WCRB audio

[lglavin@mail.com]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: chris2526 <chris2526@comcast.net>
>To: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org
>Sent: Sun, Dec 20, 2009 11:46 pm
>Subject: WCRB audio


>Has anyone else noticed the deterioration of the once rich and vibrant WCRB audio since WGBH took over? It is now very thin and >washed out sounding.......unlistenable, I'm not talking >about less compression or other processing, Now just thin bass and no vibrant sparkle or depth. Was a pleasure to listen to, no longer.  


There are THREE listening situations when one tunes in to WCRB nowadays:
(1) From the photo of Ray Brown displayed in the recent Globe article, you can observe that actual CDs are played through
CD playback equipment during periods of live, local programming, roughly from 5:00 am until 6:00 pm.
I've found the sound during these periods to be exemplary, as good as when I play a CD of my own through
my equipment in my listening room.
(2) Music recorded at either their own in-house concert hall, or concert venue elsewhere.  This sound is quite
variable;  in fact a vocal piece with the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was so strident as the be unlistenable.
(3) The music broadcast via satellite feed.  I have listened to it on my primary audio equipment as mentioned in
item (1) and it's ok,  not as good as the live, local programming.
Of  course I always avoided listening to Nassau-owned WCRB except for the BSO broadcasts during this
period with rare exceptions.  The Boston Globe published an insert called the 'g' Section (it replaced an
insert called "Calendar', but they wisely decided NOT to call it the 'c' Section) which almost every day printed 
some radio "highlights".  WCRB used to provide them with one or two items, usually the Mozart piece played
every weekday at 3:00 pm and usually a symphony or concerto in its entirety at 9:00 pm.  The last time
I used this information to listen to WCRB then, it was for Schubert's Symphony #2.  It was not a piece in
regular rotation, so I don't believe it was on the hard drive, but played by Mark Calder from a CD in-studio,
and sounded fine.