K.M. Richards New Gig

[yeoldeschool]

Of course, we had the mid to late 70’s distraction of disco.

It wasn't a distraction, it was a virus. That's why everyone called it disco fever.

And those are in the KOSL library.

Since this is Oldies you're dealing with, what sources are you using to get KOSL the best possible sounding copies of each song? I wouldn't assume you're going to Lynn Duke extremes, a la the old KRTH library. But there must be others in existence with similar perfectionist streaks, who maintain and sell oldies libraries that are as well-researched and carefully sourced.

 

[K.M. Richards]

It wasn't a distraction, it was a virus. That's why everyone called it disco fever.

HA!

Since this is Oldies you're dealing with, what sources are you using to get KOSL the best possible sounding copies of each song? I wouldn't assume you're going to Lynn Duke extremes, a la the old KRTH library. But there must be others in existence with similar perfectionist streaks, who maintain and sell oldies libraries that are as well-researched and carefully sourced.

Radio New Mexico has an extensive library of WAV files, largely purchased from RadioMusic (back in the days when it was called Uncompressed Music). At the smaller stations that RNM either owns outright or manages, Don tends to program Oldies on the weekends so a huge amount of the KOSL library was copied from those stations' automation computers.

I added close to 100 songs ripped from my personal CD library. The Bob Marley songs and 70's titles by David Bowie and the Cars, and "Roxanne" by the Police are in the KRKE Flashback Weekend library, and so is "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones. Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" is in the regular New Wave accent category on KRKE (even though released in 1978) so I had that easily available as well.

And we got about 270 songs from Cellar Music Productions, which is a similar WAV-for-radio service that I started using when Dave Scott sold RadioMusic and retired. Al Pikula has yet to disappoint me by not having something I need.

So you can stop worrying. Don will tell you that I am too much of a perfectionist to settle for poor quality audio files; in fact, the only MP3 files on any of the RNM stations are either voicetracks, PI spots, or the Sunday morning programming.

 

[AMRadioGuy]

First, we changed the calls to KOSL several weeks ago. Second, I am not playing anything newer than 1978 on this station. "Kokomo" came too late to be included.



Before I go any further ... unless you are accessing the stream via the station domain name, please do not bookmark it. We are temporarily feeding the output of the modulation monitor to a locally generated stream with a (gasp) numeric IP address. We will switch the domain to the real stream once we have it in place. The feed to the transmitter is L+R stereo summed mono; I did not have the time or the energy to conduct a scavenger hunt of original mono mixes.



Yes, the modulation monitor output is mono since we are an AM and not trying to resurrect AM stereo. It's officially for internal purposes; since we are originating the program feed from the Radio New Mexico facilities in Albuquerque, streaming the mod monitor is how we know the transmitter is still on the air.



Condensed version of the backstory: KOSL was acquired out of bankruptcy by longtime FCC attorney Barry D. Wood and was originally running the Sports Byline network with a local show in afternoons. Then the host of the afternoon show became unavailable, and Barry asked his client Don Davis at RNM to manage the facility for him. They decided on Oldies and since Don has me on retainer and loves what I am doing with KRKE he asked me to program it.

I think there is a misconception about my personal tastes and my professional work. The main reason that I have concentrated on the 80's is that the music from that decade resonates not only with those who grew up with it but also with younger demographics. It has become a mass appeal format, and while it happens to be the music I know best from my active on-air years, I have been in the business since 1973 and so I am also very knowledgeable on Oldies. It's not a case of like/dislike, it's a question of attracting a saleable audience. We have a standalone AM (no translator, no sister stations) so we had to do something that has a chance against the clusters in SLC.

To their credit, Barry and Don left me to my own devices in designing and executing the format. It is focused 1966 to 1978, but I also have a twice-hourly "Super Classic" which includes lesser songs from the core years and also goes back all the way to Bill Haley and The Comets. Don has been calling it "today's Oldies format".

