Hello all.

I'd like to know what's wrong with WKMI 1360 here in Kalamazoo? I noticed
during late October or early November that the sound on this station was
very distorted. At first I thought it was my stereo equipment but when we
purchased a new car and drove it home. We turned on 1360 to hear the Rush
Limbaugh program while we were driving. At first I thought that the cars
radio was defective but when I went into the house and switched on the
stereo I got the same distorted sound.

While driving back from a trip to Detroit we switched on WKMI between
Battlecreek and Kalamazoo and yes the same problem occurs. I know that it
must be a problem with KMI because if you compare the sound of the Rush
program with WBCK 930 and WKMI 1360 the sound on 930 is much better.

What's the problem?

Just like the rest of the stations......It started when they fired the
professional, licensed engineers that used to run the station in a
professional, high-standards manner.....even if they had to do it
behind managements' backs....(c;

It's just awful what the FCC allows the big corporation radio moguls
to get away with, now.



On 15 Dec 2003 16:29:51 GMT, "Robert L. Herman"
wrote:

Hello all.

I'd like to know what's wrong with WKMI 1360 here in Kalamazoo? I noticed
during late October or early November that the sound on this station was
very distorted. At first I thought it was my stereo equipment but when we
purchased a new car and drove it home. We turned on 1360 to hear the Rush
Limbaugh program while we were driving. At first I thought that the cars
radio was defective but when I went into the house and switched on the
stereo I got the same distorted sound.

While driving back from a trip to Detroit we switched on WKMI between
Battlecreek and Kalamazoo and yes the same problem occurs. I know that it
must be a problem with KMI because if you compare the sound of the Rush
program with WBCK 930 and WKMI 1360 the sound on 930 is much better.

What's the problem?




Larry W4CSC

NNNN

Robert L. Herman wrote:
Hello all.

I'd like to know what's wrong with WKMI 1360 here in Kalamazoo? I noticed
during late October or early November that the sound on this station was
very distorted. At first I thought it was my stereo equipment but when we
purchased a new car and drove it home. We turned on 1360 to hear the Rush
Limbaugh program while we were driving. At first I thought that the cars
radio was defective but when I went into the house and switched on the
stereo I got the same distorted sound.

While driving back from a trip to Detroit we switched on WKMI between
Battlecreek and Kalamazoo and yes the same problem occurs. I know that it
must be a problem with KMI because if you compare the sound of the Rush
program with WBCK 930 and WKMI 1360 the sound on 930 is much better.

Does this happen only at certain times of day? (and only if you're at
some distance from Kalamazoo, maybe 30-50 miles) From mid-afternoon
through mid-morning and overnight, sometimes a station's skywave signal
interferes with its own groundwave signal. That's why Chicago stations
will sometimes sound distorted when monitored 75-100 miles away. The
distortion will change in nature over time (2-3 minutes) and will
occasionally disappear altogether.

Alternatively...

does it happen only in certain areas, clearing up in other parts of
town? Some stations have directional antennas that are too selective -
more directional on 1360 than they are on 1359 and 1361. The result is
that if you're in the "wrong" direction from the station - a direction
in which they don't send most of their signal - you may receive "too
much" audio by comparision to the "carrier" signal. This results in
distortion. WKMI is only directional at night, so if this is the
reason, the distortion should disappear during the day.

Of course, it's also very possible the station is brokengrin!
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

"Robert L. Herman" wrote in message
...
To ansdwer your question.

First of all it's an all day thing. It seems to be all over town. About a
month ago I was riding out to a place where I play piano music for some
older people at an assisted living place on the other side of town and the
distorted sound never cleared up from my house to the other side of town.

As I stated earlier the distortion was heard as far away as Battle Creek.
To
discribe the sound would bew like running a radio with batteries that are
about to die. You know that raspy sound that a station makes when the
batteries are about to die.


It's definitely a problem at the station. Many AM stations these days are
only on the air because if they aren't, the FCC will take the license. The
way those owners operate them, I'm surprised they just don't give the
license up anyway. It's poor maintenance and a lack of caring on the part
of the person(s) who should care and fix the problem.

"videonex" wrote in message
...

"Robert L. Herman" wrote in message
...
To ansdwer your question.

First of all it's an all day thing. It seems to be all over town. About
a
month ago I was riding out to a place where I play piano music for some
older people at an assisted living place on the other side of town and
the
distorted sound never cleared up from my house to the other side of
town.

As I stated earlier the distortion was heard as far away as Battle
Creek.
To
discribe the sound would bew like running a radio with batteries that
are
about to die. You know that raspy sound that a station makes when the
batteries are about to die.


It's definitely a problem at the station. Many AM stations these days are
only on the air because if they aren't, the FCC will take the license.
The
way those owners operate them, I'm surprised they just don't give the
license up anyway. It's poor maintenance and a lack of caring on the part
of the person(s) who should care and fix the problem.

WKMI is the #4 rated station in its market, which is relatively small and
ranked #182 nationally. I'd be surprised if a relatively successful station,
albeit in a smaller market, is just ignoring a critical engineering issue.
The first suggestion, if the station is one of interest, is to call it and
make a polite inquiry of the manager or program director or operations
manager.

