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College Stations
- Thread starter 4dude
- Start date
Y'know, I hear this all the time and factually it's just not true. I don't deny that, with the proper hardware and maintenance, vinyl does sound noticeably better than CD's usually do. But even discounting for the fact that the physical quality of the vinyl in most college radio libraries is sub-par, as are the needles and cartridges on the turntables...the sad fact is that FM radio, at its best, will only pass bandwidth up to 12kHz or so. That's too low for anyone to actually hear the improvement that vinyl can have over CD's. Maybe with HD Radio you could hear it, since it actually passes 20-20,000 Hz, but the lossy algorithm (AAC, ehem, I mean HDC :
) probably ruins the subtle improvement that vinyl has over CD.
Now, vinyl certainly can - and often does - sound DIFFERENT than a CD will on the radio. Usually there's more low-end "warmth" and that's more pleasing to the ear. Also if you're talking vinyl you're often (but not always, of course) talking about older recordings that were made before record houses started compressing the snot out of any audio burned to CD. In other words, it's often more a question of source material than the medium its on.
And I certainly give a lot of credit to college radio for playing vinyl because it often reflects a philosophy of music diversity, whereas playing music off CD or computer often reflects the opposite philosophy...although with today's college kids that inverse relationship doesn't really apply anymore. Some kids have incredibly diverse musical tastes, others have no taste at all, but damned if they're not ALL playing MP3's. I think it's less about whether or not they play MP3's and more about how attentive they are to the quality/bitrate of the MP3's.
) probably ruins the subtle improvement that vinyl has over CD.Now, vinyl certainly can - and often does - sound DIFFERENT than a CD will on the radio. Usually there's more low-end "warmth" and that's more pleasing to the ear. Also if you're talking vinyl you're often (but not always, of course) talking about older recordings that were made before record houses started compressing the snot out of any audio burned to CD. In other words, it's often more a question of source material than the medium its on.
And I certainly give a lot of credit to college radio for playing vinyl because it often reflects a philosophy of music diversity, whereas playing music off CD or computer often reflects the opposite philosophy...although with today's college kids that inverse relationship doesn't really apply anymore. Some kids have incredibly diverse musical tastes, others have no taste at all, but damned if they're not ALL playing MP3's. I think it's less about whether or not they play MP3's and more about how attentive they are to the quality/bitrate of the MP3's.
Most of the college stations around here play their music mainly from CD or from hard drive. More than a few don't even have turntables in their studios. What gave you the impression that most college stations play LPs?
I've proofed dozens of FM stations and have never had trouble getting smooth response to 15khz. Where did the 12khz numbre come from?
I've proofed dozens of FM stations and have never had trouble getting smooth response to 15khz. Where did the 12khz numbre come from?
From the fact that I'm an idiot! :
Yes, you're right...the theoretical max is 15kHz, which is still too low to really allow listeners to hear the improvement that vinyl CAN allow over CD.The 12kHz was partly a typo, but in my experience a lot of college radio stations, especially the small ones, have 20+ year old transmitters with a lot of dried-out caps in them. That can drag that high end down real quick. Plus a lot of modern car radios have built-in automatic, variable, high-end rolloff filters to help minimize the perceived static. That also wipes out most of the 12-15kHz range for most listeners...but admittedly that wasn't really what we were talking about.
My high school radio students hardly know how to work a CD player, let alone any vinyl or anything other than hard drive.
At the collegiate facility that I'm involved with, which has a Broadcasts Major's program, we have all of the new DJ's play the format music off of CD's during their first semester on-air. This gives them valuable experience, and knowledge about what to do if the computerized automation system goes down or has problems. Additionally, we have turntables in the air studio, and introduce them to that as well, but don't require use of them. A number of students, however, find it fun to spin the vinyl now and then, of which are library has a lot.
The Dude said:
The Saratoga Springs NY area has two great college stations that both play a fair amount of vinyl on a regular basis. 91.1-WSPN is on 24/7 with a good eclectic rock format, and near by 91.5-WRPI, Troy, NY also programs a good eclectic mostly rock format with a strong 10,000 watt signal....
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