With  all my love and admiration of WHRB I have to tell that the guy why run this station David Eliot (he is the chairman of the WHRB board of trustees and program director)  has his head deep on own ass. WHRB was fighting recently with WHRB they a few months ago begin to broadcast very strong noise along with signal. After many complains I made they fixed the noise – thanks God, it took me almost 3 month!

Now, is another problem: I was complaining that when WHRB broadcast MET programs then they have 3db less on right channel (Own WHRB programs are at right balance). This season they did even more crazy: right channel 6dB less then left and from time to time it burst 4dB – very nicely done WHRB! Each time when I call them and complain David Eliot get openly annoyed and brings absolutely idiotic justification, still promising to fix it. After a 7 months I thought it was enough and I called again and the FM veteran David Eliot told me that instead of complaining I need juts to sit a feet aside from the mid of my couch. Is he kidding me!?

I immediately called to MET, spoke with Broadcast Producer and confirmed that the feed that MET to WHRB is symmetric (the Broadcast Producer did go to consult with her engineers). The MET promised to help with their influence me to make my WHRB to transmit MET with proper balance. What however really pissed me in this whole story what when then I spoke with David Eliot, informing his that it is confirmed that MET signal was not the problem, David begin to scream to me claiming that I have no rights to interfere with  WHRB relation with MET.  That kind of puzzled me as I always thought that there is MET event and there is me, the listener, and it is David Eliot with his fucked up radio station and his ignorant attitude toward audio has no right to vandalize the authenticity live FM broadcast.  I never kept my head in sand and I in a past did proposed to the non-profit and finance-challenged WHRB to buy for them a good replacement if they identify themselves which their electronic component is causing the problem. However, the real problem is not with faulty equipment or that they do not calibrate them but that David Eliot just DO NOT CARE.

Which bring an interesting question: do those radio station people feel that they own public events?

The WHRB MET broadcasts are not only cultural happening in Boston but also a historical cultural event.  In my view the WHRB does not own rights over it MET broadcasts, as well as WHRB does own neither air nor the 95.3 frequency spot. The WHRB just leases the frequency, the air and the MET legacy from public domain in exchange for the programming it provides. If were no WHRB in town then it will be other station that would hold the touch of the Saturday's MET broadcasting…

So, I think that WHRB, sine they are the ONLY station that does MET in Boston is under an obligation to public do not vandalize MET broadcasting and from this perspective I have a no idea why David Eliot need to be pissed that a listener wastes his time to  monitor and to attempt how to improve WHRB sound. I think this David Eliot feel that his some kind of belly button of FM universe… Well, it is not how I see the things…

I would not talk about compression, unreasonable limiting or other “complex” subjects that would “require” evolve understanding. I am taking about the very elemental fix that would take a few minutes to implement. All that is necessary is a wish. The 6dB of difference is twice by volume. So I wonder if David Eliot’s own right kidney would be 50% dysfunctional then shell he fix it with a doctor or  would it be better for him juts to forget about it do not urineate on the right side?

What actually extremely pissed me off was the David Eliot’s attitude that we the listeners are not the owners of our own listening experiences but some kind of hostages of FM station’s wishes.  Years back I was under impression that he is just an ignorant person in the subjects of audio. He is a magnificent musical host; in fact I adore his presentation s. WHRB is voluntary organization that do not have a whole a lot of recourses. Here is a fragment from David Eliot’s email a few month back:

“If you have specific observations about the sound quality of the Met, we invite you to send us details, giving the specific opera transmission or transmissions when you have heard problems, describing as completely as possible what you heard and how it differed from transmissions of three or four years ago.  We will be happy to include your observations in our discussions with the Met's technical staff.

So, please, for now and in the future, do not impute to WHRB a "gross disrespect."  The station, it is true, has neither the resources nor the large professional staff of other stations, but our all-volunteer, mostly undergraduate staff works hard to deal with many more problems in running a radio station than you can begin to imagine.  Most listeners are grateful for our extraordinary content and are forgiving of the occasional problems that they become aware of.  We hope you can be convinced to join them in that and to enjoy the best of our offerings without denigrating our motivation or assuming that all problems are of our creation or under our control.”

Sounds reasonable, right? It is a great façade but there is a truth behind it. The sad truth is that David Eliot, for whatever reason is driven him, is lying. Today he told me that among a thousand listeners he has no one ever complained about the quality of MET broadcasts via WHRB. It is BS as I person know of 6 people who told me that they complained to WHRB. A few months back I was complaining about noise to WHRB and Davis asked me why no one else ever acknowledges the noise? Good question that openly challenge my sanity. A few hours after this I spoke with Clark Johnson who told me that juts a day before he had a prolong discussion- complain with WHRB juts because the horrible quality of sound and noise.  So, behind his gentile personals of David Eliot there is apparently a quite sinister and creepy attitude.

It is very sad as it is absolutely not warranted as the only thing that we the listeners wish is to get what already there: the WHRB programming in a stable good quality. I do not think that this wish of ours is very much against of what David would like to have and therefore there is no need for dishonesty, self-delusion or any other crap that David choose to employ. If a listener bothers itself to call to a station and to report a specific sonic problem then it not because a listener has nothing else to do and is looking for a “telephone entertament”.  I have no idea what his stupid reaction comes from. In my business if somebody would perform an accurate QA of the quality of work then I would pay for service instead of getting angry… It is of course if I care about my work…

Hm, it took for WHRB one week to rebroadcast MET with “even balance” and the last week Regoletto went 4.6dB misbalanced.   It was not a big damage as the production was very poor and MET kept destroying everything with their horrible “sliding” sound when they synchronize the feeds in real time.  When I called to WHRB during the MET broadcast the guy in there was informing me that he “hear no problems”. Sure!  Later on trying to get in touch with their David Elliott   I faced in his a patronizing and arrogant asshole who refused even to talk with me on the subject. I called today to MET complain again and will be looking for contacts in Harvard administration to find the ways to make WHRB to fix the problem. What however was different this time that the David Elliott‘s post MET program – something that truly appreciate and cherish I was not able to listen – I just was disgusted to hear his voice.   Well, welcome to me world – it is me and it how it works with me – fuck you David Elliott - I do not want to hear your voice from my radio.  If you feel that to adjust the stupid channels dialer is too much for you then you do not deserve me as a listener.

Thanks, thezak

As I understand you are saying that the company you linked doe the broadcasting for WHRB? It is good to have the link but I do not see myself to bypassing WHRB and to contact them directly.

The problem with MET was resolved in spring.  David Elliott was difficult, as “they” all are and I was forced to complain to MET broadest division, many times until I reached the right ears that listened me and understand that I keep harassing them not because I so much enjoy practicing phone calls.  I forgot her name I think she was MET chief broadcaster, she put me in contact with right people (very knowledge sand effective), I send them some fragment indication to the problem and I guess they right pressure to WHRB’s David Elliott. I think WHRB got some consultant and they discover some kind of faulty piece of hardware that interfaced between MET phone line and WHRB. They fixed it closer to the end of the season.

I kind of felt not exactly comfortable as WHRB is non-profit intuition and I guess the cost of that consult and the cost of replaced equipment was painful for them. I thigh to offer them to pay for the replaced hardware but the fact that Mr. Elliott behaved like a Moron and  treated me as I am an annoying buffoon really turned me off.

I do know what the status of MET- WHRB nowadays. I missed the Don Carlo, was not in town.. Today there was the Debussy’s  Pelléas et Mélisande. I was listening it in mono (experimenting with my new MF driver) and I did not record (not my favorite opera). The next Saturday it will be Puccini’s The Girl of the West with Deborah Voigt, I will be listening it in stereo and if I recognize the problems then I will let David know.