One constant battle that program directors and engineers fight is keeping ahead of the competition when it comes to the sound of the station. The original goal of on-air audio processing years ago was to simply limit the audio peaks that caused over modulation. Somewhere along the way the goal became to make the signal the loudest on the dial so that a listener's car radio all but climbed out of the dash of their car as they tuned the dial. Today it is easy to make a radio signal loud, but it is entirely different to create a loud, clean, quality radio signal that attracts listeners and makes them want to listen for hours.

Digital broadcast audio processors offer the program director and engineer an incredible array of multi-band digital signal processing (DSP). Broadcast audio processing is based on a psychoacoustic musical image created by the program director in conjunction with the station engineer. The microprocessor-controlled broadcast audio processors allow the user to program processor settings to change based on the time of day or style of music.

The extent of the available adjustments is impressive, but caution is necessary. Misadjusted audio processors can create listener fatigue and cause listeners to switch to other stations. In other words, the sound of the station becomes so annoying that they get tired of listening and tune out. To help prevent this, broadcast audio processors come with default software settings for just about every music format, and these are excellent starting points from which minor adjustments can be made.

The level of sophistication in on-air broadcast audio processors is such that infinite adjustments of every audio parameter are possible. One brand of audio processor can be set up with its own ISP address. The engineer can go into the field at various locations within the station's coverage area and do head-to-head comparisons with competing radio stations. From the field, the station engineer can log into the audio processor with a laptop computer and adjust the station's audio processing. In addition to listening at various locations with the station's coverage area, PDs and engineers listen on several different makes of factory car stereos that are typical of their target audience.

This sophistication is expensive. A top-of-the-line broadcast audio processor can easily cost between $10-15,000. In the scheme of things, however, this is a small price to pay for a market dominating sound.