Borrowed from HobbyBroadcaster

During the first half century or so the recording and playback industries did all they could to improve the sound of their products by making the overall response as linear as possible culminating in "high-fidelity". They perceived the market as valuing fidelity and clean sound. The next boost was "stereo hi-fi". Considering what was discussed in the article it appears that the emphasis during the subsequent half century is on perceived loudness. Has the listening public discarded fidelity in favor of loudness as being a desired trait?

Listener preferences probably vary but are these studied in enough detail to demonstrate that all this processing provides a commercial advantage for broadcasters?

When I worked in a college carrier current station the "compression" was achieved by "riding the board" rather than electronically. Since this was AM, over modulation had to be avoided lest our listeners would be treated to distortion. I recall no discussions at all about attracting listeners by sounding loud.

In fact, this was at the time when FM was becoming popular. One commercial FM station prided itself on delivering the cleanest sound possible. Much of this station's equipment was designed and crafted by the audiophile engineers and owners and indeed this station did sound great and had a serious presence in the market for many years. The growth of FM in the early years is credited to FM's ability to produce high fidelity and later stereo reception and all these efforts to sound loud seem to be going in the wrong direction.

Putting on my grumpy old man hat I can say that I do not listen to a station because it sounds loud. First I select for content (seriously lacking here) and second for sound quality (also lacking). The result is I don't listen at all unless mobile and then only for news.

The AM station which has the most pleasing sound is radio8z! No pre-emphasis and minimal soft limiting to avoid clipping is used. Perhaps the pleasing sound is due to the use of old AM receivers produced before AM pre-emphasis, perhaps the use of old ears that miss things, or perhaps both.

Neil

"The AM station which has the most pleasing sound is radio8z! No pre-emphasis and minimal soft limiting to avoid clipping is used. Perhaps the pleasing sound is due to the use of old AM receivers produced before AM pre-emphasis, perhaps the use of old ears that miss things, or perhaps both."

You are correct about pleasing sound. My old Crosley when I was kid smelled nice and sounded noce.  Yes before pre-emphasis.

To paraphrase something I read in a music book, "noise is unwanted sound" and "music is wanted sound."

One man's music is another man's noise.

There are two basic kinds of music.

There is traditional acoustic music, instruments that make a sound without electronics. That was the baseline type of music in the development of Hi Fi, Stereophonics, the LP, and early FM.

With the Public Address Amplifier and electronic instruments we have entered an age when music is as loud as possible before it ever gets recorded or broadcast.

Instruments, which at one time played in a blended way with singers performing at a comfortable level, now play so loudly that screaming has become the new way of singing.

Many many people lose there hearing either playing or attending concerts of modern music.

Most of the discussions I've heard about loudness on radio come from lovers of the new, electronic, loud music.

Some of our members have already said it, that audio processing is based on the type of material being broadcast.

It is even worth considering different processing for different material, for example, voice announcements processed differently from music.

Then we have pre-recorded material that is already heavily processed, which gets smashed all over again when it passes through our gear.

Carl, host of "The Dead Air Hour"