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ARSCLIST  March 2016

ARSCLIST March 2016

Subject:

Re: iHeartmedia is in trouble

From:

Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Thu, 24 Mar 2016 08:29:25 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (279 lines)

One man's opinions ...

I've never liked classical FM radio because the variety of music played generally didn't suit my 
taste. In the times I listened to it more (back in the 90s), there was too much obsession with 
chamber music, which I do not prefer. I tend to think they played that so it would be good 
background music to upscale shops and perhaps some restaurants. Also, if the station had a decent 
fidelity signal, they weren't doing typical FM processing and crunching the dynamic range. This is 
great, except in a car. When not in a car, I just as soon listen to music of my own choosing from 
CDs or LPs that I own.

The deal-sealer for me and radio was the evolution of the hard-drive iPod. When it go to 80gig, that 
was enough to have a huge library of 320kbps (acceptable quality) lossy tunes. Then when it got to 
160gig, that was enough for all the music I'll want for long trips. Even at that capacity, though, I 
found I had to "curate" the library by eliminating dud tunes on various albums and anthologies. It 
took me several years to build up the iTunes library, but now I have 160gig of nearly no duds, 
according to my taste, and enough music to last a long time holed up in a cabin or on a desert 
island. I also took my old 80gig iPod and loaded it up with classical music, all in Apple Lossless 
format. It, too, is a great resource.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lewis" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2016 6:07 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] iHeartmedia is in trouble


