WCBS-FM processing: thoughts

It's been a while since we talked about the processing of CBS FM. They tweaked it a couple of months ago and I thouhgt they use the Omnia.11 now instead of the Optimod 8500 (or 8600, correct me if I'm wrong).
What are your thought?

Nobody ?

kind of average sounding, nothing much to really to comment on other then it was way too loud and over compressed a few months ago

Z100 is still the best sounding - loud/clear good base/treble - perfect you are there feel.

Z100 sounding really good indeed for a CHR. Also with the Omnia.11, well tweaked b.t.w.

I enjoyed listening last night to the 80's at 8 but what took away from it was how noticeably bad the audio quality was. It sounded like a mono distorted 33.6k stream.

The processing is only one half of the equation. The other half is the receiving equipment and environment. Unless we can find a way to get all monitoring situations equal, you're going to have variations in how the processing is perceived. Car vs. home vs store vs earphones.

TheBigA said:

The processing is only one half of the equation. The other half is the receiving equipment and environment. Unless we can find a way to get all monitoring situations equal, you're going to have variations in how the processing is perceived. Car vs. home vs store vs earphones.

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No, this was not a receiving equipment issue. Tuning to other stations after listening to CBS-FM there was a clear difference which sounded like going from distorted FM mono quality to FM stereo quality. If it were a receiving a equipment problem the problem would not limit itself solely to CBS-FM.

I am not a audio tech expert but I will give this a try. It sounded like somewhere in the audio chain they are pushing too much power which resulted in clipping. In addition the audio sounded flat and in mono.

mikerock said:

No, this was not a receiving equipment issue.

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I wasn't commenting on your specific example, but rather discussing audio processing in general.

mikerock said:

No, this was not a receiving equipment issue. Tuning to other stations after listening to CBS-FM there was a clear difference which sounded like going from distorted FM mono quality to FM stereo quality. If it were a receiving a equipment problem the problem would not limit itself solely to CBS-FM.

I am not a audio tech expert but I will give this a try. It sounded like somewhere in the audio chain they are pushing too much power which resulted in clipping. In addition the audio sounded flat and in mono.

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I was compelled to write about this - I noticed the same exact thing. I thought it got better for a while, and then it just went downhill. Not sure who their CE is or who is touching their processing, but the entire CBS NYC cluster sounds awful. Fresh is probably the best, although it's fairly flat and lifeless. CBS-FM and AMP are way over crunched. I get the need to be competitively loud, but the iHeart stations obviously are able to do it without sounding terrible. Z100, Q, KTU, etc. all sound clean enough while still being loud.

Head down the Turnpike and check out the Philadelphia stations compared with NYC. Night and day. Not sure if their engineers are just more competent or what, but AMP Philly vs. AMP NYC and WOGL vs. CBS-FM are completely different animals.

I feel the same way about Philly v. NYC when it comes to processing and sound quality. In addition to those comparisons, I would take Q102 over Z100, WXTU over Nash FM 94.7, and WMGK over Q104.3.

When I first came into the area in 2009, I loved listening to CBS-FM because of how it sounded, not song selection but qualitatively. I also thought KTU sounded better back then.

collegeDJ86 said:

I feel the same way about Philly v. NYC when it comes to processing and sound quality. In addition to those comparisons, I would take Q102 over Z100, WXTU over Nash FM 94.7, and WMGK over Q104.3.

When I first came into the area in 2009, I loved listening to CBS-FM because of how it sounded, not song selection but qualitatively. I also thought KTU sounded better back then.

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I would have to agree, aside from the Q102/Z100 comparison. They really have Z sounding phenomenal now, IMHO.

Q102 sounds very slammed and crunched but with little dynamic or punch. To my ears, 96.5 AMP Radio sounds better than Q102 at this point. But XTU, OGL, MGK, MMR, AMP, etc. all sound great. Ben FM sounds a little over-driven. But still, compared with lots of the stations in NYC, it makes the music sound better.