KMCQ - new and improved

[Lonely Summer]

There's nobody home at KGHO.

Huh?

 

[Dusty Dale Brooks]

Chuck, you are actually working right now, which is more than many of us "lifers" on this site can say, so I think you deserve our respect and congratulations.

You have done some good things with KMCQ and the station is now listenable. It sounds like a real radio station and one that could compete in a Top 20 market like Seattle.

That said, you have to fix the stereo issue.

Even your least sophisticated listener knows that different parts of a song come out of different speakers. I get that there is a school of young engineers out there that want everything pretty much center-channel but there is nothing sweeter to the ear than to scan from contemporary station to contemporary station to country station to...."Oh, wow it's ELO, and hearing it go from left to right is so refreshing."

And that kind of reaction isn't just limited to guys 55+. Discreet stereo is sweet and always has been.

 

[spectacle]

Agreed! Nothing better than a 60s era country or pop song recorded the right way.

Today's "stereo"? Flat.

 

[fordranger797]

The issues with the stereo sound don't really bother me at all. I am just surprised by how clear and crisp reception is around the Puget Sound area now on KMCQ. I think we all would agree that before they were on air from Cougar Mountain that the signal quality was not good..

 

[Bongwater]

Agreed! Nothing better than a 60s era country or pop song recorded the right way.

Today's "stereo"? Flat.

'60s stereo albums were mixed to emphasize the pure stereo effect (instruments on one channel, vocals on the other. Or "electronically enhanced" fake stereo.)

And most general country/pop 45 rpm single releases were actually in mono - well into the '70s.

TRUE stereo mixes of some of these '60s albums didn't actually appear until the '80s and '90s. It's still a nicer twist on FM than plain mono.

It's not so much the stereo effect/seperation of today's recorded music that gets me (although it could use a little more effort.) It's the LOUDNESS and lack of dynamic range. And the over emphasis on bass notes.

I still listen to my music at home on '80s vintage Pioneer speakers. Or decent headphones. Not computer speakers or "earbuds". And I HATE having to leap out of my easy chair to pounce on the volume knob when I play a screaming newer album.

The issues with the stereo sound don't really bother me at all. I am just surprised by how clear and crisp reception is around the Puget Sound area now on KMCQ. I think we all would agree that before they were on air from Cougar Mountain that the signal quality was not good..

KMCQ starts to fizzle badly in Lynnwood, regains steam in South Everett and you can barely hear them - if at all in downtown Everett. They weakly pop back up around Marysville for a few more miles on north and they're pretty much gone by the time you reach the Skagit County line. Save some Mount Vernon hilltops they're non-existent from there to Bellingham.

With KDUX on 104.7 down in Aberdeen, I think they're pretty much stuck at their current power level.

 

[crainbebo]

KMCQ fades early going south. Maybe Chehalis, but at a weak, staticky fringe signal. KMCQ was one of the very few Seattle stations that did NOT make it to Pacific Beach, WA (105mi away) when I was on a Washington Coast trip there in July 2011. With KYAO-LP off that time, I even heard a very weak KNHC (which surprised me), but no KMCQ, and no KSGX (now KKBW).

-crainbebo

 

[JakeMott]

When KMCQ broadcasted from their old transmitter site I could get a perfect signal in Ocean Park and Long Beach on the south coast.

 

[MarkW]

A full-market (or near full-market) Seattle station cannot afford decent-enough equipment to broadcast in true stereo?!!! Good lord.

Billing rates must be ungodly weak over there.