Was listening to Star 94 the other night through a friend's SDR located just south of the Atlanta metro. (I can get really good, clean signals from the big FMs through this SDR, as well as a good portion of the Atlanta translators) I noticed their processing sounds atrocious when compared to the other FMs in Atlanta. It sounds lifeless, flat, and inconsistent on some material, and on other material it just sounds distorted. The Cox, Cumulus, and iHeart (and even the Fox translators) stations blow Star out of the water when it comes to processing. Even was getting a good signal the other day from Q107.3 in Columbus and they sound way better than Star. Anyone else notice this, or is it just me? I talked to my friend who runs the SDR about it, and he said that Star "back in the day" used to be one of the best-sounding Atlanta stations, along with B98.5, Kicks and a few others.
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Star 94 Processing
- Thread starter fmradioguy
- Start date
WSTR is owned by Audacy. From what I’ve read across these boards, plus my own personal experiences of listening to multiple clusters owned by them, they seem to have issues with their processing in a lot of markets. Their Greenville stations sound horrible (I’m talking over modulation that the average listener can hear), I’ve reached out to them multiple times yet nothing is ever acknowledged or fixed.
Compared to iHeart, Cumulus, Summit, Cox, etc - the Audacy stations always sound the worst.
Compared to iHeart, Cumulus, Summit, Cox, etc - the Audacy stations always sound the worst.
I would agree that Audacy stations always have some sort of issues. Our local Audacy stations here in Minneapolis processing-wise sound ok, but KZJK's stereo balance is off, making the right channel louder than the left. (I think KMNB also has this issue as well.) WCCO on AM always sounds overmodulated, but maybe that's because I'm not used to listening to AM.
I would say the Cumulus stations always sound second worst. Atlanta's Cumulus stations don't sound bad, aside from some weird "fluttery" sound on WKHX, and the extreme amounts of clipping on the 98.9 translator. But the Minneapolis Cumulus stations.... all I can say is "YIKES!"
Star's processing does suck. Sounds like gain reduction gets brick walled. Makes for listener fatigue. I've never understood why radio stations stopped caring about their sound. Your product is sound. If the content is great but sounds like crap, people tune out. It's 2024. You can get clean hi-res audio anywhere. FM radio stations should be no exception. It's not rocket science, it just takes someone who cares but in all fairness, these conglomerates have one engineer for an entire market or more. More workload=less quality work but corporate America could care less so long as it sells.
According to a post a couple of years ago, Cumulus had a "corporate wide settings" depending on the format. If this is true, Cumulus stations should all sound at least "average".
Assuming your dealing with post 2000 audio chains and transmitters it's not impossible to keep several stations going assuming there is not a lot of windshield time between locations, finicky direction AMs or frequent visits from Mr. Lightning. Sometimes corporations skimp on important functions just to make a quarter's numbers and folks get spread too thin. Being in bankruptcy they have time to rethink their day to day operations so hopefully there is a little stability for a while
One would assume successful audio settings would be shared in the same company. Speculation on what's wrong would be hard unless someone knows the equipment 94.1 is using and how many folks have access to the settings. I personally would copy V103's settings for starters.
Assuming your dealing with post 2000 audio chains and transmitters it's not impossible to keep several stations going assuming there is not a lot of windshield time between locations, finicky direction AMs or frequent visits from Mr. Lightning. Sometimes corporations skimp on important functions just to make a quarter's numbers and folks get spread too thin. Being in bankruptcy they have time to rethink their day to day operations so hopefully there is a little stability for a while
One would assume successful audio settings would be shared in the same company. Speculation on what's wrong would be hard unless someone knows the equipment 94.1 is using and how many folks have access to the settings. I personally would copy V103's settings for starters.
V103 and even 98.5 have good sounding audio. 95.5 has great frequency response for a talker and it's clear Cox owned FMs in this market sound top tier, I would hope so, being this is their "home" market. Sound is radio's only product, if it sucks, even those who aren't nerds or audiophiles will tune out. Like a web page that fails to load or buffers, people just go elsewhere.
IIRC V103 and 98.5 are on the same tower but use different antennas. That is about all they have in common. V103 is not a Cox signal and Atlanta is not it's "home market". It's been a long time but I believe V103 and WSB FM both were on channel 2's old analog tower a long time ago. I haven't been in the Colony Square buildings for 25+ years so I have no idea what their studios look like. I hope the got all of the asbestos. Last time I was at the Vee's studios they were in the simi triangle shaped (Summit? building) that overlooks the Grady Curve. Parking was a hassle. At that time they were not to aggressive with the clipping had a good AGC scheme and sounded good.
Right now IMHO 97.1 seems to have the "fullest" sound in the market. No listener fatigue.
Right now IMHO 97.1 seems to have the "fullest" sound in the market. No listener fatigue.
In Houston I find that the Audacy stations sound the best. I really like the processing of 95.7 the Spot. KKHH
Thank you for the compliments on my processing.
The "Summit Tower" has an Alan Dick panel antenna, which holds the main signals for WSB-FM (98.5), WVEE (103.3) and the aux for WSTR (94.1). There is an ERI panel antenna below that, which broadcasts WSBB (95.5). All of the Audacy stations, 1380, 92.9, 94.1 & 103.3 have their studios in Colony Square. The Cox stations are up the street about 6 blocks.
WSB-FM was on the channel 2 tower prior to docket 80-90. WVEE was never on the channel 2 tower. WSB-FM moved to the Summit tower along with WVEE and WSTR to keep from being downgraded to class C1. Also on the Summit tower are 90.1 WABE and WABE-TV, virtual channel 30 and RF channel 8. WSB-FM has an aux facility on the WSB-TV tower, and I am in the process of adding an aux facility for WSBB at that site.
CK
Charles, are you saying that WABE-TV is not on the shorter tower next to the Summit tower?
The TV used to be at the top of the original tower. Now the TV and the 90.1 aux are on the new tower. Since they are 50 feet apart, I just consider both towers together.
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