We're running it cost-effectively, I am not out of my comfort zone programming it, and to be honest it's kind of fun to be able to do this again. (But I still think The Eighties Channel™ should be running in more markets than just ABQ.)



Obviously, that wasn't part of the decision process here. Barry simply didn't want to keep his station running a sports network 24/7. Believe it or not, I put this whole thing together in less than two months.

Oh I get the whole 80s thing, K.M.

I was more curious about the choice of format, as it's been suggested on this board time and time again that the days for oldies radio are pretty much over. It's an interesting choice to flip to. Same with the a music format on a standalone AM, something this board seems to suggest has no appeal. Like I said, it's an interesting choice for a flip. But... this is pretty doggone neat-o, if you ask me!

I'm all for it, and I still regularly listen to music formats on AM.

From reading many of your posts on the board over the years, I know you're very familiar with the "oldies" era. I've been listening a bit and am enjoying what I'm hearing!

 

[AMRadioGuy]

HA!



Radio New Mexico has an extensive library of WAV files, largely purchased from RadioMusic (back in the days when it was called Uncompressed Music). At the smaller stations that RNM either owns outright or manages, Don tends to program Oldies on the weekends so a huge amount of the KOSL library was copied from those stations' automation computers.

I added close to 100 songs ripped from my personal CD library. The Bob Marley songs and 70's titles by David Bowie and the Cars, and "Roxanne" by the Police are in the KRKE Flashback Weekend library, and so is "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones. Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" is in the regular New Wave accent category on KRKE (even though released in 1978) so I had that easily available as well.

And we got about 270 songs from Cellar Music Productions, which is a similar WAV-for-radio service that I started using when Dave Scott sold RadioMusic and retired. Al Pikula has yet to disappoint me by not having something I need.

So you can stop worrying. Don will tell you that I am too much of a perfectionist to settle for poor quality audio files; in fact, the only MP3 files on any of the RNM stations are either voicetracks, PI spots, or the Sunday morning programming.

Wait... is "I Wanna Be Sedated" in regular rotation on this station? Roxanne is from '79 - are you making an exception to the '78 cutoff for it?

 

[yeoldeschool]

Radio New Mexico has an extensive library of WAV files, largely purchased from RadioMusic (back in the days when it was called Uncompressed Music).

I always wondered what happened to Uncompressed Music. Glad it still exists.

I sincerely wish library services like RadioMusic and Cellar would find some way to swing deals with the music industry so they can sell downloads from their libraries to the public. Obviously, they would never be able to compete with the giants like iTunes and Amazon on the basis of selling ordinary downloads. But if they set up separate consumer music store sites and positioned them as serving "the audiophile and high-fidelity communities" by providing not just 100% lossless downloads, but downloads that in each case were the result of extensive head-hunting through all known vinyl and compact disc issues to find "the best available transfer(s)," I believe they would amass a serious following. Fans and collectors already do that kind of head-hunting themselves. Film buffs also do it when researching which DVD and BD issues of movies to buy (you would be amazed, for example, at how many home video releases of the Back to the Future trilogy were hosed in strange ways). The problem with music is that it's exhausting and expensive to do this kind of work for thousands of songs. So most people only ever manage it for a small handful of their favorite albums. These companies, however, having previously done all that hard work for radio, would have instant and immense appeal to the legions already doing that same head-hunting independently. My feeling is that quality-conscious music fans would begin buying whatever they could from these businesses, assured that each download would be sourced from the best known issue, yielding huge savings in effort and time. One especially useful perk for the library services themselves would be that they could run forums (like this one) where fans could discuss and compare issues, helping to identify even better copies. The companies could turn around and incorporate those finds into their own libraries, as their latest official versions.

