Finally on the air

[WTUX]

WNWK is finally on the air. Or, at least they have been for three days/

Nothing but Hispanic music (not a bad mix) with station id at :55 and then again 5 minutes later. No commercials, talking, etc.

I have tried listening on 4 different radios. On each, the audio sounds REALLY bad. It reminds me of the old WSSJ in Camden. Music played on cassette players. The audio of WNRK and WAMS was far superior to what these folks are doing.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

I hear what you mean about the sound. Well, I wish them good luck and possibly WNWK Newark will be able to make a go of it serving the Hispanic community in New Castle County. There are a number of Hispanic busnesses around now so there could be a solid base of ad supporters. As the purchasing power of the Hispanic community continues to grow at some point the non-Hispanic businesses might see AM1260 as a viable way to reach that untapped part of the population. It wasn't that many years ago where the black community would be ignored by the white busnesses, but today as their purchasing power has sky rocketed with the advent of a very large black middle class and growing number of weathy blacks major businesses target the black community as well in their advertising. So WNWK's future could be quite good. Time will tell.

 

[650AM]

I heard it too. It is tinny and sounds like crap. Don't they think that Hispanic people would like quality sound also?

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Maybe they don't know how to adjust the equipment, or possibly they literally have a "tin ear" and can't tell how bad it sounds.

 

[WTUX]

The early audio tests I heard featured highly distorted music, apparently the result of over processing. This is far worse. Either they do not know how to adjust the equipment or it is such low grade equipment that nothing can help.

Unless there is improvement, they will not attact any audience. The Latino community listens to cd quality music in their cars and homes. Their places of business most often have piped in music of cd quality. Think they are going to advertise on a station that sounds like crap? No way!

When we had the Latino show on WNRK it had a heavy spot load because it was different AND the music sounded good even on AM. This sound is an insult to the Latino community (like "I can throw any crappy sound on the air and they'll listen").

 

[Radioeng500]

Its a problem with the circuit from Verizon. The owner does not want to spend the money for a broadcast circuit (8k or 15K) so he used a voice grade metering pair.

 

[ixnay]

How does WNWK id? In Spanish ("doble ve ene doble ve eke") or English?

el ixnay
(a viewer of Univision telenovelas but is not fluent in espanol :-[)

 

[WTUX]

Call letters and frequency are given only in Spanish.

 

[DaveWilliams]

When 1380 was running the classical music format from Farley Printings offices to the WILM site, that was on a phone line metering circuit. However, the trick there was using the sane equalizers and matching transformers that the phone company used, which were found at a local hamfest. And as I remember, we used a metering circuit for audio on WCHE from the old studios on Gay Street to the transmitter and had a response out to 12k! If they're sending to hot of a level from the studio then its going to sound like garbage. I'm surprised they didn't spend the money and use the cable/internet set up that was there previously and a lot cheaper to use in the long run. Anyone remember the days when WNRK was louder in Lancaster during the day then the Lebanon station on 1270? The fun days of radio!