[BC] Wow, I wonder if you feel the same way about AM?

[Gordon Carter]

I have not seen any "official" research of this type, even though I
would love to see it.

I can give some anecdotal research, based on feedback from our
listeners.  Remember, we are classical music.

Most people get really annoyed if they have to be fiddling with the
volume control all the time to hear the station.  This most frequently
happens in an impaired environment, such as a car or office with lots of
background noise or the need to keep the overall volume fairly low.

OTOH, people listening on big systems in a good location tend to prefer
a more "open" sound (wider dynamic range).  Our producers of live
concerts want it to sound just like the concert hall on the radio.

The "HOLY GRAIL" is to satisfy everyone at the same time.  There are
some things you should do and some things you shouldn't do, but there is
no way I can tell anyone what is ideal for their situation.  Everybody's
programming and audience is different, thus the ideal solution is
different.  

At this point I have not yet found that "holy grail", but I think I am
getting closer.

All of this is the subject of an article I am working on, that (I hope)
Barry will put on the BDR when it's finished.  There is also the
possibility that this may find its way to a presentation at some
conference, but nothing's firm at this point.

Gordon S. Carter, CPBE, CBNT
Chief Engineer
WFMT and The Radio Network
5400 North St. Louis Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773 279-2071

At 08:07 AM 2/2/2010, Jeff Glass wrote:
>I have asked membership of this forum several times to produce some 
>audience research that describes what the consumer wants. That 
>request goes unanswered. I can only conclude that their IS NO market 
>research. That's a problem.

Jim Schulke did a lot of research regarding processing and audio 
quality in general. But that was with a now-obsolete format 
(Beautiful Music) and it was a *long* time ago.