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Is WECK about to make news?

I read the article about 1120 WBBF (which will always be WWOL to me!) After reading it I was wondering why Cumulus is even holding on to a 1,000 watt daytimer in Buffalo? How much can it be worth? Why don't they just give it to the Spanish group and take the tax write off?
 
I listened Thursday afternoon; the mix is very good. Seeing as HLD pulled in respectable numbers I see WECK doing the same or better. I thought the quick Fox News at 2pm fit in well followed by a solid-sounding local newscast and weather from WGRZ-TV.
 
The mix? Jack Senior. No standards to speak of during my ride to work today but the music was all over the place. Mostly 60's and 70's that I heard. It WAS good to hear Jerry Reo this morning, though. One of the classic Buffalo radio voices.
 
Maybe it's just me, but the mix seems to be too much all over the place. Trying to appeal to such a wide spectrum '50s, 60's, early 70's may turn out to appeal to no one. The format should have a narrow focus, with some surprises. JMHO.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
I read the article about 1120 WBBF (which will always be WWOL to me!) After reading it I was wondering why Cumulus is even holding on to a 1,000 watt daytimer in Buffalo? How much can it be worth? Why don't they just give it to the Spanish group and take the tax write off?

The bean counters thought that one through all too well, I'm sure. Most likely, they felt that there is still a larger revenue generated in renting out the station than writing the station off.

One of the most beautiful things about the business of American radio is, it may be illegal to own a radio station in the States if you're not from the States, but indeed it is NOT illegal to RENT the station!
As long as that loophole stays present, I'm sure a tax write off is not part of the plan.
(not to assume the current renter is not American, respectfully...)
 
The station is brokered to a local Hispanic group. 1120 WBBF does quite well in the community and at the cash register. Selling brokered time is almost as old as radio itself. Give past management credit for maximizing the potential of a 1 kw AM daytimer without PSA, operating on a clear channel.
 
Listening more today on the way to work. I'm disappointed in the audio quality. Everything has an edge to it, almost on the verge of distortion. Sounds like they got hold of somebody's mp3 collection from the mid 90's. Some tracks sound way too compressed. Why so much processing on FM? It's annoying. AM side is unlistenable. I don't believe music belongs on AM anymore. Unless they bring back bandwidth, AM seems to be a bad bet for anything but talk.
 
Could the sound quality be a function of how the FM translator is fed? Not a tech guy, but I thought the translator had to be fed by on OTA signal from the AM. Is this true? If so, how are they going to put out a decent FM stereo signal from an AM mono feed? Any engineers out there?
 
Translators that are considered "fill-in" translators (i.e., they don't extend the theoretical coverage of the parent station, only fill in gaps in the parent station's coverage) can be fed by any method, whether off-air or not.

AM stations may only be relayed on fill-in translators, and the translator can therefore be fed by any method. I think (but am not 100% certain) that WECK is using a Barix box to get audio from Genesee Street to the HSBC rooftop where the translator is located.
 
average_listener said:
Listening more today on the way to work. I'm disappointed in the audio quality. Everything has an edge to it, almost on the verge of distortion. Sounds like they got hold of somebody's mp3 collection from the mid 90's. Some tracks sound way too compressed. Why so much processing on FM? It's annoying. AM side is unlistenable. I don't believe music belongs on AM anymore. Unless they bring back bandwidth, AM seems to be a bad bet for anything but talk.
Ouch! But an understandable observation. IIRC, the quality of the Breeze music format sounded pretty good on AM and FM.

Just speculating, but any observed inconsistencies may be attributed to "digital compression upon digital compression" compounded by audio processing, which may be exacerbated by "'STL over IP." Not making a pronouncement, again, just speculating.

There are numerous variables in audio processing, including how satellite delivered audio is encoded. The artifacts of digital compression can surface in weird ways. Hard drive space is relatively inexpensive these days, so most operations choose to rip/save/store music, promos and commercials in WAVs rather than high bit rate mp3 form. Some systems encode in mp2. There are operations that store music as WAV, while promos and commercials are saved as mp3. As has been noted elsewhere, some agencies provide commercials at mp3@128k.

It's been argued that "listeners can't hear the difference." Well, they may not be able to put their fingers on it, but they can tell good audio from not so good audio. I've observed that most engineers prefer everything to be saved as WAV on a massive hard drive and backed up on a server. Sometimes that's not possible. Economics all too often dictate tactics and strategy, policy and procedure.
 
The WECK translator is fed via intercity relay WLP255. I haven't heard it recently, but will listen tomorrow while I'm in Buffalo -- and perhaps you'll hear an improvement in audio quality within a few days.

Scott Fybush said:
AM stations may only be relayed on fill-in translators, and the translator can therefore be fed by any method. I think (but am not 100% certain) that WECK is using a Barix box to get audio from Genesee Street to the HSBC rooftop where the translator is located.
 
benson86 said:
Maybe it's just me, but the mix seems to be too much all over the place. Trying to appeal to such a wide spectrum '50s, 60's, early 70's may turn out to appeal to no one. The format should have a narrow focus, with some surprises. JMHO.

Don't know what time of day you're referring to, but after morn drive it's all satellite fed with the same format (mix) that's already heard on thousands of other stations.
 
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