my vote goes to the Walrus.How about yours?thanks
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YOU VOTE ON WHOSE PROCESSING IS BEST WALRUS OR k-earth
- Thread starter oldiesstation
- Start date
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Bob_Hudson
Guest
Media Hack Chris | SDR said:
This afternoon I was at a spot in Oceanside where each of them had a very good signal: KRTH was playing Bang A Gong and the Walrus had Suzie Q playing I punched the car radio buttons going back and forth between them. Each song has a somewhat slow tempo with a driving bass line and it made for a very good comparison. I was very impressed at how much The W had changed since I last listened to: very nice, but I could not call a winner - maybe The W by a hair, but that could have been the song and how it was compressed to hard drive or however they play them these days.
This question makes sense in only two cases: 1. You commute to LA, listen to K-Earth and then come back to San Diego and listen to Walrus. But, if you do that, you better have a good memory, or; 2. You are like me, and go to these different places and record airchecks of both stations. But if you do that, you run into a new issue, as sound varies by cassette tape, recording machine, or signal strength. You could use a laptop, record it directly in and convert to CD, but you still need a radio receiver to catch the signal and you run into some of the same issues.
So yeah, Chris is right, (as usual) it doesn't make sense. Unless you are an engineer and go to the different stations and take readings, this is really a hard thing for the average listener to even notice. The best you can do is say "they sound similar," or "nothing alike." Again, not sure you can tell.
And trust me, I tried this years ago with KIIS-FM and Q106. I can tell you that KIIS seemed to have a heavier sound than Q106, but I couldn't tell if that was the music selection or processing, and Q106 was always very compressed. I couldn't tell you if the processing of either of those was different.
So yeah, Chris is right, (as usual) it doesn't make sense. Unless you are an engineer and go to the different stations and take readings, this is really a hard thing for the average listener to even notice. The best you can do is say "they sound similar," or "nothing alike." Again, not sure you can tell.
And trust me, I tried this years ago with KIIS-FM and Q106. I can tell you that KIIS seemed to have a heavier sound than Q106, but I couldn't tell if that was the music selection or processing, and Q106 was always very compressed. I couldn't tell you if the processing of either of those was different.
Garrett said:
I should also add that, I seem to remember K-Earth having reverb at one point (and I know that KIIS did), so I think that could be a noticeable difference between Walrus and K-Earth, since reverb doesn't seem particularly popular in San Diego. But again, that's an easy one.
Garrett said:
Here's one of the things I experienced in my career. Superjock from ORDJFKLAX says his engineer had the best processing he ever heard, using the same processing I have in the chain. He presents me with the detailed settings. I willingly oblige him by dialing in the numbers, and it sounds like crap. Even he says so. What's the diff? The board, the STL, the exciter, the transmitter, the multipath, the difference in superjock's ears from two years ago and a 300 watt headphone amp, and several other things that may include who the current bang is for superjock, and whether he's in contract negotiations at the moment.
So then the question becomes, does the guy with the mic on/off switch have any clue? Of course not.
The one that has the clue is the listener. Not the Radio-info board geek, but the true actual listener. They get fatigued from the massive processing power we can throw at them, and turn away. When the needle moves 1/2 dB on the monitor, it's pretty tiresome to listen to after a very short period of time. So what's the answer? I hate to say it because of the catastrophic Clear Channel branding of "less is more," but in their failure to make it work with advertising, the phrase is absolutely correct with processing. Less is more. It's good to let a musical passage go down 10 dB and increase to max. It makes it more listenable and palatable, and not so damn tiring. It would be even better to let it decay 30 dB, but that would be heresy even to the most thoughtful and caring of those concerned with the actual quality of the product. $hit, a quiet passage at a stoplight might actually die away, and we can't have that.
Program directors that hide behind "my station isn't loud enough" are really hiding behind their own incompetence at programming. If the programming is good the listeners will be there. The "loudness" of the station will only serve to drive those listeners away. It's the content, stupid.
