The River is the WORST sounding signal on ATL FM

[MRFLASHPORT]

All you are required to accomplish in your mission is transmit intelligible audio.

Really? Try again. This isn't 1968 and we aren't talking about Mocoms or GE Prog Lines. A modern P25 phase 2 system is just as much, if not more, of a bear than a simple single site analog FM transmitter. How hard can it be to set a decent TX deviation that is within the emission mask and sound pleasing? In contrast, on my system, we have multiple types of subscriber radios, some of which are better than others, and all are software driven, and the current generation APX series have just about as many audio profiles for TX and RX as any Optimod. Heck, Motorola even released a service bulletin on best practices. Sorry, I love it when people tell me my job is easy. I haven't even gotten into what it is like administrating over 3500 (and growing) users, and protecting the system from intruders (wonder why we encrypt?).

Sorry, spent most of the day shoveling water out of one of my sites from the torrents of rain, only to find out the site will need major excavation to solve it long term. I'm wet, I'm tired, I'm worn. But one thing I'll never do is thumb my nose and have a "it's no big deal" attitude about how the system sounds. If it sounds like crap, it's a statement about my work quality, my work ethic, and character. I take pride in how my system sounds, I worked hard to make it shine. I will never stop. The day I do, I will find another job or retire.

If radio station programmers/owners don't care that their station(s) sound like crap, then that speaks volumes about this industry.

But also remember that people, especially women, are sensitive to processing generated artifacts and that TSL will suffer if the processing is aggressive.

So apparently more than just "a couple of forum readers" do care and it does affect the bottom line. I knew I was right. Thanks for confirming that.

The radio stations that really sound good are the ones with simple processing schemes set up by people with good ears.

Well said. Too bad many in this industry don't care or don't follow that guideline.

The music situation isn't much better. Most posters here, I'm sure, have seen what the audio "looks like" when files are opened in ProTools, Adobe or any other audio app. Songs are often horribly compressed, "looking like bricks and sounding like sh1t," as one of my CE friends says. In some cases a PD or MD will put MP3 (rather than WAV file) on the air, which only compounds the problem. GIGO.

Adding to this stinking stew is the fiddling with the audio processing. "I want us hotter. I want us brighter." GIGO reaches even lower depths.

I stopped buying tracks from iTunes for this reason. Most are horrible. Zero dynamic range. Over emphasized highs and lows, and I tire after listening to the material. Funny how the same tracks on a CD or even vinyl and I can enjoy it without fatigue.

But today's average attention span is so short, most people rarely listen to an entire album. I get it, "make it loud, make it proud" because these millenials can't/won't pay more than 3min 30 sec of attention to one song.

I guess that works for a station like say, Power 96.1 or Star 94, who cater to that demo. But a station like the River, one would think, would want to SOUND like what an average 40 year old would want to hear. Oh well. What do I know.

 

[LiteListener]

Strangeness took place not long ago on the River. At just after 1 in the afternoon local time, they were literally playing 2 songs at the same time. The songs were "Who are You" by the Who and "Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp. A short time ago, the commercial voice over aired and then went to "Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney & Wings, while the Who continued playing.

WTF!?

 

[frankberry]

This falls under, "When good automation does bad things."
Time for a computer restart.