Anyway, thanks for the detailed behind-the-scenes look at how KOSL is sourcing its music. It sounds like you and Don really care about quality if you're spending time in EAC yourself, on top of using those libraries. It's always nice knowing there are people out there making sure radio outside the top 10 markets sounds its best. I can't count how many stations I've heard clear, blatantly audible MP3 artifacting on while traveling around the rural areas of California over time.

 

[Motown]

HA!



Radio New Mexico has an extensive library of WAV files, largely purchased from RadioMusic (back in the days when it was called Uncompressed Music). At the smaller stations that RNM either owns outright or manages, Don tends to program Oldies on the weekends so a huge amount of the KOSL library was copied from those stations' automation computers.

I added close to 100 songs ripped from my personal CD library. The Bob Marley songs and 70's titles by David Bowie and the Cars, and "Roxanne" by the Police are in the KRKE Flashback Weekend library, and so is "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones. Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" is in the regular New Wave accent category on KRKE (even though released in 1978) so I had that easily available as well.

And we got about 270 songs from Cellar Music Productions, which is a similar WAV-for-radio service that I started using when Dave Scott sold RadioMusic and retired. Al Pikula has yet to disappoint me by not having something I need.

So you can stop worrying. Don will tell you that I am too much of a perfectionist to settle for poor quality audio files; in fact, the only MP3 files on any of the RNM stations are either voicetracks, PI spots, or the Sunday morning programming.

 

[Motown]

Curious about sound quality. Since the station is at 1550 kHZ with 10000 watts days/340 watts at night with no FM translator and a mono stream, can you really tell the difference on air between an MP3 and a WAV file?

 

[ted chittenden]

Curious about sound quality. Since the station is at 1550 kHZ with 10000 watts days/340 watts at night with no FM translator and a mono stream, can you really tell the difference on air between an MP3 and a WAV file?

It would, I think, depend on the kind of receiver you had. Unfortunately, the vast majority of today's AM radio receivers, especially the digitally tuned ones, are hard-pressed to get any quality sound out of the AM band. But there have been receivers in the past (I have heard some of them live and others through airchecks) that were very good at giving you the best sound quality on AM, even if it was only in mono. And, of course, with analog tuners, you could tune slightly to the left or right of the center of the frequency and get some pretty good sound as well!

 

[davideduardo]

I always wondered what happened to Uncompressed Music. Glad it still exists.

I sincerely wish library services like RadioMusic and Cellar would find some way to swing deals with the music industry so they can sell downloads from their libraries to the public. Obviously, they would never be able to compete with the giants like iTunes and Amazon on the basis of selling ordinary downloads. But if they set up separate consumer music store sites and positioned them as serving "the audiophile and high-fidelity communities" by providing not just 100% lossless downloads, but downloads that in each case were the result of extensive head-hunting through all known vinyl and compact disc issues to find "the best available transfer(s)," I believe they would amass a serious following.

The problem is that the business model is entirely different. When servicing radio stations, Radio Music and the like have an agreement that the copy is for broadcast by a licensed station that has the needed performance licenses. They don't pay fees, as they are not broadcasting or presenting for the public any of their content.

In effect, they are like the Pony Express in which they carry messages in their pouch. But they don't read the messages.

To create a consumer service involves a whole new set of legal issues. They may, indeed, be to onerous for a small operation to cover efficiently and make a profit.

 

[cc333]

with analog tuners, you could tune slightly to the left or right of the center of the frequency and get some pretty good sound as well!

I've found that my Pioneer SX-626 will distort if I tune it on frequency to my Part 15 station (perhaps it's overloading because the transmitter is in the front yard?. As noted, when I tune it to the left of the frequency, it not only takes care of the distortion, it also gets me better highs and a smoother midrange.

I'm pretty sure I need to recap it. I bought a restore kit a few years ago, but have yet to get to it because it still works, although for a bit back in January I did start getting some crackle and noise in one channel, which is a classic sign of capacitor failure. It hasn't happened since the weather's been warmer, but I'll have to get to it sooner than later to keep it working. I'm sure a recap would help with the distortion problem, too.

c

 

[yeoldeschool]

It would, I think, depend on the kind of receiver you had.