Don't mistake that I believe good processing is an essential part of the overall equation, but loud at the expense of fatique doesn't equal good. You have to find the sweet spot.
It's very hard to do with an oldies format, or really any format.
B
Bob_Hudson
Guest
Garrett said:
I spend a lot of time going back and forth along the Highway 78 corridor in North San Diego County and both of the stations are viable alternatives with nearly matched signal close to the coast, so I punch back and forth between them constantly.
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136kgb
Guest
KRTH sounds the best, besides that right now Walrus has no right channel, The engineer is a democrat but thats ridiculous. It sounds like their processor is dying. KRTH sounds huge and 3 dimensional you can almost reach out and touch the sound, 105.7 does not
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Bob_Hudson
Guest
136kgb said:
Well this is Mexican station so I think the engineer is PRI, but if he was PAN then he would know to send the signal to both channels
1
136kgb
Guest
No No I am referring to Lipis
Lipis is great. When he and Lee McGowan were chiefs at KCBQ circa 1980 - 1988 those stations never sounded better.
We're talking about processing, not the location of the stations. If you can't hear them both where you live, just hop in your care and drive until you can.
In terms of music, the San Diego station is braver because it seems to have a deeper playlist. Is that good or bad? Depends. Because they carry the Padres, the station will receive lots of cume - lots of sampling - so a larger playlist works to their advantage. More of their samplers will stick. A narrow playlist will do the opposite.
Here's why I think The Walrus seems to have a deeper playlist...
The baseball team markets itself primarily to families and groups because they provide more revenue per carload. Two drunk buddies in an AMC Gremlin will spend far less than mom, dad and two kids in the Dodge Caravan. Baseball marketers have known this for years.
So, baseball is a family event and The Walrus - with its wider playlist - will become a family station. The revenue will follow, nicely.
...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
- Ox
In terms of music, the San Diego station is braver because it seems to have a deeper playlist. Is that good or bad? Depends. Because they carry the Padres, the station will receive lots of cume - lots of sampling - so a larger playlist works to their advantage. More of their samplers will stick. A narrow playlist will do the opposite.
Here's why I think The Walrus seems to have a deeper playlist...
The baseball team markets itself primarily to families and groups because they provide more revenue per carload. Two drunk buddies in an AMC Gremlin will spend far less than mom, dad and two kids in the Dodge Caravan. Baseball marketers have known this for years.
So, baseball is a family event and The Walrus - with its wider playlist - will become a family station. The revenue will follow, nicely.
...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
- Ox
B
Bob_Hudson
Guest
Media Hack Chris | SDR said:
So true, so true. That's why most of us don't care if we listen to AM or FM: if the content is right, who cares about the sound of it?
(Okay, now before Davie Eddie - Defender of the Radio Realm - jumps in here with the latest Dept. of Radio Sales Hype stats on what percentage of able-eared Americans prefer your FM to your AM, I will slowly back away, all the while extricating tongue from cheek....)
Who remembers back in the day (so far back it was before we started saying "back in the day") when KOGO had the Padres (and before Dex Allen and the owners of 106.5 KPRI bought KOGO and ruined it)?
I seem to recall that in the very late 70's there were two ratings books each year and the one that covered baseball season had KOGO at #1, while the non-Padres book dropped them down to maybe not even in the top 10. At any rate, regardless of actual numbers (and perhaps DRR Dave has them) the Padres gave KOGO a huge boost, but I don't recall that happening to any other station since then. Of course baseball is much less than the national pastime than it was in say 1980, but since we now have a station with music aligned with the older folks more likely to still care about baseball, perhaps this will be a nice combo. For those of us who never cared about baseball, it's just a reason to punch the button and be thankful I live in an area where I can get both KRTH and the Walrus (and when I'm in my wife's Honda Pilot, I've got XM's channels 4,5,6 & 7 for oldies radio that your AM's and FM's just can't even compete with when it comes to content).
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