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CBS-FM Audio: Getting Worse, Not Better

L

LenoxAve

Is there a possibility that there is an equipment malfunction or something to that effect?

I listened to the station this morning and caught some of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and had to change to something else. The thumpy, muddy distortion is getting fatiguing. I'd rather sit through WLTW's slightly less awful audio to hear the classic songs they have left in their playlist. On the loudness scale, the station is also softer compared to Philly's B-101, and it seems I can consistently no longer receive it as far south or west as I used to, regardless of weather conditions, tropo, etc.

However, there are bright spots. Musically, the station continues to sound even more focused under Jim Ryan. The music flows better, and there aren't as many tracks that stick out. The new voiceovers sound much more "big time NYC" as well. Just wish they'd wake up and realize how awful the station's audio sounds compared to the rest of the NYC dial.
 
It is amazing how much difference two months can make. I recall about two to three months ago, 101.9FM had the worst audio I've ever heard transmitted over a full-power NYC FM radio station (during the FM News incarnation), meanwhile 101.1FM, while not great, was tolerable. Things have sure changed quickly. Today, I would take 101.9FM any day over the muddied audio chain Jim Ryan's engineer is pushing out of the 101.FM transmitter - and I have.

There is no luster, punch, or resonance. Even when contrasted with CBS's other two NYC FM properties, it sounds inferior. The sound of a radio station is just as important as it's musical focus and on-air talent. It is a package deal, and when one of those elements is ill-tuned, the whole package eventually suffers.

LenoxAve said:
However, there are bright spots. Musically, the station continues to sound even more focused under Jim Ryan. The music flows better, and there aren't as many tracks that stick out. The new voiceovers sound much more "big time NYC" as well.
Click to expand...
I respectfully disagree. What you call "more focused", I call "predictable". I like hearing tracks that stick out every once in a while. That tells me I am listening to a station that will dare to be different while keeping to its core mission. In this case, "Playing New York's Greatest Hits", not Overplaying New York's Tired But Well-Tested Retreads.

BTW, the new voiceovers are the only part of the sound chain that sound half-way decent :p

I realize Jim Ryan has a lot of experience in his field, and his efforts at WLTW during his tenure helped realize generous rewards for the station. But let's also look at the current numbers and then consider this: Ryan has been away from his WLTW post for quite a long time now, and WLTW is still a distant first place atop all of its counterparts. This after many veteran talents were fired by ClearChannel, and the music was gradually shifted and is now not very focused... Hmmmm...
 
@Giacomo: Yes, 101.9 is still fairly muddy, but CBS-FM has to be the worst sounding FM out there. WOGL in Philly also has a noticeable muddy air chain, but it is still cleaner and less distorted than CBS-FM. The jocks' voices sound awful, the cymbals sound swirly and smashed (noticed it especially in the already annoying "Kars 4 Kids" jingle), and the high end is almost nonexistent.

As far as the music, on a day-to-day basis, I don't mind it, but the Top 500 was a fairly disappointing countdown. Nothing really jumped out. WOGL's #1s of the 60s, 70s and 80s A to Z countdown was much more fun. Lots of variety - they really mixed it up! Sad they didn't do the A to Z on 101.1 this year.

@WNTI: "Cloudy" sums it up. Everything sounds muffled. They need some serious help as it seems whoever is the "ears" of the station is sorely out of tune with what good - or even tolerable - audio sounds like.
 
It's gotten to the point where I consider CBS-FM totally unlistenable. While in Southern CT I'll struggle to listen to WDRC-FM from Hartford or I'll just turn to one of the talk stations or CBS-AM 880.

OK, when are they gonna trash the audio on 880?
 
An audio quirk that I've heard mention of on either this board or another city's board:

When tuning in CBS-FM and getting the analog signal for the requisite 5 seconds or so until the HD signal kicks in, I've heard the left and right channel mix get reversed when the switch is made from analog to digital.

It's really noticeable on the older recordings that had greater separation in stereo (certain instruments/voices heard in only one channel).

I'm not sure if this contributes to the overall (lately poor) quality of sound (possible phasing issues?). Likely the left/right stereo reversal is a separate issue from the processing problems noted in this and other threads. If CBS-FM's goal was to make the station sound unique, well, that's certainly been accomplished...for all the wrong reasons.

The processing problems are actually most noticeable on basic monaural radios with no tone controls; higher-end equipment with equalization can be tweaked to make a station sound better than it actually is...to be fair, tweaking can also result in exposing the flaws, too. HD signals sometimes hide problems (not always).
 
if you can't listen on line, people I know are having trouble, go into settings and unblock the pop ups!!!
 
