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October 1, 2017 5:30 pm  #1


Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

Now that the AM dial is filled with sports I don’t care about (sorry Leaf fans!) I occasionally find myself wandering over to Funny 820 whenever there’s nothing else to listen to. So this is a personal plea to whoever is supposed to be in charge at the automated station:
 
Fix the damn levels!
 
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned it on and can’t hear what the comedian is saying in the clip they’re running. And that’s with headphones on, listening as I walk the dog. The next one comes up full blast, forcing me to quickly reach for the volume control before I go deaf.
 
I’m not sure what’s going on over there or what kind of automation software they’re using, but I’m pretty sure no one ever bothers to monitor it or look at the computer running the station.
 
Look, I know no one really cares about CHAM, least of all Bell. But if you’re going to bother spending money on the hydro to keep the transmitter running, at least make sure the few of us who do tune in occasionally can hear what it’s offering. Because right now, there's nothing funny about the unbalanced levels. 

 

October 1, 2017 5:53 pm  #2


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

I wonder if one of their automation channels is out-of-phase. Would you say it's every 3rd bit that sounds like that?

 

October 1, 2017 5:53 pm  #3


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

Not radio but somewhat related. I have seen an ad avail for YTV on cable at least twice in the last week and it has no volume. The second time I saw it I thought someone would have caught it and fixed it but auto pilot really means auto pilot. I also seem to recall a radio station on the digital service that displayed with the wrong call letters for years meaning not only auto pilot but it seems few to no one was actually listening to point out the error.

Last edited by Fitz (October 1, 2017 6:04 pm)


Cool Airchecks and More:
http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/
 

October 1, 2017 6:57 pm  #4


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

Fitz wrote:

   I have seen an ad avail for YTV on cable at least twice in the last week and it has no volume. The second time I saw it I thought someone would have caught it and fixed it   

Is it remotely possible no "someone" is watching or listening or catching or fixing?
 

 

October 1, 2017 7:02 pm  #5


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

The other not so funny thing they do, or don't do, is tag every comedy bit with a name. Easy enough to recognize the Pythons, Carlin, Newhart, Tig, Ellen, even Firesign Theatre. But they've consistently played comics that I wanted to check out further, only to have them switch immediately into a break without identifying the comic or crediting the performance.

There was one dude whose monologue went on and on, and it was a yawn. Funny820 didn't credit him....I figure it must have been Dane Cook.

 

October 1, 2017 7:20 pm  #6


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

You are all wrong. The key aspect that makes the station a failure is their stubborn insistence to cut performances to 2-3 minutes to fit in their schedule.

 

October 1, 2017 7:52 pm  #7


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

Don wrote:

I wonder if one of their automation channels is out-of-phase. Would you say it's every 3rd bit that sounds like that?

Exactly. I'd say it's every third or fourth bit.

Some of them are fine. Others you can't hear even with the volume turned up the whole way. It's very annoying and encourages tune-out. Why listen to what you can't hear? Especially when you're waiting for a punchline. Needless to say with their anemic numbers, they need all the ears they can get.  

     Thread Starter
 

October 1, 2017 7:58 pm  #8


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

betaylored wrote:

The other not so funny thing they do, or don't do, is tag every comedy bit with a name. Easy enough to recognize the Pythons, Carlin, Newhart, Tig, Ellen, even Firesign Theatre. But they've consistently played comics that I wanted to check out further, only to have them switch immediately into a break without identifying the comic or crediting the performance.

I second that emotion. I've often been waiting to see who that was only to be rewarded by silence or a top of the hour ID.

Or just as annoying they DO air the credit - but it's the wrong one. This afternoon, I was listening to what was clearly a black comic (his subject matter was all about race and being a black guy, so there's no question about it.) When it ended, they I.D.'d the bit as being by "Albert Brooks."

Now I may not know who it really was, but I know Albert Brooks when I hear him. And this definitely wasn't him!

     Thread Starter
 

October 1, 2017 8:50 pm  #9


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

Does CHAM make enough money from advertising to pay for the power consumed by its transmitter, programming and upkeep of equipment?

I remember when this station did very well with a country format. Think they called themselves the 'legend'.

As their transmitter plant ages and reaches the end if its life I'm guessing it will likely face the same fate as sister station CKSL 1410 London. It was shut down 14 months ago.
http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2016/08/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%89%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8F/

 

October 1, 2017 9:00 pm  #10


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

Wasn't it Robin Williams who once said,"I may not be a doctor, but I know when I'm losing my patience!"

Maybe he "borrowed" it from Groucho, the same way Woody Allen did on another line, when Woody said, "I don't mind dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

"Without Feathers" is a great read, Woody Allen at his absolute peak..."The Whore of Mensa".... genius. (bad joke not intended...honest...)

