The Party is Over!

[djj]

In response to BOTB (Burned Out...), A.O., maybe it's time to go back to the
ol' reliable EBS system and scrap the EAS...
No, wait, the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake is why we dropped EBS...
never mind...

I hate MP3's, iPods etc, maybe I'm an audio snob but they sound terrible to me. I downloaded Radiohead's In Rainbows when they offered it for whatever price you wanted to pay and burned it to a CD. When the physical CD came out a month or so later, I bought it, and when I popped it into my car's system, it was a revelation....The fidelity, the separation of instruments, everything. At least for me, internet radio will not be something I listen to until the day comes the quality is equal to the pure CD.

I agree - there's nothing like the "linear" sound of a CD wave file than that
of an MP3. Even at 192-, 256- or 320-bit rate, an MP3 does not have the quality,
especially when I listen on my headphones...
Then again, some old-time audiophiles will tell you a certain song will sound
better on crackly-stereo-vinyl than it would on a CD...

It's too bad the laser-turntable, whose roots started with Finial in Sunnyvale
in the late-1980s and ended up in Japan, did not catch on. I don't have
$13K for such a turntable, unfortunately:
http://www.answers.com/topic/laser-turntable

Radio, I can handle better, but I hate compression. There are no dynamics, no quiet and soft passages, and the bass is artificial sounding and overdone. Again, when I listen to a CD of something I've heard on the radio it sounds so much better. I'd look into HD radio but am not ready to pay 300 bucks for one

Just over a year ago, I got my Sangean HD-1 for 99 bux at Fry's/Sunnyvale...
on CLOSEOUT! L O L!

Still, with nothing much worthwhile on HD-2, 99 bux is a LOT of money for
this type of receiver...and the HD-AM stinks, but you can look at other
R-I threads for the skinny on that thesis...

Oh, and back to the original theme of this thread...radio ain't dead...

It's still in critical condition, but it ain't dead... ;D
--jay

 

[Stage5Clinger]

From the Clooney days of ER: "Quick, give me a chest kit, a lavaje kit, a chem 7 and a nurse in a short dress, my radio's coding!!!"

;D

 

[BurnedOutOnTheBoards]

Leave it to Clinger to quote "ER".........

djj......I remember the '89 quake oh so well.....virtually every EBS was messed up royally....and I dislike
compression as well....I also remember the arguments between audiophiles when CDs first hit the marketplace, with CD fans screaming its advantages and analog fans says they wanted to hear more than zeros & ones.....

and John Walker....I ain't shelling out $300 either...and, apparently, few are.

 

[djj]

Leave it to Clinger to quote "ER".........

LOL! I, myself, haven't watched "ER" since Anthony Edwards left...S5C may be smitten by Clooney... ;D

djj......I remember the '89 quake oh so well.....virtually every EBS was messed up royally....and I dislike
compression as well....

How messed up was EBS in Da City? KFOG was on-air...with a dead carrier. The then new-primary
station, KCBS, was doing business as usual, although feeding lots of quake-related news. KNBR, the
previous EBS primary station, was covering the interrupted World Series game with Hank Greenwald
and Ron Fairly doing what they could, and KGO was knocked off the air, as one of its 3 towers bent
in half...several other radio stations were knocked off, and KRON TV-4 was on-air in a dim-lit studio...
To me, it was as if nobody cared to follow the EBS procedure...it was everyone for themselves...

I taped KSFO 560, being the A's' flagship station, for the next two hours, starting at 5:06...
Lon Simmons and Bill King were VERY informational...and entertaining, particularly Lon on the latter...
Bill was giving tips on what to do in an earthquake, which he read from the telephone directory!...
and Ravi "R.J." Peruman occasionally popped in from the KSFO studios; power coming back eventually...

How did Sacramento handle the EBS on 10/17/1989? Anyone? Or was it not necessary there?
--jay

 

[John Walker]

I didn't turn on the radio at that time. The (then) gf and i were watching the game when it hit in Carmichael. I thought a car had hit the apartment building, and the TV feed went out for a short time. I went outside and the water in the pool was sloshing all over....but aside from the inital jolt we didn't feel anything.

Then we tried to watch the game, i was pissed it wasn't going on until they showed the severity of what the quake had done in the bay area. The worst IMO was the collapsed portion of freeway, and you could see smoke from cars coming from under the collapsed section. Now I get nervous whenever I drive over bridges etc in the bay area

 

[bbutler]

How did Sacramento handle the EBS on 10/17/1989? Anyone? Or was it not necessary there?
--jay
[/quote]

I was on the air when it struck. I didn't feel it, but the phones sure lit up from listeners asking if there was a quake. I turned behind me to see two hanging plants swinging. We took calls, I watched the studio TV for info to pass along, but mostly we just continued playing music. I don't even remember passing along an EBS announcement.