Re: Anybody know...

[bkawa@ix.netcom.com (Bruce Kawakami)]

You wrote: 
>
>>Chris, re:
>>
>>>...the source for the 12/01/75 Kansas City show?  It sounds like it 
could
>>have been a radio broadcast - great sound!
>>
>>I believe it was a radio broadcast. Mark L, comments???
>
>wf:
>
>...It sounds like a radio show to me, in a lot of ways...but if so 
then it was
>a live broadcast, `cause it's not mixed like a KBFH or WW1. 

Hi folks:

This in fact is a excellent audience recording.  There are things to 
look for in distinguishing raw (ie not mixed) board tapes from good 
audience tapes.  The main thing is to listen to the crowd noise.  This 
show was at the sold out (17,600) Kemper Arena, therefore you should 
not hear "individuals" talking, clapping, screaming, etc. if it is a 
soundboard tape. On this tape you can hear individual people talking, 
after Baba O' Riley, you can hear a man say "Whoa" in a normal spoken 
voice.  On a board tape you should not hear this, exspecially in an 
arena with 17,600 people.  Even on the Leeds tape from a small (1500 or 
so) theatre people have to scream to be heard.  Also raw boards tapes 
tend to be very "dry" sounding, that is with very little echo or 
reverb.  Remember adding echo is one of the major things they did to 
Leeds (and in some cases too much was added, ie Magic Bus) On this 
tape, you can "hear" the size of the arena in the talking by the band 
in between songs.  

Furthermore, at this point (1975) there was very little reason for the 
band to do "local broadcasts."  Such broadcasts are usually done by 
artists on their way up who need the exposure.  The Who were superstars 
by this time, which means they get paid for their services (which is 
what companies like KBFH and WW1 did).  Why would a "local" company, 
who has to pay for the recording and the artist,  broadcast a Who 
concert?  The only way they could make money would be to sell 
commercials to be heard during the broadcast.  To do this they would 
have to insert the commercials in later.  The cost of recording a show 
is much higher than broadcasting a show live.  It's all about money.  
Of course the tape in question is a complete concert with no 
commercials and no DJ's.  

I can think of only one "local broadcast" of a Who concert in the US, 
Chicago Dec 1979.  This concert was simulcast in local movie theatres 
in Chicagoland.  The key here is that it cost $7.98 per person to get 
in, (and was also sponsored by The Loop radio station) which covered 
costs and probably made a little profit.

Bruce