Though very little electricity.Art Van Damme wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:51 am1090am WCAR Livonia. Waste of electricity and real estate.
Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
- ZenithCKLW
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
I live 2 miles from WCAR. Voices on that station sound like the Charlie Brown teacher.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
If you have the 2.0 SXM tuner, they don't sound too bad. I wish they'd just shift everything over to that system, but that won't happen for a long time...WOHO wrote:All of the Sirius-based stations and 1/3 of the XM-based stations.
I agree with you on WWJ, especially when you lock them in HD. Way too much low end...
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take this job and shove it
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
When it comes to speeding up music excessively, the former 94.3 the Bone takes the cake.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
What format did it have, again? Alt? Seems like a format where pitching/speeding up music would be verboten...radioandtventhusiast wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:45 pmWhen it comes to speeding up music excessively, the former 94.3 the Bone takes the cake.
take this job and shove it
Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
ALL NPR stations, the modulation is so low, all you hear is static and noise....until they add music, and it blows out your ears.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
Not only was it in mono, but audio was fed from a Gatesway II console to a CBS Labs Volumax, then to a Dorrough DAP 310. The Gateway II often had leaking caps, "steps" in its pots, and was rotting away fast. In 95-96, the old Gates relic was replaced with an LPB Signature (still mono) board - but in much better condition.
The Dorrough was installed in '93, if I remember correctly. Finally got a bit of modulation out of the (I believe it was a BE) 10 watt exciter/Harris FM100K combo. The Dorrough had been re-capped; the Volumax had not and was finicky at times.
On a recent 20-year reunion tour of the school, witnessed a major upgrade of equipment. BE FM250B TX/BE FX50 Exciter, BEXT XT100 Backup TX, and CRL Amigo for AGC/Stereo Generation.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
Star 105.7 in Grand Rapids speeds up its music. If you thought Madonna circa 1984-85 (when her voice was artificially sped up on her recordings to start with) already sounded like Minnie Mouse, on Star she sounds like Minnie Mouse on helium. I guess the purpose is to make WLHT sound "draggy" by comparison. Instead, it makes WSRW virtually unlistenable.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
I noticed that Star sped up its songs during a trip to GR last year. Both sisters 101.5 the River and 100.3 WNIC don't do this, so I don't know why 105.7 does it. As far as I know, most AC stations don't speed/pitch up music.ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:09 pmStar 105.7 in Grand Rapids speeds up its music. If you thought Madonna circa 1984-85 (when her voice was artificially sped up on her recordings to start with) already sounded like Minnie Mouse, on Star she sounds like Minnie Mouse on helium. I guess the purpose is to make WLHT sound "draggy" by comparison. Instead, it makes WSRW virtually unlistenable.
Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
Driving down I-75, I caught WQON-FM the other day. It sounded as if they were playing songs directly from You Tube... or from a Memorex cassette recorded in the mid-80's (and pulled from a dusty shoebox). It doesn't help that the processing isn't good, but the audio quality I heard was some of the worst I've ever heard over a broadcast station. I kept switching off of it, then went back to it to see if it was just a corrupt song file. Over a period of time, I heard 20+ minutes of bad audio, then it leveled off to every couple of songs were poor audio cuts. Not sure if it's the music loaded in their automation, or someone grabbing stuff from another source and sticking it straight over the air. If it's music in the automation; they need to do an overhaul with some uncompressed audio to clean that up.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
It's especially noticeable when they're all-Christmas. How to make "I Want a Hippopotamus" or "Grandma Got Run Over" more intolerable: speed it up.radioandtventhusiast wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:49 pmI noticed that Star sped up its songs during a trip to GR last year. Both sisters 101.5 the River and 100.3 WNIC don't do this, so I don't know why 105.7 does it. As far as I know, most AC stations don't speed/pitch up music.ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:09 pmStar 105.7 in Grand Rapids speeds up its music. If you thought Madonna circa 1984-85 (when her voice was artificially sped up on her recordings to start with) already sounded like Minnie Mouse, on Star she sounds like Minnie Mouse on helium. I guess the purpose is to make WLHT sound "draggy" by comparison. Instead, it makes WSRW virtually unlistenable.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
And those slow crooner Christmas songs shouldn't be sped up at all.ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:35 pmIt's especially noticeable when they're all-Christmas. How to make "I Want a Hippopotamus" or "Grandma Got Run Over" more intolerable: speed it up.radioandtventhusiast wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:49 pmI noticed that Star sped up its songs during a trip to GR last year. Both sisters 101.5 the River and 100.3 WNIC don't do this, so I don't know why 105.7 does it. As far as I know, most AC stations don't speed/pitch up music.ChrisWL1980 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:09 pmStar 105.7 in Grand Rapids speeds up its music. If you thought Madonna circa 1984-85 (when her voice was artificially sped up on her recordings to start with) already sounded like Minnie Mouse, on Star she sounds like Minnie Mouse on helium. I guess the purpose is to make WLHT sound "draggy" by comparison. Instead, it makes WSRW virtually unlistenable.
Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
Outside the state, the now silent WBCP 1580 in Champaign-Urbana was extremely over modulated on an old aircheck found on Youtube. Hearing the station in person last year, the audio was so low you couldn’t even hear it well when cranking the volume knob!
WWJ has had issues with digital artifacts the past few months. Listening to a traffic report especially, you could hear the last few words faintly after the speaker had finished. I even called the station to report this, and it was not fixed at that time.
WWJ has had issues with digital artifacts the past few months. Listening to a traffic report especially, you could hear the last few words faintly after the speaker had finished. I even called the station to report this, and it was not fixed at that time.
Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
The stupid things that keep me up at night...djb wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:25 amNot only was it in mono, but audio was fed from a Gatesway II console to a CBS Labs Volumax, then to a Dorrough DAP 310. The Gateway II often had leaking caps, "steps" in its pots, and was rotting away fast. In 95-96, the old Gates relic was replaced with an LPB Signature (still mono) board - but in much better condition.
The Dorrough was installed in '93, if I remember correctly. Finally got a bit of modulation out of the (I believe it was a BE) 10 watt exciter/Harris FM100K combo. The Dorrough had been re-capped; the Volumax had not and was finicky at times.
On a recent 20-year reunion tour of the school, witnessed a major upgrade of equipment. BE FM250B TX/BE FX50 Exciter, BEXT XT100 Backup TX, and CRL Amigo for AGC/Stereo Generation.
I could keep picturing (although hazy - quite a few brain cells ago) the rack that sat in the studio. Exciter right on top. Finally tracked down what is was - a Cetec/Sparta 680.
Not that any of this matters; just wanted to share.
Oh, and the Volumax long died by the time I was in High School. It was the Audimax 4440A that got the audio from the board, and the off to the Dorrough before hitting the exciter.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.
When I was at Aquinas (I'm sure it has gotten better by now - 14 years later) the campus radio station was consistently going off-air. No one knew why that happened, but there was an internet feed through the campus intranet, so those anywhere on campus with a laptop could tune in.
I don't remember the models, but I do know the sound source came from a Pentium II running Windows 98, and a playlist through WinAmp. The mixer was a four-channel board from the 70s, and someone took the headphone jack out of the board, so you had literally no idea what the sound was like when you used the mic.
I did a two-hour "70s/80s" lunch block twice a week. Connected my laptop to the aux on the PC and just bypass WinAmp to do what I wanted. It obviously worked, but one massive ad hoc.
I don't remember the models, but I do know the sound source came from a Pentium II running Windows 98, and a playlist through WinAmp. The mixer was a four-channel board from the 70s, and someone took the headphone jack out of the board, so you had literally no idea what the sound was like when you used the mic.
I did a two-hour "70s/80s" lunch block twice a week. Connected my laptop to the aux on the PC and just bypass WinAmp to do what I wanted. It obviously worked, but one massive ad hoc.