[BC] Understanding TSL

[Rich Wood]

------ At 09:07 PM 2/2/2010, Robert Orban wrote: -------

>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.

Actually, there's a lot of audience research being done. 
Unfortunately it's almost all proprietary. Jim's was also proprietary 
and only a few of us ever saw the results. The only part that leaked 
out was the most important. That was the effect of heavy processing 
and distortion on women.

Unfortunately, the majority of research projects are music research 
in large groups and focus groups to get an idea of how the station is 
perceived by those not working at the station. Stuff that sends 
excitement through the ranks of the staff often is never mentioned in 
the groups. That famous line "half my advertising doesn't work. I 
just don't know which half" still applies.

My year long unofficial retail research came up with exactly what I 
expected. When I approached a willing customer I found most who now 
had an iPod used to have a portable CD player. Without telling them 
why I was asking I asked how long they could listen to the CD player 
vs. the iPod. None of them had ever given it much thought. Virtually 
all of them, after a minute or so of thought, said they could listen 
to the CD player for longer periods than the iPod. They had no idea 
why they had to take a break from the iPod before continuing to listen.

Even though Jim Schulke's research is very old, the human model 
hasn't changed much and I got the same results as he did, 
particularly from women.

Many of Jim's proclamations were smoke and mirrors. The most 
interesting result was Irv Joel's "invention" of the Easy Listening 
console. Even WJIB (FM), Boston got suckered in. They replaced a 
great Langevin console (minus the Lumitens - optical pots that 
required constant maintenance - blackened bulbs) with this klutzy 
black box that took most control away from the operator.

If you're married and have a TV set with high quality audio, how 
often does your wife ask you to turn the volume down? The crowd noise 
is torture.

Rich