leif Claesson's Breakaway software, which includes some pretty potent de-clipping capability. I'd encourage you to give it a test drive!
 
Tom Atkins was the CE of the Sinclair Radio Buffalo cluster (WBEN, WGR, WWKB, WWWS as well as Kiss and Star) at the time.
 
bmcglynn said:
On another note, some of the audio processing companies are working on audio restoration algorithms for over processed audio. The concept is to digitally recognize the over processed audio waveforms and try to reconstruct them without being overly compressed or clipped. I've read somewhere that Omnia may be implementing this into their latest box.
Click to expand...

That would be the Omnia 9, designed by Leif Claesson who also created the Breakaway processors. The "declipper" is a component from Stereotool which you can download to try at stereotool.com. The Engineering boards have a lot of info on both.

Keeping with the original topic - I'd say Bill Stachowiak has the Townsquare stations sounding pretty good!!
 
Anyone else catch the audio problems that WBEN had yesterday (4/24) during Tom Bauerle's show? And while I am on the topic, something funky was happening with WGR this morning (4/25) in the 8 o'clock hour.
 
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