WNTIRadio said:
Mike left and took the good audio with him.
Click to expand...

You ain't kidding. Between Mike's ears and his special Behringer box/Ariane combo in front of the 8500, CBS-FM had the best audio in NYC hands down.

The boxes are still there, but I guess the current CE doesn't see the need for them. They should just buy a AirAura and have Mike come put it on the air and get back to having audio that matches the great programming
 
Don't most of the "boxes" have presets? I "tuned up" a station just by going back to the factory settings on their chain. It wasn't as "loud" but you could listen for more than 15 minutes in headphones with out a headache. The former program director had been making it "sound" better!
 
Agreed! (sigh)

It's REALLY frustrating for someone like me (a broadcast engineer with 30 years experience and a set of the best ears in the business) to hear crap like this - I'd be embarrassed to cash my paycheck.
 
Re: Agreed! (sigh)

LA_Guy said:
It's REALLY frustrating for someone like me (a broadcast engineer with 30 years experience and a set of the best ears in the business) to hear crap like this - I'd be embarrassed to cash my paycheck.
Click to expand...

If only someone like you had the ability to go in there and pick up the pieces! How is it that no one up there notices (or cares)? If that were my work, I would feel embarrassed as well.

I have no technical expertise, but it is by far one of the worst sounding radio stations I have ever heard from a processing standpoint. I have completely turned away from it; it is not enjoyable to listen to music through that muddy mess regardless of programming quality. I'll catch 101.5 in Jersey on weekends for classic hits. Otherwise, I'll scan around the dial elsewhere.

Sadly, I am sure not many listeners really care. What a shame.
 
Also notice they removed the Reverb. Why?? I have to agree with everyone else's comments, I have been noticing how dry CBS'FM's audio is. I was listening tonight and heard Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" followed by Tina Turner "What's Love Got To Do With It" and had to turn it off, I felt like I was listening to Muzak audio from a store speaker. It's flat and lifeless. Are they trying to be NYC's most popular background music station? Maybe we should start posting on their Facebook and Twitter about the audio, if their engineer doesn't read these boards. If the engineer thinks this audio is good, he should be shown the door.
They should take a listen to NJ 101.5 and hear the proper way its done. WITH REVERB.
 
Maybe CBS is handling their processing like Cumulus. So I am told, one person is programming the processing settings for the entire country from one location.
 
It could be one of two things:

1. They're trying to kill it by driving people away with lousy processing.

2. They think their target audience is so deaf that they'd listen to anything.

Either way I've given up on them. I'm working on putting up an antenna at my office to pick up the oldies ... oops, "Classic Hits" station from Hartford.
 
I don't listen anymore either. I keep trying and get frustrated so I give up.
 
Bill DeFelice said:
They think their target audience is so deaf that they'd listen to anything.
Click to expand...

Let's keep this in perspective. The hot music medium of the moment is bit-rate-compressed MP3s recorded at low sampling rates and listened to through microscopic ear buds...about as far from the "hi-fi" of 50 years ago as you can get.

I too hate CBS-FM's audio, but these days there's little or no incentive to improve it because the audience's ears have been so badly dumbed down.
 
dumber than a box of hair said:
Let's keep this in perspective. The hot music medium of the moment is bit-rate-compressed MP3s recorded at low sampling rates and listened to through microscopic ear buds...about as far from the "hi-fi" of 50 years ago as you can get.

I too hate CBS-FM's audio, but these days there's little or no incentive to improve it because the audience's ears have been so badly dumbed down.
Click to expand...

But then why have they been tweaking it constantly if there is no incentive to improve it? Since earlier in the summer, their audio has been tweaked multiple times, each time making it sound even more horrendous. That's what is confusing. They seem to want to change it but keep making it WORSE rather than better.

Obviously someone must think they are making it sound better. But that person or people should not be allowed near a processor anywhere, let alone in market #1. Seems like we have quite a few professionals here who agree.
 
dumber than a box of hair said:
Let's keep this in perspective. The hot music medium of the moment is bit-rate-compressed MP3s recorded at low sampling rates and listened to through microscopic ear buds...about as far from the "hi-fi" of 50 years ago as you can get.

I too hate CBS-FM's audio, but these days there's little or no incentive to improve it because the audience's ears have been so badly dumbed down.
Click to expand...

But CBS-FM's target demo had the nifty hi-fi sound systems in the 60's and 70's....and for those in the car or on a computer system with halfway decent speakers, it's just painful to listen to.

At the very least, put back one of Ericksons presets and start from there. End this madness...
 
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