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Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

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HGR1290
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by HGR1290 » Fri Nov 13, 2020 8:01 pm

Going back a decade or five, WCRM AM and FM Clare, in the mid 70s. The FM Side sounded like it was taken off the AM modulation monitor. Quite bright, quite gritty, quite difficult to listen to. This may have been just after they came on the air.

WCEN-FM Mt Pleasant, back when it was on Bluegrass Rd at 16kW. It would light the stereo light, but had a funky sound in stereo.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Nov 14, 2020 8:52 am

Worst sounding radio station as we sit here today - 1160 WCXI. All content off the bird sounds brutally distorted.



bmw
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by bmw » Sat Nov 14, 2020 3:23 pm

102.5 WIOG during first decade of the 2000s. They sped their music up by as much as 6 percent and the bass was very distorted (had a distinct sound that I can't describe). For a brief time afterwards they sounded much better, though today I note that they are once again way over-processed.

760 WJR today. HOLY COW are they over-modulated!

Several honorable mentions today - 106.3 WGER and 106.1 The Point (Tawas) - both way over-processed.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:11 pm

Yup - WJR has been severely overmodulated since last winter. They sound like shit aurally.

I also agree re: WIOG.



Rich F.
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by Rich F. » Tue Nov 17, 2020 1:43 am

...- WJR has been severely overmodulated since last winter. ...
Is there accurate, reliable, measured evidence that they are truly overmodulating their AM carrier — as would be true if their negative-going program audio modulation peaks produced carrier-clipping "splatter" radiated well beyond the nominal 20 kHz r-f spectrum they would occupy without such overmodulation?



djb
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by djb » Mon Nov 23, 2020 7:15 am

bmw wrote:
Sat Nov 14, 2020 3:23 pm
102.5 WIOG during first decade of the 2000s. They sped their music up by as much as 6 percent and the bass was very distorted (had a distinct sound that I can't describe). For a brief time afterwards they sounded much better, though today I note that they are once again way over-processed.

760 WJR today. HOLY COW are they over-modulated!

Several honorable mentions today - 106.3 WGER and 106.1 The Point (Tawas) - both way over-processed.
I was at the Citadel cluster at that time. Corporate had just schmoozed a nice deal with Telos/Omnia, and had switched both WIOG and WHEELZ from Optimods (8100's) to the (then brand spanking new) Omnia3. In talking with the PD (my boss) of WIOG at the time, it was the engineers from Telos (I believe) that originally configured the Omnia, and they could never quite get it just right. Numerous software patches were delivered over time until WIOG moved into the new facilities on Champagne drive. Probably the aging Compellor that was first in the chain driving the shit out of the Omnia.

The Denon CD-Cart players were all pitched up 2%. Even when we moved to the new Champagne drive facilities and went Scott Studios, the music was still dumped out analog via the 2% pitched up CD players, and recorded to WAV files in the SS playout PCs. On remote broadcasts where music would be delivered remotely, we always had to make sure we had the pitched up decks with us - so that playout wouldn't sounds different between studio and remote.

WGER used to be nice and clean with their old Compellor/8100 combo (62nd street days). That was damn near 20 years ago.



bmw
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by bmw » Wed Nov 25, 2020 4:10 am

Interesting stuff djb.

From a technical standpoint, radio certainly sounded better in the 1980s and 1990s before music was sped up, before the original source material was compressed to the max, and in the days of analog signal processors (and I do remember a time when WIOG sounded MUCH better than they did post-year-2k). While most stations have moved away from speeding up their music (thank God), now-a-days we have source material that is already over-processed, then being rammed through cranked up digital signal processors, and the end result is utter garbage.

One station in the Tri-Cities that actually sounded good fairly recently (technically anyways) was 96.1 WHNN when they first switched over to their current format. Sometime in the last year, however, they have succumbed to cranking their audio processing to unbearable levels.

Oh, and on a side-note about WIOG - I remember for certain measuring a song by Pink (I'm thinking in 2006-2008 or so) and it was sped up over 4 percent (I'm thinking it was at like 4.5% ) . Was there ever a time before they stopped speeding up their music altogether when they maybe stopped dumping their music into wave files at 2% and instead just sped it up at the PC stage, possibly double-speeding up some older music in their library? Because I could swear I've also measured music sped up by 2.5 percent (perhaps at the PC stage, would also explain 4.5% measurement).



djb
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by djb » Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:21 am

BMW...

I was out of there by 2001 or so, so not quite sure what happened beyond then. I wouldn't doubt that some songs may have been pitched higher (songs 128bpm or so) - but I'm not entirely sure. If I remember correctly, Scott Studios had the ability set the pitch within the software as well. Perhaps an unknown intern added another 2% post-prod, within the software - not realizing the Denon's were already set at 2%?

Back when I was there, WHNN ran an Optimod 8600. Nice unit, and they had it REALLY clean. I'm sure that's since been replaced in the past 20 years.