That said, I do take issue with a statement that most AM stations are on the
air to hold the license. Most AM stations are on the air to make money. Not
all do, but many are among America's top billing stations, and those AMs
with decent signals that cover their markets are successful. And many
smaller AMs that have limited coverage have found great success and profit
by serving ethnic communities, minority groups or religious followings.

In some cases, there are over-radioed markets where the FMs have better
coverage and the AMs are inferior (Palm Springs leaps to mind) where the AMs
are all pretty miserable and none even covers the entire market. However,
even in those cases, there is generally someone who is willing to take the
risk of buying the station to program their "better idea."

On 17 Dec 2003 15:58:21 GMT, "videonex" wrote:


"Robert L. Herman" wrote in message
...
To ansdwer your question.

First of all it's an all day thing. It seems to be all over town. About a
month ago I was riding out to a place where I play piano music for some
older people at an assisted living place on the other side of town and the
distorted sound never cleared up from my house to the other side of town.

As I stated earlier the distortion was heard as far away as Battle Creek.
To
discribe the sound would bew like running a radio with batteries that are
about to die. You know that raspy sound that a station makes when the
batteries are about to die.


It's definitely a problem at the station. Many AM stations these days are
only on the air because if they aren't, the FCC will take the license. The
way those owners operate them, I'm surprised they just don't give the
license up anyway. It's poor maintenance and a lack of caring on the part
of the person(s) who should care and fix the problem.


I suspect you're right and it's a maintenance problem. One of the
local TV stations here in town seems to be forever having audio
problems when it runs network programs off of the satellite or the
evening news from the station in the next nearby larger market. Some
nights the sound is so bad as to be unintelligible. Yet, it goes on
month after month this way. They just don't care enough to pay to fix
it (or can't afford to).

George

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...

That said, I do take issue with a statement that most AM stations are on
the
air to hold the license. Most AM stations are on the air to make money.
Not
all do, but many are among America's top billing stations, and those AMs
with decent signals that cover their markets are successful. And many
smaller AMs that have limited coverage have found great success and profit
by serving ethnic communities, minority groups or religious followings.


David,

I always value your opinions and find you one the most sane of the regulars
here. But I did not say that "Most" AMs are only on the air to hold the
license, I said "Many" are. There is a big diff and it is true. What you
said about the successful AMs is also true. I just think that any station
that let's it's quality get that bad is among the ones just holding the
license. If I owned it, it would be in stereo and have the best audio
quality available 24/7. If I couldn't afford to keep it going properly I
would sell it or send the license back to the FCC.

"videonex" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
...

That said, I do take issue with a statement that most AM stations are on
the
air to hold the license. Most AM stations are on the air to make money.
Not
all do, but many are among America's top billing stations, and those AMs
with decent signals that cover their markets are successful. And many
smaller AMs that have limited coverage have found great success and
profit
by serving ethnic communities, minority groups or religious followings.


David,

I always value your opinions and find you one the most sane of the
regulars
here. But I did not say that "Most" AMs are only on the air to hold the
license, I said "Many" are. There is a big diff and it is true. What you
said about the successful AMs is also true. I just think that any station
that let's it's quality get that bad is among the ones just holding the
license. If I owned it, it would be in stereo and have the best audio
quality available 24/7. If I couldn't afford to keep it going properly I
would sell it or send the license back to the FCC.


Point taken on the "many" vs. "most" distinction.

Since I am at the West Coast's first regularly operating IBOC AM station, I
can attest to the potential of better quality. AM IBOC on the couple of
receivers we have sounds better than some of the more squashed FMs in the LA
market...

However, there are a "scad" (to avoid having to say either "many" or "most")
of AMs that do not deserve to exist, as they cover very little, or have
miserable facilities and high-Q DAs and no intent to improve. I just wonder
if IBOC may create a band cleansing in the process.

In article , David Eduardo wrote: can
attest to the potential of better quality. AM IBOC on the couple of
receivers we have sounds better than some of the more squashed FMs in

Yeah but I bet its trashing the analog signal that people are
listening to. WOR in New York sounds like a buzz-saw when its running
IBOC. Not that it's any better at night anymore either. Music sounds
all distorted and clipped.

--
Sven Weil
New York City, U.S.A.

"Sven Franklyn Weil" wrote in message
...
In article , David Eduardo wrote: can
attest to the potential of better quality. AM IBOC on the couple of
receivers we have sounds better than some of the more squashed FMs in

Yeah but I bet its trashing the analog signal that people are
listening to. WOR in New York sounds like a buzz-saw when its running
IBOC. Not that it's any better at night anymore either. Music sounds
all distorted and clipped.

We bought a dozen or so average consumer radios, from a walkman to a boom
box to a clock radio, and whatever is in between. On every one, the music in
analog sounds as good as it did before, and switching the IBOC on and off
produced during several days of testing no significant differences on
average radios.

The only thing that IBOC requires is a narrower analog bandwidth. The
processing stays the same, and most radios sound identical as they have
limited bandwidth to begin with.