Isellstuff: Hey, i didn't say they were perfect, i just said that they played a wider variety than most : )
Aaron: I was listening to them mostly at work and in the car. My shop is SOOO close to them and they are SOOO strong out by my shop that they overload the generic "radio" that i have there. They not only come in at 99.9, but everywhere from 99.8 up to 100.3 or so. Since i'm only a couple of miles away from them and they are running 50,000 watts, i'm sure that it's a matter of front end overload.
In terms of listening in my car, i simply tuned to 99.9 and let it play. Given that i'm still so close to them on the way home, it literally blasts the tuner in terms of signal strength.
I just checked them out on of my analogue tuners and it showed to be center tuned at 99.9 as it should be. Having said that, i think that they are running a greater amount of deviation than what most other stations do, making them louder / splatter more over the sides of center channel.
I've got some new test equipment coming into the shop and i'll be able to monitor their signal as good or better than they can very shortly. We used to do this to WLS many years ago and would call up their technical engineers and tell them to correct their over-modulation. They would argue with us that they weren't over-modulated and hang up. Then we would watch the envelope of their signal shrink as they corrected the problem : )
It's possible that they are coming in better at 99.8 out by you due to signal reflections / multipath. You have to remember that they are out in the "boondocks", so the signal path from their transmitter to your antenna will be drastically different than most other stations that are based off of the Sears or Hancock.
Beatlebum: I agree about XRT. Their musical diversity is what drew me to the station, but they've lost most of that over the years. I can remember hearing classical pieces interspersed with rock "way back when" on XRT. Now THAT wide of a format ( or lack of one ) was out of place : )
As to the Drive, they do use and play vinyl. They even have "special days" where they play nothing but vinyl. They've commented that they've gotten phone calls asking for more vinyl as the listeners seem to think that this sounds "better" ( chalk one up for the "average listener" ). The fact that the WDRV tends to use less compression and has a pretty even coverage pattern tends to help them out in the area of sonics also. Too bad these guys tend to play the same songs every day or too. Sean
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PS... While i was typing this, they played Foghat and then went to Franz Ferdinand. Tell me that's not pretty diverse : )
Aaron: I was listening to them mostly at work and in the car. My shop is SOOO close to them and they are SOOO strong out by my shop that they overload the generic "radio" that i have there. They not only come in at 99.9, but everywhere from 99.8 up to 100.3 or so. Since i'm only a couple of miles away from them and they are running 50,000 watts, i'm sure that it's a matter of front end overload.
In terms of listening in my car, i simply tuned to 99.9 and let it play. Given that i'm still so close to them on the way home, it literally blasts the tuner in terms of signal strength.
I just checked them out on of my analogue tuners and it showed to be center tuned at 99.9 as it should be. Having said that, i think that they are running a greater amount of deviation than what most other stations do, making them louder / splatter more over the sides of center channel.
I've got some new test equipment coming into the shop and i'll be able to monitor their signal as good or better than they can very shortly. We used to do this to WLS many years ago and would call up their technical engineers and tell them to correct their over-modulation. They would argue with us that they weren't over-modulated and hang up. Then we would watch the envelope of their signal shrink as they corrected the problem : )
It's possible that they are coming in better at 99.8 out by you due to signal reflections / multipath. You have to remember that they are out in the "boondocks", so the signal path from their transmitter to your antenna will be drastically different than most other stations that are based off of the Sears or Hancock.
Beatlebum: I agree about XRT. Their musical diversity is what drew me to the station, but they've lost most of that over the years. I can remember hearing classical pieces interspersed with rock "way back when" on XRT. Now THAT wide of a format ( or lack of one ) was out of place : )
As to the Drive, they do use and play vinyl. They even have "special days" where they play nothing but vinyl. They've commented that they've gotten phone calls asking for more vinyl as the listeners seem to think that this sounds "better" ( chalk one up for the "average listener" ). The fact that the WDRV tends to use less compression and has a pretty even coverage pattern tends to help them out in the area of sonics also. Too bad these guys tend to play the same songs every day or too. Sean
>
PS... While i was typing this, they played Foghat and then went to Franz Ferdinand. Tell me that's not pretty diverse : )