Why is 89.5 WSOU's modulation level so low?

[satech]

For quite a while now, I've noticed that 89.5 WSOU is much quieter on the air that almost any other station on the dial. And it's not that their audio is very lightly processed, like 88.3 WBGO; their audio is very tightly modulated and limited, but is peaking 2 to 3 dB lower than most other stations. So what's up? Do they have that "European MPX power limiter" on their audio processor turned on by mistake?

 

[Barry]

How ironic- a station playing rather hard rock, with soft audio.
Maybe they should call themselves Lite Hard Rock 8).

 

[WNTIRadio]

WFUV wins the "NYC quiet audio award", but WSOU sounds squashed and low. Last I know they had an 8400 there.

As far as I'm concerned, the lower the modulation the better on that "music" they play. I'm not that old, but I don't get it... I like melodies, not someone yelling into microphone over a wall of noise sounding like satan with heartburn.

 

[satech]

WFUV wins the "NYC quiet audio award", but WSOU sounds squashed and low. Last I know they had an 8400 there.

As far as I'm concerned, the lower the modulation the better on that "music" they play. I'm not that old, but I don't get it... I like melodies, not someone yelling into microphone over a wall of noise sounding like satan with heartburn.

Given the over-processed nature of the music they play, it's hard to tell if WSOU's processing is at fault for their rather flat sound... but I figure unless they're running their Optimod in "Classical Protect" mode, the automatic multiband EQ should make at least some peaks reach 100% modulation, rather than the overall low modulation they have now.