Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

What a mess!

I wanted to bitch about this. Vocals to me sound absolutely muffled. I can't listen to 96.3 for an extended length of time anyway, but how can those who enjoy their playlist stomach such abysmal sound quality?

I wonder what Cumulus uses for processing there. All three stations sound like absolute shit from an audio standpoint.

Yeah, 96.3 sounded damn good for quite a while. Are these new processing settings for 96.3 the handiwork of the new "Director of FM Programming"? If so, good god. The man must not have ears.

As for 93.1, it sounded best from a processing standpoint when it was still Doug. Ever since the flip to country, the audio has sounded like garbage IMO.

Sounds like backup processing.
Something in the rack probably died and they're waiting on a replacement would be my guess.

Sounds like it has been fixed?

Hey, MW. You ever notice something? It's almost like these companies don't care about shitty ratings, shitty billing, shitty formats, and shitty sound? I think most (not all) broadcasting companies are doing some kind of Brewster's Millions thing here.

Stations go weeks with audio processing problems, book after book after book of shitty ratings, playlists that blow chunks... WRIF certainly rises above most of that, but many other groups/stations seem to enjoy sucking.

It is back to sounding crappy.

When Ed B was CE at WJR, that station had a better than FM stereo audio chain over the air, and it's been crap since his passing. The engineer's Cumulus has circulated thru the Toledo/Detroit market have been insufficient in number, and have been more "I.T." people than RF and audio people. It's truly sad. Radio doesn't need another reason not to listen to it. Sirius had already done that with their horrible sounding artifacts and realized they need to use the XM audio methods instead, so Chrysler group, and finally, Ford has dropped the Sirius trash and is now installing "SXM" (ie: XM-based) systems so as not to fatigue the listeners. Now if only Cumulus could do the same? Hell, the AM station in Ionia on 1430 sounds better than any FM in Detroit today!

Ed was CE at WJR, but Hal Buttermore was CE at 96.3.

Listened last night. Sounds much better than it has in recent weeks.