"I remember WPRO always being heavy on Reverb."
Skynet74 said:
It used to sound like they were in a tunnel. Both AM and FM. What was the point of this? Was it supposed to give the stations a larger sound?
NOT "always."
Several points:
1. Pre-1974, when WPRO-AM was on Mason Street, the reverb jimmyONE referred to was an actual car audio system reverb, which they rigged-up with a push-button; and the jock would use it for emphasis, when delivering the topical on-hour slogan, i.e., "THE STATION THAT REACHES THE BEACHES," or whatever promotion-of-the-moment was front-burner. Because the reverb wasn't broadcast quality, it was only (supposed to be) used in this voice-only fashion, and the station was otherwise "fat and flat."
2. 1974:
a.) WPRO AM/FM move to Wampanoag Trail, get new equipment (including broadcast-quality reverb and other then-state-of-the-art audio processing);
b.) WPRO-FM flips Beautiful Music to CHR, adds deep WABC-in-its-heyday-level reverb;
c.) WPRO-AM reverb is BARELY audible, just-enough-so-we-weren't-flat, and tweaked ad nauseam, as was separate mic processing, music EQ, etc. Example:
http://getonthenet.com/WPRO77.wax (not like-a-tunnel, just-a-touch).
Why reverb and other "juicing:" To sound different and distinctive, and -- for AMs -- "apparent loudness," so what-we-were-pumping-out made-the-most-of how a Delco dashboard radio sounded. "Hot," not "pure." For-the-same-reason some stations (i.e., WGNG, not WPRO) would play records @ 47RPM, to sound brighter than the competition, and play more music.
Misty watercolor MEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMories...