From the MCRFB news archives:
CKLW GOING BIG WITH NEW SOUND; ENGINEER SLATED TO REOPTIMIZE 50,000-WATTER WITH AM STEREO EVOLUTION
DETROIT / WINDSOR — If CKLW doesn’t succeed in an era when increasing listening to music is done on the FM band, it won’t be Ed Buterbaugh’s fault.
Butterbaugh, who is vice-president of engineering for CKLW, has been overseeing the technical facilities at the station for 10 years. “I’ve always tried to stay one step ahead of the rest, , be a leader, not a follower,” Buterbaugh says pointing to a state-of-the-art transmitter system.
“We now have an audio prototype system with a redesigned antenna system that is optimized for stereo,” Buterbaugh says, noting that CKLW takes delivery on a Harris stereo system on August 1st.
Butterbaugh says he chose the Harris system because “it is the only system that doesn’t require limiters on the signal in order to maintain protective ratios and emission limitations currently specified. Other systems all need filters.”
Buterbaugh may have chosen the Harris system, but he realizes, like most radio engineers and management, that it will probably be the receiver manufacturers who will decide which AM stereo system will prevail. The FCC has taken a hands-off stance on competing AM stereo systems and decreed that the marketplace should have such a system. Should some system other than Harris be the winner in the AM stereo race, it will be a minor adjustment for Buterbaugh to adapt the Harris transmitter he is installing next month.
Buterbaugh notes that he has “changed the audio processing system five times since I’ve been here, four of them were my own system.” The winner of a 1977 Billboard Radio Engineer of the Year award notes that he is “very conscious of listener fatigue and how it is caused by distortion. “It’s most important to have a good clean signal,” he says.
Buterbaugh is doing a lot of work on the FM side as well. He’s just gotten approval from the stations’ board of directors to upgrade CKJY-FM’s signal. This sister station, which runs the syndicated MOR “Unforgettable’ format, will soon move from a 540 foot tower with a 40kw of power to a 700 foot tower with 100kw. “We’ve already designed a unique audio processing system for it,”Buterbaugh says. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 7, 1982).