 

October 2, 2017 11:46 am  #11


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

darcyh wrote:

Does CHAM make enough money from advertising to pay for the power consumed by its transmitter, programming and upkeep of equipment?
As their transmitter plant ages and reaches the end if its life I'm guessing it will likely face the same fate as sister station CKSL 1410 London. It was shut down 14 months ago.
http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2016/08/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%89%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8F/

Maybe CHAM is a pure tax write off for Bell and nothing more.
If 1220 ever gets back up and running they'll gladly cheer for this station to stay the way it is, I'm sure.
Last thing they'd want is for an oldies 820 to suddenly pop up and compete with their Grapevine format, right?
 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

October 3, 2017 1:12 am  #12


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

RadioActive wrote:

.. find myself wandering over to Funny 820 whenever there’s nothing else to listen to. So this is a personal plea to whoever is supposed to be in charge at the automated station .. Fix the damn levels! .. Look, I know no one really cares about CHAM ..

To retain my sanity I went looking for other options when both 640 & 1010 went competing late night conspiracy drek.

I often listen to Funny 820 late at night & I can't say I've noticed consistent issues with volume levels.  The odd set may be a bit too quiet but I find the vast majority are fine.  Note that I am using a C.Crane internet radio.

betaylored wrote:

The other not so funny thing they do, or don't do, is tag every comedy bit with a name .. (

My personal experience has been approx. 90% of the sets have the comic noted at the end of their set.

Last edited by g121 (October 3, 2017 1:13 am)

 

October 3, 2017 7:41 pm  #13


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

RadioActive wrote:

Don wrote:

I wonder if one of their automation channels is out-of-phase. Would you say it's every 3rd bit that sounds like that?

Exactly. I'd say it's every third or fourth bit.

Some of them are fine. Others you can't hear even with the volume turned up the whole way. It's very annoying and encourages tune-out. Why listen to what you can't hear? Especially when you're waiting for a punchline. Needless to say with their anemic numbers, they need all the ears they can get.  

This is quite possibly the culprit then. If it's being monitored at all, it may be through a board feed or a web feed, where it wouldn't be noticeable. Out of phase audio only disappears when the audio is summed to mono.
 

 

October 5, 2017 2:00 pm  #14


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

I can address the uncredited comic problem.

The automation system is WideOrbit. The Funny clocks are typically overstuffed -- more material than is necessary for each hour, just to be safe. The top of the next hour's clock has a soft sync, telling the system to finish playing whatever's playing, then go to the next hour's clock, starting with the legal ID. So, if they come up to the top of the hour with a comedy bit, the automation will essentially say "everything after this is getting dropped, and we'll go to the next hour once the bit is done."

You can check this out by observing when the missing credit happens -- probably always at the top of the hour.

Wrong credits shouldn't happen. Like most things that shouldn't happen, a human needs to know something's wrong in order to fix it. When the Funny folks are told x comic was credited wrongly as y at z o'clock, they'll get the fix in Musicmaster or wherever the trouble started.

As for the levels, the comedy library Bell bought has clips from so many sources, with levels that are all over the place. They are all imported into the automation library with the same normalization targets, but as anyone who's worked with digital audio knows, normalization doesn't always give you a good overall volume. You'd expect a heavy-duty AM processor to even things out, but, y'know, in this case it's more likely to calm the peaks than boost the quiet stuff.

 

October 5, 2017 2:03 pm  #15


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

... and on the phase speculation, I can't speak to 820, but on 1410 we had a problem I was never able to resolve ... everything was supposed to be summed to mono, but something was out of whack, and it caused stereo files to only play one channel. So when a Bob & Doug McKenzie clip, or the "Dave's Not Here" skit would air, we'd only hear half the conversation. I was never able to track it down and fix it.

 

October 5, 2017 9:39 pm  #16


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

ssimpson wrote:

I can address the uncredited comic problem.

The automation system is WideOrbit. The Funny clocks are typically overstuffed -- more material than is necessary for each hour, just to be safe. The top of the next hour's clock has a soft sync, telling the system to finish playing whatever's playing, then go to the next hour's clock, starting with the legal ID. So, if they come up to the top of the hour with a comedy bit, the automation will essentially say "everything after this is getting dropped, and we'll go to the next hour once the bit is done."

You can check this out by observing when the missing credit happens -- probably always at the top of the hour.

Wrong credits shouldn't happen. Like most things that shouldn't happen, a human needs to know something's wrong in order to fix it. When the Funny folks are told x comic was credited wrongly as y at z o'clock, they'll get the fix in Musicmaster or wherever the trouble started.

A bit of work up-front, but really the credits should be built into the bits. Zero chance for error. I'd assumed they were.

 

October 5, 2017 10:27 pm  #17


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

I've noticed the same level problems with Funny 820. Very annoying. A while back they had a distortion problem with their audio.

I have the iHeartRadio app on my phone and often listen to Funny 1060 from Calgary. The usually mention the comedian's name before the piece and they often play longer selections on 820. Also their selection of comedians is much better than CHAM's.

 

October 8, 2017 8:21 pm  #18


Re: Closed Circuit To Anyone At Funny 820: Fix This Already!

Speaking of automation issues, I'm going to assume Corus uses some kind of automation when it runs its nationally distributed "Roy Green Show" on the weekends. It originates out of CHML in Hamilton, but for some reason, whenever the host throws to break, the first three seconds (at least) of the local station's spot plays on AM640 before it fades out and the proper commercial starts. And they're almost always late when the show comes back. 

This has been going on for weeks, if not months, and yet it seems as though no one has noticed and they never fix it. 

     Thread Starter