CBS Radio Engineering: Step Up Your Game

[LenoxAve]

After months of listening to atrocious and increasingly worse audio on CBS-FM (muddy, distorted, entire parts of songs inaudible), I've also noticed fairly muddy and muffled audio on 92.3 and Fresh. I understand the need to want to not be obnoxiously bright and loud, but the sound coming out of CBS Radio's NYC FM stations is not good. Listen to the competition up and down the dial, and it sounds better. KTU, Lite, Z100, PLJ, Nash-fm all sound better.

CBS-FM is by far the worst offender and getting worse. The added reverb makes everything sound terrible. I heard "Dance to the Music" earlier, and there were parts of the song that were so distorted and clipped that they were not even audible. By far the worst sounding major market FM I've ever heard.

How does no one notice?

 

[bigtom101]

I think Nash FM sounds worse, but in a different way - overmodulated and boxed in that sounds too compressed. Only on a few radios does it sound OK (Sony HD tuners and mod monitors).

Agree with you on all other points - the reverb isn't set up right, and sounds more like the NINE tape than the smooth WABC or New Jersey 101.5. It's been said before, and I'll say it again - pay Mike Erickson to come up and restore the audio to where he had it in 2010.

 

[erwin33]

I think Nash FM sounds worse, but in a different way - overmodulated and boxed in that sounds too compressed. Only on a few radios does it sound OK (Sony HD tuners and mod monitors).

Agree with you on all other points - the reverb isn't set up right, and sounds more like the NINE tape than the smooth WABC or New Jersey 101.5. It's been said before, and I'll say it again - pay Mike Erickson to come up and restore the audio to where he had it in 2010.

+1, totally agree.

 

[LenoxAve]

I think Nash FM sounds worse, but in a different way - overmodulated and boxed in that sounds too compressed. Only on a few radios does it sound OK (Sony HD tuners and mod monitors).

Agree with you on all other points - the reverb isn't set up right, and sounds more like the NINE tape than the smooth WABC or New Jersey 101.5. It's been said before, and I'll say it again - pay Mike Erickson to come up and restore the audio to where he had it in 2010.

Nash is extremely compressed, but it is still (to me) more tolerable than CBS-FM. Passing through Central Jersey and Middlesex County recently, it is astonishing how in areas where CBS-FM was once dominant, B101 in Philly now causes interference. It makes CBS-FM unlistenable. I feel that this is a contributing factor to their slipping ratings in Middlesex-Somerset-Union. The station is programmed well.

While Lite-FM is still not great, it sounds like they have tweaked their audio a bit to make it cleaner. It still has a ways to go, however. I heard Howie Day's "Collide" the other day, and some of the background vocals were completely drowned out.

 

[Bill790]

Passing through Central Jersey and Middlesex County recently, it is astonishing how in areas where CBS-FM was once dominant, B101 in Philly now causes interference. It makes CBS-FM unlistenable.

Is this really recent or does it date back to the introduction of the HD side channels?

 

[LenoxAve]

Passing through Central Jersey and Middlesex County recently, it is astonishing how in areas where CBS-FM was once dominant, B101 in Philly now causes interference. It makes CBS-FM unlistenable.

Is this really recent or does it date back to the introduction of the HD side channels?

Recent enough, and definitely AFTER the introduction of HD. It appears there is a direct relation to the muddy audio processing (that makes CBS-FM get lost in static much more easily) and the bleed over from B101 in Philly. It now happens much further than it used to. That in and of itself should get CBS-FM's attention.

 

[WNTIRadio]

In FM, the processing has nothing to do with the interference between B-101 and CBS-FM. It's all based on, and works on signal strength ratios and the capture ratio of your radio.

Whether a station is modulating 100% or 10%, the power output is the same. The only advantage to balls to the wall audio is that it stays above the noise floor the further out you get in the coverage area. It wouldn't affect a second co-channel station interfering. You may just be noticing it more because of the jump in level.

That said, I think Nash is way too compressed for me to listen to for any length of time. It sound so squashed it gets boomy and muddy on the low end. Highs are smeary, and not crisp. Back to CBS, their AMs sound great. 660, 880 and 1010 all are punchy, and 660 is even better since they turned off the HD (hashbox) and let the audio back out to NRSC response. 101.9 sounds decent, as does Fresh. I don't know what it is with 101.1 that it just doesn't sound "right". The reverb is ALL wrong. In the old days of 101.5, it was an Orban spring reverb unit doing the honors. Used one at Jukebox Radio too, very smooth sounding reverb. Have no idea what's over at 101.5 right now, but it sounds right. A "dark" sounding reverb, not too bright and doesn't react to the sibilant sounds on mic.

 

[LenoxAve]

Good to know about BEB and CBS-FM.

Reverb seems to be off or dialed back significantly this morning. Sounds like someone can't make up their mind. Amateur hour! I bet so many people could make this station sound better.