What will happen to 750-AM format wise?

[LegalTender]

I don't expect Cox to split the two stations. They will continue the way WBBM and KCBS are operating in their markets.

They both market their legacy AM signals.

wsbradio.com no longer does.

Speculation is relevant.

 

[TheBigA]

wsbradio.com no longer does.

Speculation is relevant.

Then at some point, they will flip the call letters. Since, in effect, they already have.

They are already associating 95.5 with WSB.

 

[jabba17]

Interestingly enough, WSB-TV always runs a WSB Radio promo going into World News Tonight. Up until now, the graphic has always shown both the AM and FM dial positions. On Friday night, it only mentioned FM. It only said: "WSB 95.5"

iHeartRadio also has the new 95.5-only logo. Of course, iHeartRadio still shows the New Talk 106.7 as well.

 

[acheron1982]

Not that anyone asked but I can confirm that 95.5 is still not coming in clear yet in Bremen the out on the far west Side of Atlanta.

 

[HGR1290]

The new facility is still not on yet.

 

[deejaywestbrook]

With the with 95.5 FM updrades, wonder if they'll finaly tweak the processing and give it some bass. Or even go ((STEREO)).

Also noticed they now do the legal ID (within) the :50 stopset "WSBB FM Doraville and AM 750, WSB Atlanta."

News sounders are totally different. Nice little 'sting' then you hear what sounds like a mini station promo. Then, straight into.... "Good afternoon, it's 4:00, I'm Chris Chandler..... " (It'll take some getting used to).

"95.5 WSB, Atlanta's News and Talk".... (Official branding).

But def should improve the sound. Less shrill, more bass and go stereo.

 

[jabba17]

With the with 95.5 FM updrades, wonder if they'll finaly tweak the processing and give it some bass. Or even go ((STEREO)).

Also noticed they now do the legal ID (within) the :50 stopset "WSBB FM Doraville and AM 750, WSB Atlanta."

News sounders are totally different. Nice little 'sting' then you hear what sounds like a mini station promo. Then, straight into.... "Good afternoon, it's 4:00, I'm Chris Chandler..... " (It'll take some getting used to).

"95.5 WSB, Atlanta's News and Talk".... (Official branding).

But def should improve the sound. Less shrill, more bass and go stereo.

The problem with stereo is that you get more noise, particularly in outlying areas. As far as spoken-word formats go, stereo is great for sports PXP if properly mic'ed, but not sure if it's great for talk unless that's properly mic'ed.

The fundamental question is whether or not the airchain is optimized for AM, or has already been optimized for FM (at least on the FM side). Lots of bass and dynamic range isn't necessarily a good thing for talk.

 

[BIGSTICK]

They should turn it in to standards or oldies like Zoomer 740 in Toronto..

 

[BarryATL]

With the with 95.5 FM updrades, wonder if they'll finaly tweak the processing and give it some bass. Or even go ((STEREO)).

Also noticed they now do the legal ID (within) the :50 stopset "WSBB FM Doraville and AM 750, WSB Atlanta."

News sounders are totally different. Nice little 'sting' then you hear what sounds like a mini station promo. Then, straight into.... "Good afternoon, it's 4:00, I'm Chris Chandler..... " (It'll take some getting used to).

"95.5 WSB, Atlanta's News and Talk".... (Official branding).

But def should improve the sound. Less shrill, more bass and go stereo.

Agree on the needed sound improvement on the FM. It feels/sounds very compressed. After awhile I get that tired feeling in my ears. Sort of like we used to get with the AM 1000 watt top 40 stations back in the day where the modulation needle never went below 98%. I know 95.5 is not that bad, but I am wondering if they have tweaked the processing to help make up for the noise in the weaker city signal.

 

[semoochie]

The problem with stereo is that you get more noise, particularly in outlying areas. As far as spoken-word formats go, stereo is great for sports PXP if properly mic'ed, but not sure if it's great for talk unless that's properly mic'ed.

The fundamental question is whether or not the airchain is optimized for AM, or has already been optimized for FM (at least on the FM side). Lots of bass and dynamic range isn't necessarily a good thing for talk.

Mono goes farther than stereo and is less susceptible to multi-path. I once heard that stereo is 18 times noisier than mono! The ideal situation is to receive a mono broadcast on a mono receiver.

 

[secondchoice]

The problem with stereo is that you get more noise, particularly in outlying areas. As far as spoken-word formats go, stereo is great for sports PXP if properly mic'ed, but not sure if it's great for talk unless that's properly mic'ed.

The fundamental question is whether or not the airchain is optimized for AM, or has already been optimized for FM (at least on the FM side). Lots of bass and dynamic range isn't necessarily a good thing for talk.

The "airchain" or processing for AM and FM should be two separate "paths" after the main control board. There is the "brick-wall" filter function that limits AM to something under 10 KHZ . * The AM AGC should not "see" of react to anything over 10 KHZ. FM AGC's use to go as high as 15 KHZ. Now a lot of FM's has one "box" or PC that does everything. The HD / Digital is a little different story but neither 750 or 95.5 has that issue yet.

* I forget the exact frequency limit the FCC required.

IMHO 95.5 could use a little less compression, not as "hard" AGC, and a tad more bass. But there are studies that show Men over 45 can loose some of their "top end" hearing so the "slightly over driven higher frequencies" might be on purpose.

 

[jabba17]

IMHO 95.5 could use a little less compression, not as "hard" AGC, and a tad more bass. But there are studies that show Men over 45 can loose some of their "top end" hearing so the "slightly over driven higher frequencies" might be on purpose.

I'd love less dynamic range compression, on all media. But it looks like we're not going to get it in these days of the loudness wars.

Would less bass encourage people to turn it up more, and thus register on more PPMs?