KOSL will also be streaming. Quality lossless source material matters a lot for streams, considering what cascaded codecs do to audio.

And, of course, with analog tuners, you could tune slightly to the left or right of the center of the frequency and get some pretty good sound as well!

You can do this somewhat with the Qodosen DX-286 as well. If you open up the IF bandwidth to its maximum of 8 kHz, the numeric keypad can be used to enter exact frequencies offsets like 636 or 644 instead of 640. I find it sounds reasonably clean up to 3 kHz off-center. 4 kHz is also possible but the highs will start sounding iffy.

The first 20 seconds of https://files.catbox.moe/rw9ldh.wav demonstrate what KFI sounds like when tuned 4 kHz off-frequency.

 

[AMRadioGuy]

Curious about sound quality. Since the station is at 1550 kHZ with 10000 watts days/340 watts at night with no FM translator and a mono stream, can you really tell the difference on air between an MP3 and a WAV file?

What I can say is... sometimes. I do a lot of the music programming for an AM station with an FM translator. On a cheap awful AM pocket radio? For the most part, no. But on a half-decent radio? Yup. It's not as obvious as it would be on FM, of course. An MP3 that sounds "good enough" through normal playback gear will generally sound "good enough" on the air on AM, too. But an MP3 that doesn't sound great in the studio? Yeah, it's not going to sound great on AM either. MP3s can sound pretty decent under the right conditions and with a decent bitrate.


Re-encoding woes: Of course, one big issue with starting out with a lossy file is that for many stations, that .mp3 source file will be re-encoded into a .wav for the automation system. It'll then be converted to analog to run through the air board. Good chance it'll run through some sort of AGC on the studio-end, which is quite possibly a digital box. Then it'll end up in the digital domain with a different codec to head out to the transmitter site via the STL. It'll get converted back to analog and then it'll go into a (likely digital) processing box for the on-air processing, and then head to the transmitter.

In other words, that file will end up being squashed all kinds of different ways and through a bunch of different codecs before it ends up on the air. The better the source material sounds, the better it'll sound on-air.


When done well, AM really can sound spectacular. Good source material is a big part of the puzzle there.



One other thought: We upgraded from Barix boxes at the stations I work for a few years back. The Barix units are now backup STLs behind a better rig that we use for our main STL. I can absolutely hear the difference between the Barix codec and the new STL codec on-air over the AM signal...



Of course, "source material" makes a big difference, too. A nice, hot, mono 45 mix that's a decent sounding .mp3 will sound better on-air than a .wav of a wimpy stereo mix with tape dropouts and whatnot that's in a nice high-bitrate .wav.

That's my $.02

 

[AMRadioGuy]

KOSL will also be streaming. Quality lossless source material matters a lot for streams, considering what cascaded codecs do to audio.


You can do this somewhat with the Qodosen DX-286 as well. If you open up the IF bandwidth to its maximum of 8 kHz, the numeric keypad can be used to enter exact frequencies offsets like 636 or 644 instead of 640. I find it sounds reasonably clean up to 3 kHz off-center. 4 kHz is also possible but the highs will start sounding iffy.

The first 20 seconds of https://files.catbox.moe/rw9ldh.wav demonstrate what KFI sounds like when tuned 4 kHz off-frequency.

Depending on what is used for stream hosting, it might be easier to tell the source material on the AM signal than the stream... A lot of stations seem to use securenet. Their streams have less bitrate than dialup😂.

Okay, not really. But a lot of streams they host (pretty much every one I've ever listened to that I can recall) sound worse than a lot of .mp3s I've heard through the years. And by a wide margin.

 

[yeoldeschool]

Okay, not really. But a lot of streams they host (pretty much every one I've ever listened to that I can recall) sound worse than a lot of .mp3s I've heard through the years. And by a wide margin.

