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On the AM, WINS Teletype is back.

CTListener said:
And do the top-of-hour IDs the way they were done in the old days. "You are tuned to Radio Station KYW, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, transmitting on one thousand sixty kilocycles."
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Actually that is incomplete, as it would be “on a frequency of one thousand sixty kilocycles per second, or a wavelength of 283 meters.”
CTListener said:
And the announcer must have the accent and diction of FDR.
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“The only thing we have to fear is noise itself!”
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Using teletype sounds in 2026 is stupid. Might as well have Morse Code running in the background, or perhaps the clicking of a 19th century telegraph. Do smoke signals produce any audio?

I would bet you would have a hard time finding a listener that knows what the sound actually is, other than “noise that’s always been there.”

Serious news operations were getting rid of teletype machines 40 years ago. At my job they were initially replaced by dot matrix printers (totally different sound) and by computers not long after that.

If you were interviewing for a job at a station in the 1990s and discovered they were still using teletype, the best advice was to run away as fast as you could.

Might as well stick a mic out the window and capture the street sounds of NYC. At least that would be something contemporary.
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The average age of someone still listening on AM is probably 70+ so the nostalgia factor might fit.
 
ted chittenden said:
I'm hoping this works in New York. If it does, then Audacy will likely add the old teletype sound to both KNX-AM (Los Angeles) and KCBS-AM (San Francisco). And while I don't live anywhere near either city, the sound of the old teletype behind the newsreader will be comfort as I lay me down to sleep...
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I totally remember the KNX teletype. And since KNX (AM) is a preset on my car radio, I would LOVE to start hearing it again!

I'm all for radio returning to a radio version of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Lol.
 
KilowattKat said:
I'm all for radio returning to a radio version of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Lol.
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Now that would be a great idea. Take the first few seconds of Be My Baby ("boomp...boo boomp...POW") and loop it under all (non-commercial time) audio at a level just loud enough to hear. Inject it into the audio chain at a point beyond where the air staff will hear it in their monitor or headphone feeds. See how long it takes before the audience combusts.
 
kevtronics said:
New Jersey 101.5's "busy newsroom" sound effect includes the sound of dot-matrix printers, only slightly more up-to-date than a teletype.
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I mean this in total sarcasm, but if a station competing with WINS used just the dot matrix sound that would be classic. The demographic of news talk listeners knows what a teletype sounds like, and they also know that a dot matrix printer took the place of the old teletype. So they would see the station running the dot matrix sound under the news as more "up to date."
EDIT: I just realized WINS is only doing this on the AM. Maybe they should do the dot matrix on the FM. (more sarcasm)
 
kevtronics said:
Yes, the teletype sound effect is an anachronism... but as if AM radio isn't!? And it does have some possible benefits, such as masking background noise and giving the PPM encoding more chances to insert itself during the pauses in speech.
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That is a very valid observation I had not thought of. The issue is whether the teletype sound contains one of the frequency notches where the PPM signal can be inserted. And whether a background sound is enough to allow the encoder to sense an opportunity to emit a code.
 
The teletype is the least of WINS' problems -- it's the sillyness of their delivery. The smiley attempt to sound folksy.

Although I live in the tri-state area, when I want news, I stream DC's WTOP. The weather is warmer there and the traffic is irrelevant to me, but the news is delivered with a serious tone and it's less repetitive.
 
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amos1001 said:
Could you explain that please? I know nothing about how the PPP encoder works. I had assumed it was something like the 19Khz stereo pilot (but obviously different technology).
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This is simplified, but...

About 12 times a minute, the PPM encoder at a station looks for audio in one of the multiple frequency ranges that encoding can take place in.

The encoder tries to emit a code burst that contains the time and the station (AM, FM, HD channel, stream) ID number and starts the code. The audio from the station programming masks the coding, so you should not hear it.

If the masking station program audio lasts long enough, the "hidden" or masked code burst is completed and registered in user PPM carriable devices. Otherwise, the system keeps trying over and over, 12 times a minute, to encode.
 
A followup on my description of the PPM comes from Google AI:

The Nielsen Portable People Meter (PPM) is a wearable, pager-sized device that automatically detects inaudible, encoded audio watermarks embedded in radio and TV broadcasts to measure media consumption. Panelists carry the device daily to track exposure both at home and in public places, with data transmitted nightly via a base station to calculate audience ratings.
How the PPM System Works
  • Audio Encoding: Radio stations and television networks embed unique, inaudible, subaudible codes (watermarks) into their audio signals. These signals are embedded using psychoacoustic masking, making them undetectable to the human ear.
  • Detection: The wearable PPM detects these hidden codes when the participant is within range of a radio, TV, or digital content. It logs the station ID and the precise time of exposure.
  • Data Collection & Transmission: Participants wear the device throughout the day, often using a lanyard or clip. At night, they place the meter in a base station, which charges the device and transmits the collected data to Nielsen.
  • Panelist Requirements: To be included in the "In-Tab" (usable) sample, adults 18+ must carry the meter for a minimum of eight hours per day, while children 6-17 must carry it for at least five hours.
  • Contextual Tracking: The PPM can track consumption at home, in cars, in stores, or in public spaces like restaurants and gyms.
 
100IBU+ said:
Even if you were born after the heyday of teletype, you would recognize the sound as generating a mood where old fashioned fair and balanced journalism is trying to take place rather than partisan opinion.
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I was born after the heyday of teletype and the only mood hearing it puts me in is to change the station. I’m not the only one, either.
 


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