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Transmitters on the water

B

Bat Fastard

I was in Memphis over the weekend and no matter how many times I see it, I am still somewhat amazed by the towers that are currently sitting in the overflow backwaters of the Mississippi River...on the Arkansas side. It's strange to be looking out over the flood waters only to see the porch light burning brightly from one of the transmitter shacks. I can only imagine how much fun it must be to take a boat to the transmitter.

Remembering back when Sam Phillips built his building (now Flinn's place) on the banks of the Nonconnah, everyone said he was crazy. They said it would flood. I know Sam had to deal with people who thought he was crazy before then - only to have the last laugh - but he looked like the engineering genius he was when the creek's flood waters came up to about a foot below the building and never came in. My guess is that they never did. When a new AM tower & transmitter were placed out the back door (and over the flood plain) that little AM would get OUT when the ground would get submerged.

With that in mind, have I just answered my own question?: why does KWAM sound like it's under water? I acutally enjoyed some of the programming, once I got past the liquid-sounding signal.

Also glaring to my failing ears: the difference in the processing between 98.1 The Max and Rock 103. 98.1 has a signal that has much more presence and clarity. 103 sounds O.K., until you compare it to 98.1.

Let's see...KWAM sounds like it's coming from the bottom of the river and 103 sounds muddy. I believe there's a connection there. My guess is that it's NOT the engineers at Clear Channel...it's what they are forced to work with.

How am I doing so far?
 
103 has not always sounded that way.

and I absolutely agree with you about how 990 and 98.1 sound.

98.1 sounds great

check the other clear channel fm's out you will not be impressed by them either.

for example 101 lacks almost any dynamics... it sounds about as flat as flat can be.
 
Usually, the problem that makes a station’s audio sound ‘underwater’ is a high digital error rate. The fact that KWAM’s antenna is almost underwater has nothing to do with that although if it gets above the base insulator that will certainly cure the audio problems in the form of them being off the air…but I think the bases are above the 100 year mark, as is the transmitter buil…er trailer, Flinn’s stuff on the Arkansas side looks OK as well.

KWAM has always had audio problems as far back as I can remember. When I was a consulting engineer for 101 for that brief period when it was CHR back in the late 80’s and before I came back to Memphis and the WMC stations, I offered to take a look at the transmitter plant over on KWAM AM. It was a wreck, and they never wanted to spend any money on it. I think it was Beasley broadcasting at the time, but it doesn’t sound any better. I think they have some nice studios now but it sure doesn’t sound like they’ve made any improvement in the audio.

Funny you should mention 103. XM70's and WEGR were both playing "Frankenstein" this afternoon at the same time. There was much less clarity and top end in 103's signal, and XM70's audio ain't much to crow about from the start.

Maybe I’m old school, but none of the new digital processors on the air in Memphis (or any of the analog stuff I hear) impress me. Maybe they just aren’t adjusted right. I do have to agree 98.1 is probably the best sounding station on the dial. KIX sounds OK as well, but it’s always been easier to process a country format. I suppose it’s because of how Nashville produces the songs. I personally would like to tweak on 98.9’s audio just for fun.
 
radiosaur said:
I personally would like to tweak on 98.9’s audio just for fun.
Click to expand...

someone needs to :)

anyone noticed they have put a morning show together now?

I wonder if the ratings will reflect any of this... I tend to prefer the music on 98.9
 
The problem with modern digital processors is that they are so powerful and complicated that it's easier to make them sound bad than good. Some guys just use presets and then crank the "more" knob. It takes days to really get a processor sounding right and if you don't really get a handle on the architecture of a particular box you may never get it to sound its best.
 
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