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WLGZ Sound Quality

V

vinyltapecd

OK, I am a bit of a radio geek, and I'm a 27 year old who really wishes 60s and "softer" 70s music was still played on the radio today- it's almost nonexistent on any of the stations where I live. I noticed that Central NY seems to have a few stations which still play this kind of music, and I'm going to be taking a trip to this area soon to visit some of my wife's family. So I decided that I would like to listen to one of the stations while I am in the area (before they all switch formats), and WLGZ in Rochester seems to be the most convenient one for me to "check out".

I just wanted to check with people who can receive WLGZ over the air: how is the sound quality? The main reason why I get a kick of hearing older music on the radio is because of the dynamic range compression...I feel that it gives the music a "rich" and "full" sound which you don't hear otherwise. So I just want to make sure that the station doesn't have any major sound quality issues. For instance, I hope they don't filter out frequecies anywhere below 15 khz...I noticed some stations do this and it kills the high frequencies in my opinion. I checked out the internet stream and it sounds REALLY BAD, but I'm assuming that it's just a low quality stream and the station itself doesn't sound horrible like this. In case WLGZ does actually sound bad over the air, what other recommendations does everyone have for similar stations in the area, or even in the entire NY state!!! Anything that plays "easy listening" or a lot of 60s oldies would be fine, but something like WCBS doesn't play enough 60s or softer 70s for my taste. We might be going towards NYC as well, so I'd be willing to travel pretty much anywhere in the whole state of NY in case there is a really good sounding FM station playing this kind of music.
 
Sounds OK on a desktop radio and a decent Delco car audio system...most of the Rochester stations do.
 
vinyltapecd said:
OK, I am a bit of a radio geek, and I'm a 27 year old who really wishes 60s and "softer" 70s music was still played on the radio today.... The main reason why I get a kick of hearing older music on the radio is because of the dynamic range compression...I feel that it gives the music a "rich" and "full" sound which you don't hear otherwise. So I just want to make sure that the station doesn't have any major sound quality issues. For instance, I hope they don't filter out frequecies anywhere below 15 khz...I noticed some stations do this and it kills the high frequencies in my opinion... pretty much anywhere in the whole state of NY in case there is a really good sounding FM station playing this kind of music.
Click to expand...

Setting the processing for Classic Hits stations can be an art in and of itself. Come to think of it, setting the processing for any format can be a trick. So many radio stations "smash" the audio these days using Omnia's or digital Orbans with secret black boxes ahead of the final processor. Add to this microphone processing and EQ and it's easy to hear why some stations are overdone.

It may be subjective, but I've long held the opinion that if the audio processing is overdone and harsh, it leads to listener fatigue and burnout. Everybody wants to be loud,but to be loud and clean, that's the trick. Considering a recent study by Fred Jacobs on listening habits of PPM users being two minutes at a time, fatigue may be one of the reasons listeners are in and out after two minutes. Then again it could be a combination off half a dozen metrics. That's another thread.

The waveforms for songs released in the last five to ten years especially, with rare exception (U2, Coldplay and a few others) are "brick wall limited" and processed to the max. It's said to be so because producers want the songs to have "that radio sound" when people listen to the tracks on their iPods or mp3 players. Put a hyper processed song into a radio station's hyper processed audio chain and you get a witch's brew of audio.

Songs produced in the 60s and 70s and very often present a distinct difference in production styles from songs produced in the 80s, let alone the last ten years. However, the Ronnettes and a few other 60s groups produced by Phil Spector tend to be quite "squashed" but not quite as "crunched" as the processing used by say... Nirvana or Metalica.

There's a thread on the NYC board regarding CBS-FM's processing, offering rave revues to the CE (and from this poster, comps to the PD as well) for his fine work there.

The breadth of music played by Classic Hits/Oldies stations requires a refined touch when it comes to processing because the format offers everything from the 60s through the 80s. This covers an amazing array of production styles and techniques. Consider the Supremes (Motown), Aretha and Wilson Pickett (Atlantic), the O'Jays (Philly International), Beatles (George Martin EMI-Capital) and Huey Lewis to Tina Turner. To "see" the variety of mixes, all one has to do is open the wave form in a digital editor such as Adobe, ProTools or Audacity.

In many cases, when it comes to processing, less is more. It's good to be "loud," but the first rule is "keep it clean." It takes the ears of a PD and Chief Engineer working together, plus lots of dedictaed listening in different environments to get it right. BTW, it's been my experience that Bill Stachowiak, Al Marranca and Tom Atkins know how to get it done.
 
Thanks a lot for the responses...so JimPastrick, since you seem to know a lot about radio processing, have you ever listened to WLGZ over the air, and do you have any comments about the sound of the station? OR if you haven't actually heard WLGZ, are there any other stations in New York state with a similar format that you'd recommend? I've heard WCBS has excellent sound quality but their playlist is a little too "common" and "safe" for me, with not enough 60s or soft 70s.
 
I noticed a long time ago I could put a Beatles song on and practically use it to zero the VU meter! Yet the songs never sounded smashed or over compressed.

You know a station is over compressed when you can't hear the false fade is Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds".
 
vinyltapecd said:
OK, I am a bit of a radio geek, and I'm a 27 year old who really wishes 60s and "softer" 70s music was still played on the radio today- it's almost nonexistent on any of the stations where I live. I noticed that Central NY seems to have a few stations which still play this kind of music, and I'm going to be taking a trip to this area soon to visit some of my wife's family. So I decided that I would like to listen to one of the stations while I am in the area (before they all switch formats), and WLGZ in Rochester seems to be the most convenient one for me to "check out".
Click to expand...

Since I've read a number of your posts... I know what you like. "MAGIC" was your favorite, and it's gone from FM. If you use that as your comparison (or starting point) you'll be disappointed while visiting upstate NY. I know NYS radio pretty well, and know of no other station that fits your criteria except maybe for the "NEW" Utica translator on 95.5 which relays 1480 & 1550 AM. There are stations like the former FM Magic, but we know you WON'T listen to AM under ANY circumstances. So, when you limit your listening to FM, you immediately have to take several possibilities out of the mix. You must realize that your preferences are few and far between.....especially on FM.

All I can say is, near Rochester (Canandaigua), try 102.3 -- "Sunny FM". If you were further north towards Watertown, I'd suggest 102.7 -- The Lake. That's all I can think of.
 
vinyltapecd said:
OK, I am a bit of a radio geek, and I'm a 27 year old who really wishes 60s and "softer" 70s music was still played on the radio today- it's almost nonexistent on any of the stations where I live. I noticed that Central NY seems to have a few stations which still play this kind of music, and I'm going to be taking a trip to this area soon to visit some of my wife's family. So I decided that I would like to listen to one of the stations while I am in the area (before they all switch formats), and WLGZ in Rochester seems to be the most convenient one for me to "check out".
Click to expand...

Can't help you out with WLGZ, since it's outta my area. But from reading several of your posts, I know what an audio connoisseur you are… and the kind of music you like. If when traveling through New York you use the old MAGIC FM (the one you liked) as your comparison, you’ll be severely disappointed. Their type of format is basically only heard on AM (which I know you refuse to listen to). The only one that might come close is the new Utica translator on 95.5 which relays 1480 & 1550 AM. Other than that, all I can think of is maybe 102.3 (Canandaigua) Rochester, “Sunny FM”. Or if you were heading toward Watertown, I’d suggest “The Lake” on 102.7 Since you limit your listening to FM, and prefer the type of format traditionally only heard on AM… you have very few choices.
 
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