Best radio facilities?

[Onesimus]

Most of us who have seen the Emmis palace would agree it's probably the nicest in the state, but which stations would you put on your "honorable mention" list? The new WSBT studios are very impressive. I was shocked about fifteen years ago when I toured WMPI in Scottsburg. I guess I was expecting a total dump because of the building it's in, but the studio equipment was as nice as anything in Indy. Cumulus/Indy and Clear Channel/Indy both have excellent studio gear. The K-Love studios on Knue Rd. are nice, but I'll always have a soft spot for that building.

 

[fybush]

I'm not a Hoosier, but I spend enough time driving around the state to escape the in-laws in Fort Wayne that I feel qualified to weigh in here. The new WSBT digs are indeed very, very nice...as is FedMed's Planet Radio around the corner. I know they're not there anymore, but the WSTO studios in downtown Evansville circa 2001 were quite nice at the time.

 

[NoMoreMornings]

I'm not a Hoosier, but the WSTO studios in downtown Evansville circa 2001 were quite nice at the time.

I'm sure in 2001 that the Brill Media bankruptcy trustee thought so. too. The WSTO studio's gone and so is Brill. Mr. Fybush, the next time someone posts a topic asking about the best radio facilities from a decade ago, we all hope that you'll chime in. Do you have any thoughts on the topic at hand and a control room from this century?

 

[Ken Tucky]

I'm not a Hoosier, but the WSTO studios in downtown Evansville circa 2001 were quite nice at the time.

I'm sure in 2001 that the Brill Media bankruptcy trustee thought so. too. The WSTO studio's gone and so is Brill. Mr. Fybush, the next time someone posts a topic asking about the best radio facilities from a decade ago, we all hope that you'll chime in. Do you have any thoughts on the topic at hand and a control room from this century?

Who dumped in your Wheaties this morning?

 

[long-time-first-time]

Emmis and Entercom have the nicest studios in the state. I haven't been to WSBT, but I've heard it's a palace for a market its size. WTTS was state of the art twenty years ago, but I don't know what it's like now.

Scott Fybush you've been to hundreds of stations. In your opinion, who has the nicest studios in the country?

 

[radioanywhere]

Oasis in FW has made the move from Goshen up to N Coldwater Road. Three new studios...pretty sleek.

 

[radiorob2.0]

My current facilities are very nice. As to be objective let me cast my vote for Susquehanna Indianapolis circa 1999; I know, last century. The facility would still be state of the art today as very little was analog beyond the microphone and transmitter.

 

[fybush]

Scott Fybush you've been to hundreds of stations. In your opinion, who has the nicest studios in the country?

Among commercial stations, it's still hard to beat WGN's Chicago digs - they're starting to show their age, but awfully impressive. The big talk studio in back is even nicer than the fishbowl on Michigan Avenue. Given the financial constraints the big groups are struggling under, most of the newer cluster studio buildouts I've visited in the last few years (CBS and Clear Channel in NYC, CBS in Chicago, CBS and Clear Channel in LA, Clear Channel in Cincy, etc.) have been nice but not spectacularly so. Emmis in Indy more than holds its own against any of them. When you're cramming six or seven or eight stations into one facility, there are only so many ways to do it, and eventually they all start to look pretty similar.

WTOP in Washington stands out in my mind: it was designed by radio people for radio people, as a single-station facility, and they put a lot of thought into making sure the setup perfectly fits the all-news format there.

Among public stations, WNYC in New York, WGBH in Boston and Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul all have relatively new and incredibly impressive studios...but in each case you're really talking about a mini-network operation, not just individual stations. The performance studio at WGBH, designed to hold and record the entire Boston Symphony Orchestra, may be the finest radio performance space in the country right now. (WQXR, under the former NY Times ownership, had a splendid analog plant near Union Square that's now sitting vacant and collecting dust; it had a smaller but wonderfully sweet-sounding performance room, too.)

One that hasn't been mentioned in Indiana, and really ought to be, is WBAA at Purdue. Granted, the studios are all of eight (!) years old, but that Russ Berger design with the floor-to-ceiling glass and the wood floors was, and still is, pretty darned impressive, especially for a relatively small-market station.

I'm still a sucker for history, though: it's as "last century" as it comes, but to me, it doesn't get much better than a place like WHBC in Canton, Ohio - the late-30s Art Deco might be a little run-down now, and the equipment isn't the newest or fanciest, but the place just feels like a radio station, which is more than can be said for most newer studios.

 

[Reportasaurus]

The studios at Indiana Public Radio at Ball State University are pretty impressive. BSU built a palace so they could put David Letterman's name on it, and they accomplished their mission.

The IPR studios are top notch, especially compared to what you might find in commercial operations in markets of the same size. I should know, I've worked in both in the last year, and there's simply no comparison.

Universities can afford to go top shelf, many small commercial operations can't.

 

[Timewarp]

University stations like WBAA, WFIU, and WBST also are manned by live human beings
all the time.
Yes, some of these commercial operators have fine studios. But, just wait. There is
a time change coming soon and many of these stations are automated with computers.

Stations all over Indiana screwed up for weeks after the last time change because no
one was competent or cared to reset the computer clock. This proves it's not what
you got, but how you use it that counts.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Fifteen years ago Vincennes University's John Hitchcock asked me to demonstrate a Roland DM-80 at their facility. Their broadcast department had studios that were built to represent the real world. One room was a basic mixing console (pots), carts and reel representing small market radio. Another room was a little nicer with slide faders and analog multi-track. The new room with the DM-80 obviously leaned state of the art. The whole facility was impressive.

As long as we're talking educational facilities, add WUEV and WPSR Evansville. WUEV has a better control room than some commercial stations. WPSR received a gigantic grant a few years back and built a state of the art facility from microphone to transmitter.

 

[Apollo7979]

University stations like WBAA, WFIU, and WBST also are manned by live human beings
all the time.

Take WBAA (AM & FM) off that list. Last I heard, they automate the overnight hours with prerecorded ID, underwriting, and weather announcements. Musically, WBAA-FM is on the bird in the overnight & afternoon hours with PRM's Classical 24 while the AM is also running a syndicated jazz service in the overnight hours.

They DO have very nice facilities, though.