ESPN sound quality on 98.7

[EricStein]

Whenever 98.7 goes to ESPN's national sports feed (at night or on the weekends), the sound quality has been AWFUL for the past two years, and they've done nothing about it. It sounds harsh and "metallic," in lack of a better word. 620 is more tolerable with ESPN programming because the AM sound quality masks any issues. Why Bonneville keeps ignoring this issue is beyond me, because it's TOUGH to listen to the national content for long periods of time on 98.7.

 

[KeithE4]

Whenever 98.7 goes to ESPN's national sports feed (at night or on the weekends), the sound quality has been AWFUL for the past two years, and they've done nothing about it. It sounds harsh and "metallic," in lack of a better word. 620 is more tolerable with ESPN programming because the AM sound quality masks any issues. Why Bonneville keeps ignoring this issue is beyond me, because it's TOUGH to listen to the national content for long periods of time on 98.7.

ESPN Radio is just filler when it's on the FM. There probably aren't enough listeners to justify 24/7 local programming on 98.7, but enough to justify keeping the transmitter on past midnight. At least ESPN Radio has reasons to justify its existence for the time being, thanks to the NFL Draft and NBA playoffs.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Whenever 98.7 goes to ESPN's national sports feed (at night or on the weekends), the sound quality has been AWFUL for the past two years, and they've done nothing about it. It sounds harsh and "metallic," in lack of a better word. 620 is more tolerable with ESPN programming because the AM sound quality masks any issues. Why Bonneville keeps ignoring this issue is beyond me, because it's TOUGH to listen to the national content for long periods of time on 98.7.

I'm guessing thats the ringing unflushable turd that is Voltaire from Omnia thats supposed to help PPM encoding but makes audio metallic, ringing and digitall-y. Ask Omnia, they'll say that anyone who uses Voltaire and sounds bad is using it incorrectly. But I know within seconds if a stations using it, you can always tell.. that must mean every station has it set up incorrectly.

 

[bulwnkl]

I’m familiar with the metallic sound. It’s something I used to associate with low-bitrate WMP files in ages past, but I hear it with some programming on some stations these days. Interesting that you hear it now with a specific tech.

 

[EricStein]

I'm guessing thats the ringing unflushable turd that is Voltaire from Omnia thats supposed to help PPM encoding but makes audio metallic, ringing and digitall-y. Ask Omnia, they'll say that anyone who uses Voltaire and sounds bad is using it incorrectly. But I know within seconds if a stations using it, you can always tell.. that must mean every station has it set up incorrectly.

If it was the Voltaire, wouldn't it affect the local in-studio shows (which don't have the same problem) too? It sounds more like a problem with the ESPN receiver itself.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

If it was the Voltaire, wouldn't it affect the local in-studio shows (which don't have the same problem) too? It sounds more like a problem with the ESPN receiver itself.

Ah, somehow I missed that part. Now i am stymied

 

[oldiesfan6479]

They could try getting a 3.5 kHz Telco line. NBC Radio used to come in to KT'R (620) that way until they switched to ABC/I in the early '70s (ABC was on a 5 kHz line).

But which phone company would you deal with? AT&T? I don't think anyone at CenturyLink even knows what a radio Telco line is (was).

 

[johndavis]

Ah, somehow I missed that part. Now i am stymied

I suspect that if you hooked up a speaker to the output of any ESPN radio sat receiver it would sound like hammered dog poop.