KBIG Audio

[HHH]

Whatever KBIG did to their processing the past few weeks, many locals are saying it is a major improvement.

Reportedly an Omnia.11.

 

[calguy]

Funny you should bring this up. I happen to think that the audio quality of the CC FM's in LA is terrible. KBIG sounds shrill and distorted to me and my Gawd what happened to KOST's audio? It may be louder now, but the distortion is a travesty. Listened to their midday snooze-fest the other day and thought that they were doing a remote. Not only was the audio distorted as is usual now, but when Carrie, or Keri or Kari Steel opened her mic it sounded like a beat-up SM58 at a supermarket remote. Only when I heard her put her boss from New Zealand on did I realize she was in studio. And that was a bizarre set too. She came out laughing asking if she should open her bosses mic. I thought that the next voice would be the PD, but instead it was Hurricane Andrew saying 2 or 3 words in that incomprehensible accent. KOST just sounds awful, and since HA took over engineering, I can only guess that the crappy sounding air-chains are his doing.

A/B between a CBS FM, or just about any other FM in town and a CC FM and you'll hear a huge difference in range and quality.

 

[HerbNero]

but he said many locals are saying it is a major improvement.

Many.

I'm confused.

 

[calguy]

Don't know who the "locals" are, but I've been in the business since I was a teen and I know what I heard and it wasn't very good. But I will admit, KBIG actually sounds marginally better than KOST does now. Both signals sound distorted to me. KBIG sounded much better when Greg Ogonowskii was handling the audio chain, it was loud with a super sounding range. As for KOST, Jhani Kaye's presence is a distant memory. He always made sure that KOST was loud, yet super clean. Its loud now, but not clean anymore.

 

[Curl]

Isn't it time for the radio industry to cut back on audio processing to slow down the demise of the local radio station advantage? How can a business that has nothing, absolutely nothing to offer except audio continue to offer music and talk that sounds so distorted? Most stations just squash the dynamic range to the point where you cannot enjoy listening to the music. But some are so bad that the artifacts of sibilance (sp?) and weird EQ make you question their basic desire to even compete in such a competitive business.

 

[calguy]

Isn't it time for the radio industry to cut back on audio processing to slow down the demise of the local radio station advantage? How can a business that has nothing, absolutely nothing to offer except audio continue to offer music and talk that sounds so distorted? Most stations just squash the dynamic range to the point where you cannot enjoy listening to the music. But some are so bad that the artifacts of sibilance (sp?) and weird EQ make you question their basic desire to even compete in such a competitive business.

Couldn't agree with you more. Part of the problem is that you have a lot of PD's who think they know how to adjust the equipment. Since New Zealand guy got his hooks into KBIG and KOST they have taken a turn for the worse in the processing department. Sadly though, a lot of people don't notice because they're used to hearing MP3's. I know many people who can't tell the difference between MP3 and Wave. A pro can. Since CC blew out their CE all bets are off.

 

[PaulyBoy]

I've been listening to KBIG, and it sounds cleaner, than most of the other LA stations.

 

[stewie]

Isn't it time for the radio industry to cut back on audio processing to slow down the demise of the local radio station advantage? How can a business that has nothing, absolutely nothing to offer except audio continue to offer music and talk that sounds so distorted? Most stations just squash the dynamic range to the point where you cannot enjoy listening to the music. But some are so bad that the artifacts of sibilance (sp?) and weird EQ make you question their basic desire to even compete in such a competitive business.

Couldn't agree more. Funny thing is, that same logic seems to be applied online as well. The more dynamically compressed, the worse it sounds when it's encoded.

Louder is not better online.