AM radio memories

[DavidEdwinAston]

A question for the many Radio Luxembourg fans on this forum. I recall record labels purchasing 30-minute slots featuring well-known UK DJs. That was one of the downsides of that particular business model —if you were listening to the Pye segment, you got only Pye releases. But didn't RL also have some on-site disk jockeys resident in Luxembourg? My memory is hazy on this. After RL came all the off-shore pirate ships, then attempts to broadcast from Monte Carlo and even Andorra. They've all become confused in my memory. Radio London, Radio Caroline, Radio Essex, Radio Geronimo and several others. Wasn't Essex the one that took over an abandoned WWII watch-tower?

Aynsley I too have a hazy memory about this subject, and plenty of other things!
I do remember Pete Murray having slots on Luxembourg. Presumably, the actual magical music, must have been my sole selfish focus!

 

[thecheapseats]

maybe somebody here knows the answer to this...

I've never seen one but was told that in large-market AM music radio - AM stations used multi-frequency band compressors for broadcasting - I was told there were four, and few five band models that were mfg'd - and it helped get that "AM radio sound"... anybody heard of these?... or seen one?... I imagine they would be deployed at the xmitter location - not at the station (just guessing)...

an older engineer said when he was on staff at A&M Records on La Brea in L.A. - they installed a low watt AM radio xmitter using one of those multi-band compressors - the same type the AM radio stations used - to check mixes on their car radios in the parking lot...

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Had a few but the best was in a Rambler & that radio had reverb/delay & it sounded so cool.
Lived in SF Bay Area & late at night withy right weather conditions we'd get Wolfman Jack broadcasting from I think somewhere in Mexico !

XERB, the station was originally owned by John Brinkley who was a medical quack. Among other things he did "goat gland" transplants. He also had artists like the Carter Family in the '30s.

 

[recycle]

maybe somebody here knows the answer to this...

I've never seen one but was told that in large-market AM music radio - AM stations used multi-frequency band compressors for broadcasting - I was told there were four, and few five band models that were mfg'd - and it helped get that "AM radio sound"... anybody heard of these?... or seen one?... I imagine they would be deployed at the xmitter location - not at the station (just guessing)...

an older engineer said when he was on staff at A&M Records on La Brea in L.A. - they installed a low watt AM radio xmitter using one of those multi-band compressors - the same type the AM radio stations used - to check mixes on their car radios in the parking lot...

one of the most famous multiband for radio/tv was (and still is) is Orban. Apart for sound aesthetic, the compressor/ limiter is essential in analog broadcasts to control the dynamics and to avoid that the peaks are too high and therefore the signal would intrude into the neighboring frequencies (bleeding).
https://www.orban.com/

 

[recycle]

Aynsley I too have a hazy memory about this subject, and plenty of other things!
I do remember Pete Murray having slots on Luxembourg. Presumably, the actual magical music, must have been my sole selfish focus!

The jingles:

 

[thecheapseats]

one of the most famous multiband for radio/tv is Orban. Apart for sound aesthetic, the compressor/ limiter is essential in analog broadcasts to control the dynamics and to avoid that the peaks are too high and therefore the signal would intrude into the neighboring frequencies (bleeding).
https://www.orban.com/

do you have a model number? - I've never seen a compressor which operated on individual freq bands for broadcast use... I know orban of course and I know fcc regulates modulation with heavy fines for exceeding those limits - but I've never seen a compressor that operated on individual audio-freq bands...

 

[MoreWatts]

Lived in SF Bay Area & late at night withy right weather conditions we'd get Wolfman Jack broadcasting from I think somewhere in Mexico !

Did these Mexican AM border-blasters require their own nuclear reactor? From Wikipedia:

"In 1963, Wolfman Jack took his act to the border when Inter-American Radio Advertising's Ramon Bosquez hired him and sent him to the studio and transmitter site of XERF-AM at Ciudad Acuña in Mexico, a station across the U.S.-Mexico border from Del Rio, Texas, whose high-powered 'border blaster' signal could be picked up across much of the United States. In an interview with writer Tom Miller, Wolfman described the reach of the XERF signal: 'We had the most powerful signal in North America. Birds dropped dead when they flew too close to the tower. A car driving from New York to L.A. would never lose the station.'

Most of the border stations broadcast at 250,000 watts, five times the U.S. limit, meaning that their signals were picked up all over North America, and at night as far away as Europe and the Soviet Union." XERF still broadcasts today, maybe at those 250KW, but according to the World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH), more likely 100KW.

Most Californians heard Wolfman, from the mid-60s, at: "XERB was the original call sign for the border blaster station in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. The station boasted '50,000 watts of Boss Soul Power'." After a short while, he taped his shows in LA.

This Radioworld article, from 2021, covers powerful Western Hemisphere transmitters. Historically, WLW radio in Cincinnati broadcast an 'experimental' 500 KW for ~5 years in the 1930s. Currently, the Caribbean island of Bonaire has a 440 KW signal, Brasilia has a 300 KW, Cuba has ~2 and Argentina ~5 at 200 KW. (BTW, I'm no expert, correct as needed).

I gotta go look-up how powerful those "Voice of America" or Russian/Soviet border blasters into, e.g., the Baltic States, are. They have television signal equivalents, as well.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

one of the most famous multiband for radio/tv was (and still is) is Orban. Apart for sound aesthetic, the compressor/ limiter is essential in analog broadcasts to control the dynamics and to avoid that the peaks are too high and therefore the signal would intrude into the neighboring frequencies (bleeding).
https://www.orban.com/

Various generations of the Orban Optimod have long been broadcast audio processor favorites for AM (MW), FM, TV and SW audio, with specific models designed for each application. Its innovative design allows stations to maintain consistent loudness without listener fatigue (when used as intended.) It's aways been "a good-sounding box." Some engineers swear by the older analog models and repeatedly restore them as required and use them on the air to this day.