Yep. I've noticed. I've commented on this many times. It perplexes me that the big streaming platforms used (or owned) by the radio industry haven't yet standardized on 256 or 320 kbit/s AAC-LC and MP3. Everybody under the sun is now continuously streaming videos to their smartphones everywhere they go -- streams that unrelentingly gobble megabits per second. "Audiophile grade" lossy codec bitrates are nothing compared to that, and yet the radio industry continues to believe it's 1997 and that we're all on dial-up.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't understand how these platforms the radio industry uses haven't standardized on 256 or 320 kbit/s MP3

There is no minister of radio who tells radio company what to do. So "the industry" doesn't speak in one voice.

Bitrate is a function of the account you have. If you have a free account, it will use a lower bitrate than if you have a premium account.

For example, iHeartRadio:

iHeartRadio offers two main streaming quality options: Standard (128 kbps) and High Quality (256 kbps for premium users),

Comparatively, here is the bitrate for Spotify:

160 Kbps Audio Quality​

At 160 Kbps, the default bitrate for free accounts on Spotify, the music streamers get a fair deal of quality. This bitrate translates to a moderate-low audio quality, which is more suitable for casual listening.

300 Kbps Premium Audio​

Now, let’s talk about the premium experience. Spotify’s premium users get a boost to 300 Kbps, which is a significant jump in audio quality. This bitrate is

The real weak system is SiriusXM

Typical bitrates by station type (from older XM-era data, still relevant for many SiriusXM channels) Reddit:

• Music stations:
  • Classical, jazz, and some high-demand music channels: 32 kbps
  • Most other music: 24–48 kbps
  • High-demand channels (e.g., Symphony Hall) can exceed others, but still under 64 kbps.

 

[yeoldeschool]

There is no minister of radio who tells radio company what to do. So "the industry" doesn't speak in one voice.

No, but I see a pattern of most stations continuing to run lower double digit kbit/s figures even today, despite those ranges originally having been decided upon to accommodate dial-up users. There does seem to be a trend toward 128 kbit/s with certain forward-thinking broadcasters, but that's still not good enough.

Bitrate is a function of the account you have. If you have a free account, it will use a lower bitrate than if you have a premium account.

For example, iHeartRadio:

Where are they streaming in 128 kbit/s? Every time I find a stream for an iHeart station, or a station using their platform, it always seems to be at 48 kbit/s. For example, just by scraping my Winamp bookmarks for any "ihrhls.com" URLs and mass-dumping them into ffmpeg, I get this:

Input #0, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc2361':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : WOAI-AM
    icy-name        : 1200 WOAI
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #0:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #1, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc177':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KFI-AM
    icy-name        : KFI
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Stream #1:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s
Input #2, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc5096':
  Metadata:
    icy-name        : WVCU 104.9 FM Port Charlotte, FL
    icy-url         :
    icy-genre       :
    icy-description :
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #2:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #3, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc4245':
  Metadata:
    icy-name        : WISN-AM ZC Backup
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : WISN-AM
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #3:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #4, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc3014':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KENI-AM
    icy-name        : News Radio 650 KENI
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #4:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #5, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc4748':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KHVH-AM
    icy-name        : News Radio 830 KHVH
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Stream #5:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s

The real weak system is SiriusXM

And the sole reason I've never had either service. I heard it once in a relative's car and that was the last time I ever wanted to hear it. Unfortunate, because I would sincerely enjoy having a lot of their programming otherwise.

 

[TheBigA]

Where are they streaming in 128 kbit/s? Every time I find a stream for an iHeart station, or a station using their platform, it always seems to be at 48 kbit/s. For example, just by scraping my Winamp bookmarks for any "ihrhls.com" URLs and mass-dumping them into ffmpeg, I get this:

Have you tried a music station? The two examples you give are AM talk stations.

 

[Lou Schneider]

And, of course, with analog tuners, you could tune slightly to the left or right of the center of the frequency and get some pretty good sound as well!