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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by Deleted User 15502 » Sat Mar 06, 2021 12:02 am

Lets see:

97.3fm WJZE Toledo Ohio- As a simulcast of 106.5, the station sounded lifeless and tiney, the volume was much too low.

97.3 WJZE Toledo Ohio- The Fox, Classic hits all treble no bass. Great station music wise, but it sounded bad sound wise, even on a really good car radio with premium speakers.

1090am WCAR Detroit- I'll 4th or 5th that! it sounds like mud.

1470am WLQR Toledo Oho- Now defunct but even on a clear day the station sounded like it was being played through on a blanket, even on a good radio. Thankfully, they finally put that mess out of it's misery.

93.5fm WDZD(now WLQB) Ocean isle NC- The last I heard, the station seems ok now sound wise. However, years ago when Quantum owned them, at the time they were airing ABC's Unforgettable Favorites format. For awhile, the station sounded so low muffled and tiney.

The Winner of The Chicken dinner currently is, the 92.1fm Translator in Toledo, which simulcasts 1520am. The best way I can describe this monstrosity, is it sounds like it's on The AM and terribly distorted. It's almost like they have it plugged in the wrong way or something.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Mar 06, 2021 7:14 am

I do remember the lifeless audio chain on 97.3 WJZE during the brief time it was simulcasting 106.5!

I'll give WCXI some credit. Their audio sounded much better the last few times I sampled the station.



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tc
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by tc » Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:37 am

WC8KCY wrote:
Mon Jun 08, 2020 1:49 pm
WMQT (Q107), in the mid-eighties, played maybe a third of its programming off-pitch by a full semi-tone. As a musician with perfect pitch, it was akin to fingernails on a blackboard...
I worked there in the mid '80s. It's true when we dubbed vinyl to carts (which most music/jingle/commercials were dubbed to for broadcast), we would speed the turntable up a bit, I don't remember the percentage though, it wasn't much but it was noticeable. IIRC we did not speed up the shows that were delivered on vinyl or reel-to-reel tapes (Ric Dees. Dr. Demento, etc.). This practice was phased out when we started getting most of our music on cds as we did not have pitch controls on the cd players.



WC8KCY
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by WC8KCY » Tue Mar 09, 2021 2:28 pm

tc wrote:
Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:37 am
WC8KCY wrote:
Mon Jun 08, 2020 1:49 pm
WMQT (Q107), in the mid-eighties, played maybe a third of its programming off-pitch by a full semi-tone. As a musician with perfect pitch, it was akin to fingernails on a blackboard...
I worked there in the mid '80s. It's true when we dubbed vinyl to carts (which most music/jingle/commercials were dubbed to for broadcast), we would speed the turntable up a bit, I don't remember the percentage though, it wasn't much but it was noticeable. IIRC we did not speed up the shows that were delivered on vinyl or reel-to-reel tapes (Ric Dees. Dr. Demento, etc.). This practice was phased out when we started getting most of our music on cds as we did not have pitch controls on the cd players.
Q107 would've been my go-to station if not for the pitch issues, as WUUN didn't come in worth a damn around where I lived, and bird-fed WFNN just wasn't really trying.

When Stereo 100 became UP 103, the reception issues disappeared, but the WUUN-signature lengthy segues into AOR and deep cuts left me cold.

My sister and I frequently tuned into Dr. Demento, and we'd record it off Q107 to enjoy again and again. Great times.

WFNN, and its replacement, WYKX, would often lose the bird and broadcast silent carriers for hours on end during nights and weekends well into the 1990s. I guess there wasn't anyone there minding the store...



ChrisWL1980
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:37 pm

Big 101.3 in GR now sounds like it's speeding up its music, while Star sounds a little better. Still odd for an Oldies or AC station to do that. Diana Ross almost sounds like a Chipmunk when they play a Supremes hit.

I was up north yesterday and 99.9 The Wave in Rogers City/Alpena sounded worse in terms of sound quality than I've ever heard before. Had to turn the car volume way up to hear anything. Their sister station 1360 WKYO in Caro had the same issue when they did Oldies, though they sound better now.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about engineering and audio basics, I'm just a layman listener.



radioandtventhusiast
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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by radioandtventhusiast » Thu Mar 18, 2021 8:25 pm

ChrisWL1980 wrote:
Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:37 pm
Big 101.3 in GR now sounds like it's speeding up its music, while Star sounds a little better. Still odd for an Oldies or AC station to do that. Diana Ross almost sounds like a Chipmunk when they play a Supremes hit.

I was up north yesterday and 99.9 The Wave in Rogers City/Alpena sounded worse in terms of sound quality than I've ever heard before. Had to turn the car volume way up to hear anything. Their sister station 1360 WKYO in Caro had the same issue when they did Oldies, though they sound better now.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about engineering and audio basics, I'm just a layman listener.
Most oldies and classic hits stations don't speed up their music, from what I've heard.



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Re: Worst-sounding radio stations of all-time.

Post by matt1 » Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:02 am

Forgot about "The Mighty King" (92.1 FM in MONO) in Harrison, MI which was a classic country station back then!!!



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