I suspect the prior poster was refering to multiband processors that address different portions of the "audio" spectrum individiually (bass, mids, highs, etc.) as opposed to different transmitters occupying different parts of the radio spectrum. The Optimod is such a processor. They're quite common these days Across many manufacturers. The single most important issue they can address is avoiding the compression of heavy bass notes from pulling down the rest of the spectrum with it, creating a "pumping" sound, by processing low frequencies separately.

 

[thecheapseats]

Various generations of the Orban Optimod have long been broadcast audio processor favorites for AM (MW), FM, TV and SW audio, with specific models designed for each application. Its innovative design allows stations to maintain consistent loudness without listener fatigue (when used as intended.) It's aways been "a good-sounding box." Some engineers swear by the older analog models and repeatedly restore them as required and use them on the air to this day.

I suspect the prior poster was refering to multiband processors that address different portions of the "audio" spectrum individiually (bass, mids, highs, etc.) as opposed to different transmitters occupying different parts of the radio spectrum. The Optimod is such a processor. They're quite common these days Across many manufacturers. The single most important issue they can address is avoiding the compression of heavy bass notes from pulling down the rest of the spectrum with it, creating a "pumping" sound, by processing low frequencies separately.

yes!!! - "The OPTIMOD" - exactly the device I had been told about and couldn't remember a name - Thank You so much @DavidMcRoy for that info - just what I was looking for - and a great description...

 

[recycle]

yes!!! - "The OPTIMOD" - exactly the device I had been told about and couldn't remember a name - Thank You so much @DavidMcRoy for that info - just what I was looking for - and a great description...

If you're looking for "that" radio sound there are countless multiband compression plugins that can help:

Fabfilter:

Waves:

Thimeo Audio Tool:

I'm sure there are also freeware plugins out there

 

[Sal1950]

Being from Chicago, when I was in the Army what a warming taste of home it was
to be able to go out to my car at night and listen to my fav WLS AM. A 50k watt clear channel
AM radio station you could hear it most anywhere in the US with a decent antenna.
And then there was the "Wild I-tralian" Dick Biondi, THE VOICE of rock radio for so many
decades. As a early teen I could go up to the studio downtown in the Stone Container Building
and watch the shows being performed, hang and talk to the DJ's, etc.
What a GAS that was, it was a really different time.
Go Man Go

 

[TonyJZX]

AM radio has been dead in this country for well over 25yrs... maybe even 35 yrs... but I do remember the defunct stations and now probalby long dead broadcasters... people who had a talent behind the microphone and the valiant effort to introduce music... in mono...

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Being from Chicago, when I was in the Army what a warming taste of home it was
to be able to go out to my car at night and listen to my fav WLS AM. A 50k watt clear channel
AM radio station you could hear it most anywhere in the US with a decent antenna.
And then there was the "Wild I-tralian" Dick Biondi, THE VOICE of rock radio for so many
decades. As a early teen I could go up to the studio downtown in the Stone Container Building
and watch the shows being performed, hang and talk to the DJ's, etc.
What a GAS that was, it was a really different time.
Go Man Go

I lived in Deerfield 1958-63 and remember Dick Biondi well. There was also WJJD.

 

[DSJR]

Forty years back driving home late at night listening to Radio Caroline (Dixie Peach and his 'Do It To The Music' session). Some bloody great album music played and happy times...

 

[thecheapseats]

If you're looking for "that" radio sound there are countless multiband compression plugins that can help:

Fabfilter:
View attachment 286850

Waves:
View attachment 286851

Thimeo Audio Tool:
View attachment 286854

I'm sure there are also freeware plugins out there

not looking for a 'radio' sound... I was asking members here for info about the device itself, it's name, and how it impacted the sound of am radio broadcasting - while recalling the influence it had on a few label's track mixing, long, long ago...
had never seen a pro-audio hardware device with that function...

I have far too many real compressors and limiters... dsp versions you listed above? - they're not for tracking...

 

[recycle]

not looking for a 'radio' sound... I was asking members here for info about the device itself, it's name, and how it impacted the sound of am radio broadcasting - while recalling the influence it had on a few label's track mixing, long, long ago...
had never seen a pro-audio hardware device with that function...

I have far too many real compressors and limiters... dsp versions you listed above? - they're not for tracking...

I believe the multiband compressor remains a vital tool for radio/tv broadcast. That said, I've personally never been able to find effective use in studio (tracking, mixing). My opinion is that its unique purpose is to brutally kill the dynamics of the signal in order to obtain the well-known "radio sound" effect. It can be useful sometime in mastering, when fixing inconsistencies on a bad mix (e.g. surgically killing a bass resonance without necessarily having to apply a low pass filter on everything). Frankly, I don't use multiband compressor on a daily basis

 

[thecheapseats]

I believe the multiband compressor remains a vital tool for radio/tv broadcast. That said, I've personally never been able to find effective use in studio (tracking, mixing). My opinion is that its unique purpose is to brutally kill the dynamics of the signal in order to obtain the well-known "radio sound" effect. It can be useful sometime in mastering, when fixing inconsistencies on a bad mix (e.g. surgically killing a bass resonance without necessarily having to apply a low pass filter on everything). Frankly, I don't use multiband compressor on a daily basis

the point of my original query ->> I was only curious about the devices when used specifically on broadcast am radio, when am radio was very popular long ago and people listened to it a lot... also some engineers would mix for that target, whatever it was - which I found curious... and now I know what the device was...