Extended frequency response at the expense of higher harmonic distortion from essentially receiving SSB.

Back in the 1970s I modified a Pioneer car radio by jumpering the AM IF's crystal filter to extend the frequency response. Wired it to a switch so I could put it back in if I was confronted with a 10 KHz carrier hetrodyne - which is why AM radios were narrowed in the first place. Detroit had lots of 10 KHz adjacent channel stations booming in from across the Great Lakes even during the day and people (especially women) hated the whistles.

The other trick was slowing down the receiver's AGC time constant. Tightened up the bass to the point where powerline interference showed up as a 60 Hz hum instead of a broadband buzz.

Net result (in the pre-NRSC days) was most AM stations sounded as good or better than their FM simulcasts.

 

[yeoldeschool]

Have you tried a music station? The two examples you give are AM talk stations.

There were 6 examples in that plaintext code insert (labeled inputs #0 - #5 by ffmpeg), one of which is an FM. You may need to internally scroll the code insert area to see them all on your device.

But point taken about the sources being mostly AM. In that case, here are 5 music FMs owned by iHeart in Los Angeles -- again, may require scrolling:

Input #0, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc185':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KIIS-FM
    icy-name        : 102.7 KIIS-FM Los Angeles
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Stream #0:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s
Input #1, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc173':
  Metadata:
    icy-name        : KBIG-FM ZC Backup
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KBIG-FM
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #1:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #2, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc193':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KOST-FM
    icy-name        : KOST 103.5 Los Angeles
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Stream #2:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s
Input #3, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc201':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KYSR-FM
    icy-name        : ALT 98.7
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #3:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #4, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc181':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KRRL-FM
    icy-name        : Real 92.3
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #4:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s

And just to be thorough, since the above are the legacy compatible ICY stream links for those stations, I "sniffed" the iHeart web site directly and obtained the modern HLS streams for those same FMs. Here they are, also all at 48 kbit/s:

Input #0, hls, from 'https://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc185/hls.m3u8':
  Duration: N/A, start: 17958.479644, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Program 0
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 24000
  Stream #0:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
      Metadata:
        variant_bitrate : 24000
        title           : 102.7 KIIS FM
        artist          : LA's #1 Hit Music Station
        URL             : song_spot="T" MediaBaseId="0" itunesTrackId="0" amgTrackId="0" amgArtistId="0" TAID="0" TPID="0" cartcutId="0" amgArtworkURL="" length="00:00:00" unsID="0" spotInstanceId="-1"
        id3v2_priv.com.apple.streaming.transportStreamTimestamp: \x00\x00\x00\x00`V8\x00
Input #1, hls, from 'https://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc173/hls.m3u8':
  Duration: N/A, start: 17988.431644, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Program 0
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 24000
  Stream #1:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s
      Metadata:
        variant_bitrate : 24000
        title           : 104.3 MYfm
        artist          : 90s to Now
        URL             : song_spot="T" MediaBaseId="0" itunesTrackId="0" amgTrackId="0" amgArtistId="0" TAID="0" TPID="0" cartcutId="0" amgArtworkURL="" length="00:00:00" unsID="0" spotInstanceId="-1"
        id3v2_priv.com.apple.streaming.transportStreamTimestamp: \x00\x00\x00\x00`\x7fZ\x00
Input #2, hls, from 'https://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc193/hls.m3u8':
  Duration: N/A, start: 17888.591644, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Program 0
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 24000
  Stream #2:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
      Metadata:
        variant_bitrate : 24000
        title           : Larger Than Life
        artist          : Backstreet Boys
        URL             : song_spot="M" MediaBaseId="1186569" itunesTrackId="0" amgTrackId="-1" amgArtistId="0" TAID="36645" TPID="2488127" cartcutId="0769459001" amgArtworkURL="http://image.iheart.com/ihr-ingestion-pipeline-production-sbmg/A10301A0001717739V_20180529180437726/326
        id3v2_priv.com.apple.streaming.transportStreamTimestamp: \x00\x00\x00\x00_\xf6>\x00
Input #3, hls, from 'https://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc201/hls.m3u8':
  Duration: N/A, start: 17848.655644, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Program 0
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 24000
  Stream #3:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s
      Metadata:
        variant_bitrate : 24000
        title           : Shake Me Down
        artist          : Cage The Elephant
        URL             : song_spot="M" MediaBaseId="1767761" itunesTrackId="0" amgTrackId="-1" amgArtistId="0" TAID="117804" TPID="68530012" cartcutId="0708602001" amgArtworkURL="http://image.iheart.com/ihr-ingestion-pipeline-production-sbmg/A10301A0002364022K_20190128083955473/1
        id3v2_priv.com.apple.streaming.transportStreamTimestamp: \x00\x00\x00\x00_\xbff\x00
Input #4, hls, from 'https://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc181/hls.m3u8':
  Duration: N/A, start: 17928.527644, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Program 0
    Metadata:
      variant_bitrate : 24000
  Stream #4:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s
      Metadata:
        variant_bitrate : 24000
        title           : Finesse
        artist          : Bruno Mars / Cardi B
        URL             : song_spot="M" MediaBaseId="2362441" itunesTrackId="0" amgTrackId="-1" amgArtistId="0" TAID="337578" TPID="43562816" cartcutId="0406936001" amgArtworkURL="http://image.iheart.com/ihr-ingestion-pipeline-production-wmg/new_release/20180521174238559/075679904
        id3v2_priv.com.apple.streaming.transportStreamTimestamp: \x00\x00\x00\x00`-\x16\x00

