WROX is now on FM and other observations in the Delta.

[mikl73]

WROX can now be heard on FM again via W289AP 105.7 in Clarksdale.
While in Clarksdale this weekend and in the car with my aunt she was listening via 1450 and was not aware of 105.7 yet.
105.7 sounded great and has very good coverage for 250watts.


I lost it and 96.5 around 61 & 49. Not sure why WKDJ is getting out like a translator.
Also WAID has some audio chain issues. Much louder on the right ch and missing some of the high end on the left ch.
The new 98.7 WNEV sounded terrible. It sounds like they are using a terrible WMA web stream in place of real STL.
WQMA was still on the air playing a syndicated 70's Christmas special Friday afternoon.
92.9 95.3 101.9 are of course still off the air.

 

[flytrap]

The bad audio these days is one of my pet peeves. One of the original reasons for FM being invented was for listeners to get better sound quality and less static. But judging by the way some of these FM stations sound nowadays, kinda makes me miss music on AM. As a matter of fact WTWZ AM in Clinton sounds better to me than some of the local FM stations. Supertalk for a long time sounded like they were getting the audio from a dial up modem. Gurgling, swishy underwater sounding, its gotten better but it is still not "broadcast quality" The Mancow show on WJFN AM-FM in Brandon is almost unlistenable. There is so much bass in Mancows voice that it sounds like a rumble. it also has that low bitrate sound with the swishy bumper music. The vocals also disappear like its out of phase. WQST 92.5 and other AFR stations also sound like mono internet audio. Another pet peeve is broadcasting a football game over a cell phone. Especially when they try to broadcast the band during halftime. I don't even like talking to someone who is on a cellphone because of the Donald Duck audio, much less hearing people call up talk shows on them and broadcast sports. I know its convienient, but it sounds like crap. When everything was analog the sound was fine on the radio. I can deal with a little static on a phone line as long as i can hear it and understand what people are saying, but this whole low bitrate digital thing these days is just plain horrible. I think I'll get out my record player.

 

[mikl73]

There are some great sounding stations in Mississippi also. Some with very un-elaborate processing so I know it's not hard to sound good. If a station can sound great with out a 10,000 dollar box in the chain there is really nothing but lack of care to blame in most cases.

 

[flytrap]

They don't care what they sound like anymore. As long as its loud, they could care less if its pushed into the distortion level. Its bad enough that the CD's themselves are pushed to the limit, but by the time it goes through the stations processing, Its so loud and distorted its barely worth hearing. , I remember listening to WZZQ back in the 70's and it sounded pretty good, but todays stations, especialy some of the CHR ones are so loud and compressed its sad and painful to hear. The old engineers of the past, if any are still around would be sickened. The question I've always wondered. Do the people that run these stations actually listen to their own stations over the air? Apparently not. My little $10 Ipod transmitter sounds better than a couple of stations around Jackson. I don't need to mention which ones. Just hit your scan, you'll know which.

 

[mikl73]

WROX has started ID'ing both the FM and AM. I must have heard it just as it made it on the air.

 

[RadeoEngineer]

They don't care what they sound like anymore. As long as its loud, they could care less if its pushed into the distortion level. Its bad enough that the CD's themselves are pushed to the limit, but by the time it goes through the stations processing, Its so loud and distorted its barely worth hearing. , I remember listening to WZZQ back in the 70's and it sounded pretty good, but todays stations, especialy some of the CHR ones are so loud and compressed its sad and painful to hear. The old engineers of the past, if any are still around would be sickened. The question I've always wondered. Do the people that run these stations actually listen to their own stations over the air? Apparently not. My little $10 Ipod transmitter sounds better than a couple of stations around Jackson. I don't need to mention which ones. Just hit your scan, you'll know which.

It comes from not having the ear and knowledge of what a processor does. Too often someone will just pick a preset and crank up the "more" knob. A station can still sound great with nothing but an Optimod 8100, but get a digital box in the wrong hands and look out!

 

[mikl73]

It comes from not having the ear and knowledge of what a processor does. Too often someone will just pick a preset and crank up the "more" knob. A station can still sound great with nothing but an Optimod 8100, but get a digital box in the wrong hands and look out!

To add to this...

It adds nothing to already hypercompressed music that has no dynamic range left in it.

 

[Sam The Record Man]

I got to hear WROX's translator the other night. I'll have to disagree with the earlier poster, the 250 watts just doesn't seem to be getting out very far.

It's probably not a transmitter issue so much as processing issue. I had to turn my radio all the way up just to hear it clearly. It sounds like they're just passing the unprocessed AM-bandwidth audio to the FM transmitter for the time being. Going from 105.7 to one of the other stations caused me to blow the doors off the car, lol.

I think the coverage will "seem" bigger once they get some dedicated processing to the translator. Silly goose that I am, I was driving south on 61 towards Cleveland and thought I'd lose it so I cut back to AM before I got out of town. It wasn't until later that I realized the TX site is actually way south of town. I could have easily listened south to about Alligator or further. Just as well, the AM processing on WROX is great and is a joy to listen to, even from a good distance during the day.

98.7 does indeed sound horrible, which is a shame because their choice of TX location is good for covering both Clarksdale and Helena, AR. Is this going to be a non-comm operation or are they playing commercials?

One of the most common audio chain issues I hear in rural areas all over the US are balance issues. Mississippi certainly has its fair share of off balance stations like WAID, Bullseye 95.5 in Oxford and some of the MPB stations from time to time. That's as annoying to me as mushy audio or clipping.

Oh well, I guess locals should be thankful they have anything at all, this part of the state seems to have more than the average number of stations dark. A few translators off (Winona, Charleston), a few AMs dark (Winona, Greenwood, Grenada, Cleveland) and another FM has apparently bit the dust. 101.3 (WMUT?) Grenada was off last month when I drove through, off again this time around, too.

 

[mikl73]

let me elaborate on my post.. I heard it north to Helena cutoff on 61. I did not mean the "crossroads" of 49 & 61 right in town. The modulation seemed fine when I was there. I didn't really notice it being too low.

I have heard a few commercials on 98.7. LT Simes other station (KCLT) hasn't had a good spot load on it since the late 80s and very early 90s. I wouldn't expect much different out of 98.7.
98.7 sounds like it's being fed with window media server at fairly low bit rate.

 

[lfuss]

WROX processing for FM died. Awaiting replacement. Also, the FM apmplifier failed and the xltr was running on the exciter only for a while. That's been fixed.

LF