I just got back from a week-long road trip from Buffalo, NY to Boston, MA. I'm a radio junkie - and a 30-year vet of the business now working part-time for a Citadel station in Buffalo. Now, I'm not a real audiophile, but I have the stock AM/FM/CD in my car tweaked to sound reasonably flat when listening to FM. I like to hear all of the music - lows, mids, highs, but I'm used to compression. As a matter of fact, I prefer it to uncompressed CD sound.
I listened to radio in Buffalo, Batavia, Rochester, Geneva, Auburn, Syracuse, Utica, Little Falls, Saratoga, Albany, The Berkshires, Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, and most of the Boston signals. Of all the radio I heard, the WORST audio was undeniably in SYRACUSE.
WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE LISTENING TO? I've never heard so many bottom-heavy, overcompressed radio stations in one market. And when I say compressed, I mean to the point of distortion. Most embarassing of all, the Citadel stations were among the worst offenders.
Now, I know that CHRs crank up the bottom end, and I heard that in a lot of places, but at least the bottom end wasn't distorted. Not in Syracuse. Both Hot and NTQ sound worse than comparable formats in other markets.
The worst offender to my ears was 95X. The bottom end is so distorted, and the vocals so hard to hear that it's physically tiresome to listen to. I thought maybe the problem was with the newer music, which I know has the dynamic range of a brick, but I heard the same crappy audio on older songs that sounded fine on other stations. I've heard mp3s streamed over a modem connection that sound better.
The Galaxy stations were among the more listenable from an audio standpoint. Some of the Citadel and Clear Channel stations were terrible.
Now, maybe Interstate 90 isn't the best place to listen from, but I heard the same thing on the way to Boston, and on the way home. As a matter of fact, I stopped for dinner in Syracuse so I'd have a little more time to listen. That makes me think that it's not a short-term problem. I don't know if it's the way music is recorded when it's added to the hard drive, or the processing itself, but the end result is the worst audio I heard in two states. Locally produced commercials were also noticeably worse in audio quality than national ads.
OK. Flame away guys. Say what you want, but that's what I heard. Listen critically, and I think you'll find that I'm not too far off the mark. I heard better audio in freakin' UTICA.
This is strictly an evaluation of the audio quality. Comments regarding air talent would be a bit unfair considering the minimal listening time in the market.
I listened to radio in Buffalo, Batavia, Rochester, Geneva, Auburn, Syracuse, Utica, Little Falls, Saratoga, Albany, The Berkshires, Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, and most of the Boston signals. Of all the radio I heard, the WORST audio was undeniably in SYRACUSE.
WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE LISTENING TO? I've never heard so many bottom-heavy, overcompressed radio stations in one market. And when I say compressed, I mean to the point of distortion. Most embarassing of all, the Citadel stations were among the worst offenders.
Now, I know that CHRs crank up the bottom end, and I heard that in a lot of places, but at least the bottom end wasn't distorted. Not in Syracuse. Both Hot and NTQ sound worse than comparable formats in other markets.
The worst offender to my ears was 95X. The bottom end is so distorted, and the vocals so hard to hear that it's physically tiresome to listen to. I thought maybe the problem was with the newer music, which I know has the dynamic range of a brick, but I heard the same crappy audio on older songs that sounded fine on other stations. I've heard mp3s streamed over a modem connection that sound better.
The Galaxy stations were among the more listenable from an audio standpoint. Some of the Citadel and Clear Channel stations were terrible.
Now, maybe Interstate 90 isn't the best place to listen from, but I heard the same thing on the way to Boston, and on the way home. As a matter of fact, I stopped for dinner in Syracuse so I'd have a little more time to listen. That makes me think that it's not a short-term problem. I don't know if it's the way music is recorded when it's added to the hard drive, or the processing itself, but the end result is the worst audio I heard in two states. Locally produced commercials were also noticeably worse in audio quality than national ads.
OK. Flame away guys. Say what you want, but that's what I heard. Listen critically, and I think you'll find that I'm not too far off the mark. I heard better audio in freakin' UTICA.
This is strictly an evaluation of the audio quality. Comments regarding air talent would be a bit unfair considering the minimal listening time in the market.