Don't know what to say, but iHeart appears to be in love with 48 kbit/s. If you know where to hear their stations at 128 kbit/s, please share the wealth.

 

[radiofan2023]

No, but I see a pattern of most stations continuing to run lower double digit kbit/s figures even today, despite those ranges originally having been decided upon to accommodate dial-up users. There does seem to be a trend toward 128 kbit/s with certain forward-thinking broadcasters, but that's still not good enough.


Where are they streaming in 128 kbit/s? Every time I find a stream for an iHeart station, or a station using their platform, it always seems to be at 48 kbit/s. For example, just by scraping my Winamp bookmarks for any "ihrhls.com" URLs and mass-dumping them into ffmpeg, I get this:

Input #0, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc2361':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : WOAI-AM
    icy-name        : 1200 WOAI
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #0:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #1, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc177':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KFI-AM
    icy-name        : KFI
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Stream #1:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s
Input #2, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc5096':
  Metadata:
    icy-name        : WVCU 104.9 FM Port Charlotte, FL
    icy-url         :
    icy-genre       :
    icy-description :
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #2:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #3, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc4245':
  Metadata:
    icy-name        : WISN-AM ZC Backup
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : WISN-AM
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #3:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #4, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc3014':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KENI-AM
    icy-name        : News Radio 650 KENI
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 48 kb/s
  Stream #4:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 48 kb/s
Input #5, aac, from 'http://stream.revma.ihrhls.com/zc4748':
  Metadata:
    icy-url         : http://www.iheartradio.com
    icy-genre       : Various
    icy-audio-info  : bitrate=48;samplerate=48000;channels=2
    icy-description : KHVH-AM
    icy-name        : News Radio 830 KHVH
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: 47 kb/s
  Stream #5:0: Audio: aac (HE-AACv2), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 47 kb/s

And the sole reason I've never had either service. I heard it once in a relative's car and that was the last time I ever wanted to hear it. Unfortunate, because I would sincerely enjoy having a lot of their programming otherwise.

I don’t remember if they were Iheart stations, but some of the streaming radio stations listed in itunes around 10-20 years ago used to be at least 128kbps and maybe higher.