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March 7, 2019 5:06 pm  #1


Muddy 640?

I was listening to 640 this morning while out walking the dog and noticed that the station's TX kept cutting in and out. It got very noticeable around 10 AM on Kelly Curtrara's show, when it got so bad they were literally sounding like a bad cell phone, cutting out between words. The longest off air moment lasted about 10-15 seconds, but most were only around 5 seconds each. It eventually stopped (or I stopped listening) and didn't think more about it. 

Then on the way home from an emergency this afternoon, I turned on CFMJ on my car radio. They sounded very bassy, very muddy and not at all like they normally do. I thought it might have just been in the car, but my radios at home are playing it with an equal deep-bass hit.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it just my ears deceiving me? I've heard other stations make adjustments to their on air sound and it takes a few days to get used to it. I'm not crazy about the change, and I hope it's not permanent.  

 

March 7, 2019 7:00 pm  #2


Re: Muddy 640?

It's more likely their main STL, likely digital based based on how it was cutting in and out, died and they are using a backup that likely has a different processing chain, with less current settings.    In my view, the backup chain should sound almost identical so no one can tell the difference, but not all spend the time to do this anymore. 

 

March 7, 2019 11:26 pm  #3


Re: Muddy 640?

Well whatever is going on, it appears it's taken them off the air completely. As I type this, 640's signal is gone and there's nothing but static on the frequency. So perhaps they're trying to fix whatever went wrong. It's shutting Charles Adler's show out of the market for now, but I assume they'll be back on sooner then later.

Great DX opportunity for anyone reading this while the outage continues. Just confirmed WXSM, an all sports format from Blountville, Tennessee.

     Thread Starter
 

March 7, 2019 11:34 pm  #4


Re: Muddy 640?

For what it's worth I just checked the stream and it's working but is silent.

 

March 7, 2019 11:50 pm  #5


Re: Muddy 640?

They popped back up on 640 at 10:45 PM Thursday night. Rare that a station goes down for about 40 minutes these days. It was fun while it lasted!

     Thread Starter
 

March 8, 2019 12:16 am  #6


Re: Muddy 640?

I don't know what happened but I have worked with the Chief Engineer on AM sites in the past. I am sure they lost a RF component that had to be replaced. Depending on what it is this could cause narrow band performance of the antenna  array sounding muddy or lo fi. Been there myself in the past.

 

March 8, 2019 12:29 pm  #7


Re: Muddy 640?

Whatever the cause, they sound much better on Friday. 

     Thread Starter