> John Haley wrote:
> On the symphonic channel, the announcers are ignorant morons who
> are apparently encouraged to make up outrageous stuff about the composers
> and the music.  All pretty sad.  There seems to be not the slightest
> concern for delivering music in excellent sound.
>
>>>>
> Indeed, when Rebecca and I were traveling back and forth from Ohio to New
> Jersey a lot, we depended to some extent
> on Sirius to keep us awake and driving. We liked "40s on 4" which was a mix
> of 1940s and other Big Band music, which
> has since moved off "4" and onto a part of the Sirius band where we cannot
> find it anymore. The announce copy on the
> symphonic channel was poorly and despicably written; the way one bumper for
> the Brahms Violin Concerto was written
> it made me think of Brahms sitting in his underwear, smoking his pipe. We
> didn't listen to that as much -- I had brought
> with me a CDR of some Jimmie Lunceford jams that we checked out far more
> often.
>
> Dave Lewis
> Hamilton, OH
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 12:29 AM, Frank Strauss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> The audio quality on Sirius/XM is no more terrible than FM, at least for
>> classical. The classical channel doesn't have commercials, except for
>> selfies, and the commentators are as good as most classical FM stations.
>> You may not like them, but Martin Goldsmith and Robert Aubry Davis, among
>> others, are as good as any around. I don't need incredible quality in the
>> car; if the quality was exquisite, I'd find myself listening to music
>> instead of driving. When the Sirius/XM people come up with a model that
>> lets me have what I want in my car for a decent price, I'm on board. At
>> this point in time, satellite is a mobile music source.  A good question
>> might be, how many people have satellite at home, and why in the world
>> would they?  With the incredible array of music sources available, you can
>> have the best that money can buy at home. (assuming you have the money) We
>> have two public radio stations in the area-one that is mostly talking heads
>> and one that fund raises in a most annoying way about 20% of the time and,
>> if you want to hear awful programming try listening when they aren't fund
>> raising.  I have enough music at full res now that I don't need radio or
>> satellite. As soon as my free car subscription ends, I'll listen in the car
>> to the thumbdrive. It will be at 320kbps, since my car usb port doesn't
>> recognize anything but MP3. A 128 GB thumbdrive ($29.95 at BJ's) holds a
>> lot of decent sounding programming, maybe as much as Sirius/XM has in their
>> library . I think a good part of the satellite market may be driven by the
>> 3 mo-12 mo free subscriptions you get when you buy a new (sometimes used)
>> car. It's like a big audio Ponzi scheme. Personally, if Sirius/XM and
>> iHeart and NPR and FM and AM went belly up, it might be a week or two
>> before I noticed. Unfortunately nobody cares what a 75 year old curmudgeon
>> listens to.
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 5:12 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > We had a free sat radio sub for I think a year in my wife's car. Didn't
>> > like it one bit. Very limited variety within a genre, annoying
>> commercials
>> > (after the thing is SUBSCRIPTION business!), and terrible audio quality.
>> We
>> > did not pay money for it after the free time expired. Not worth a penny.
>> > Might be worth about half what they charge if there were more variety and
>> > no commercials.
>> >
>> > -- Tom Fine
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Shai Drori" <[log in to unmask]>
>> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> > Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 5:05 PM
>> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] iHeartmedia is in trouble
>> >
>> >
>> > I think we get XM (isn't it the same?). The classical stations are
>> >> horrible. Big reverb on everything. Took me a day to figure out what
>> drove
>> >> me crazy until I realized that no matter what I listen to the reverb is
>> >> the
>> >> same!! And a long one at that. I only listen to CNN and even that once
>> in
>> >> a
>> >> blue moon. Mostly it's music from my own collection.
>> >>
>> >> Cheers
>> >> Shai Drori
>> >> Expert digitization services for Audio Video
>> >> Hi Res scanning for film 8mm-35mm
>> >> www.audiovideofilm.com
>> >> [log in to unmask]
>> >>
>> >> On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 10:30 PM, Frank Strauss <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hi Shai-I listen to Sirius in the car. (at least until the free
>> >>> subscription runs out)  I tune to the classical stations Metropolitan
>> >>> Opera
>> >>> and Symphony Hall, and the sound is quite nice, absolutely no
>> comparison
>> >>> to
>> >>> AM. At least in this case, AM is technically far inferior. Since I
>> don't
>> >>> listen that much, I can't speak to the repeat issue.
>> >>>
>> >>> On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 4:03 PM, Shai Drori <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> > Is satellite radio any better? The stations are bland the music
>> repeats
>> >>> > itself constantly and the technical quality is below AM.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > Cheers
>> >>> > Shai Drori
>> >>> > Expert digitization services for Audio Video
>> >>> > Hi Res scanning for film 8mm-35mm
>> >>> > www.audiovideofilm.com
>> >>> > [log in to unmask]
>> >>> >
>> >>> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 8:44 PM, Arthur Gaer <[log in to unmask]>
>> >>> > wrote:
>> >>> >
>> >>> > > Given how Clear Channel/iHeartmedia's centralized, homogenized,
>> >>> > > uncreative, controlled, automated, focus grouped, corporatized
>> >>> approach
>> >>> > to
>> >>> > > radio went a long way to destroying whatever was left of music
>> >>> > programming
>> >>> > > on the commercial radio airwaves, I wouldn't be in the least sorry
>> to
>> >>> see
>> >>> > > them go.  Not that it was great before deregulation and lack of
>> >>> > anti-trust
>> >>> > > enforcement allowed Clear Channel to take over the biggest swath of
>> >>> radio
>> >>> > > in the country, but their ownership of all those licenses made sure
>> >>> the
>> >>> > > dying medium went straight into rigor mortis.
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > > Is there anyone who listens to a station over 92MHz anymore, unless
>> >>> > > they're stuck in a car with no smartphone connection or satellite
>> >>> radio?
>> >>> > > (Which describes my 2002).
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > > I won't be sorry to see them go--but they probably won't.   They'll
>> >>> > > probably just be reorganized as their creditors get stuck with
>> >>> pennies
>> >>> on
>> >>> > > the dollar.   Who'd put up any real money to buy licenses and
>> >>> physical
>> >>> > > assets of a dying medium with an aging and continuously dwindling
>> >>> > audience?
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > > It's probably too late for them to be broken up and sold off in
>> small
>> >>> > > groups to anyone who thinks they might make money off playing
>> music.
>> >>> The
>> >>> > > music loving audience has gone in a totally different direction,
>> and
>> >>> the
>> >>> > > non-music-lovers have plenty of other infotainment options.
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > > Arthur
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > > On Mar 22, 2016, at 2:16 PM, John Haley <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> >>> > >
>> >>> > > > Thanks for posting, Dave.  $20 B is a lot of debt!   As I read
>> the
>> >>> > > article,
>> >>> > > > the aptly named Bain Capital is one of the owners of IHeart.
>> This
>> >>> will
>> >>> > > be
>> >>> > > > worth watching.
>> >>> > > >
>> >>> > > > Best,
>> >>> > > > John
>> >>> > > >
>> >>> > > >
>> >>> > > > On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 2:02 PM, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>> > > >
>> >>> > > >> ARSClisters,
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > > >> There's not a lot of news on this front, but something is
>> clearly
>> >>> > > >> developing. A couple of weeks ago iHeartmedia filed a 14-day
>> >>> > restraining
>> >>> > > >> order against its creditors
>> >>> > > >> to hold off collection of $20 Billion in debt. I'm not sure the
>> >>> exact
>> >>> > > date
>> >>> > > >> of filing, but a decision may be forthcoming that would be a
>> real
>> >>> > > hardship
>> >>> > > >> for them.
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > >
>> >>> >
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6975424/iheartmedia-with-20-billion-in-debt-looks-to-restructure-a-portion-while
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > > >> I've already seen a liberal-slanted article which prophesies
>> doom
>> >>> for
>> >>> > > >> iHeart, and lambastes them for their role in propagating "hate
>> >>> radio."
>> >>> > > But
>> >>> > > >> my concern is that,
>> >>> > > >> as the heirs to Clear Channel, they own most of the radio
>> stations
>> >>> in
>> >>> > > this
>> >>> > > >> country and provide streaming for others not affiliated with
>> them.
>> >>> > What
>> >>> > > >> would happen to
>> >>> > > >> all of this radio if iHeartmedia goes dark? Is it even
>> >>> conceivable?
>> >>> > > Their
>> >>> > > >> biggest creditor is Bain Capital.
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > > >> best to all,
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > > >> Dave Lewis
>> >>> > > >> Hamilton, OH
>> >>> > > >>
>> >>> > >
>> >>> >
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Frank B Strauss, DMD
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Frank B Strauss, DMD
>>
>
> 

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