97.5 is delayed 15 seconds

[nd2023]

Today at the Rutgers football game which was being broadcast on 97.5, I noticed a 15 second delay between what was happening on the field and what 97.5 was airing. When there was a penalty, I heard the referee speak in the stadium 15 seconds before I heard him speak on 97.5.
The other stations that carry Rutgers football, WCTC 1450 and WOR 710, are live (I can hear the referee speak on the radio a second before I hear him speak in the stadium, so it is absolutely live)
If 97.5 wants to carry any other sports, they should ditch the IBUZ during live broadcasts.

 

[Watercooler]

they can actually leave the HD on they just need to turn off the analog delay during the game.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

they can actually leave the HD on they just need to turn off the analog delay during the game.

By "analog delay" do you mean the (typical) seven-second language delay?

Not sure if you can "leave the HD on" and be delay-less as it causes an
approx. 8-9 second delay. When KFYI Phoenix was running both I-CRAP
and language delay, they were :16 behind real time (i.e., TOH net news);
more recently they've dumped the language delay when non-local talk and
it's still about :09 late due to the I-CRAP still being on. Wow...all that hash,
slop and tinny sound for 98% of their audience, while the 2% with HD radios
are catered to. <roll eyes>

Radio engineers--can you comment?

 

[aindik]

The HD signal will always be delayed. That's the technical necessity of encoding it.

The analog signal does not have to be delayed just because the station is running HD. They delay it so when your radio switches from HD to analog or vice versa (say, because you're drifting in and out of range of the HD), the stations are synchronized (IOW, you might not notice that you're hopping back and forth). There's no technical reason why this has to be the case. They do it for a smoother HD experience.

They could, if they want to, run them unsynchronized during, say, sporting events where the event is taking place within the signal of the station that is broadcasting the play by play.

WIP runs completely and totally live during Eagles home games, so that people sitting in the stadium can listen to the play by play. WYSP runs the exact same content, delayed so as to be synchronized with the TV coverage (I think, the SD TV coverage on Comcast cable is what they use).

 

[bigtom101]

WIP runs completely and totally live during Eagles home games, so that people sitting in the stadium can listen to the play by play. WYSP runs the exact same content, delayed so as to be synchronized with the TV coverage (I think, the SD TV coverage on Comcast cable is what they use).

There is a "baseball mode" for HD encoders - the PAD still works along with the multicast channels, but there's no delay and the HD-1 is disabled.

 

[Bill_W]

WIP runs completely and totally live during Eagles home games, so that people sitting in the stadium can listen to the play by play. WYSP runs the exact same content, delayed so as to be synchronized with the TV coverage (I think, the SD TV coverage on Comcast cable is what they use).

There is a "baseball mode" for HD encoders - the PAD still works along with the multicast channels, but there's no delay and the HD-1 is disabled.

So they can run analog only with no delay instead of an HD-1 and they can still run the HD-2 and HD-3? What's my radio going to do say on Sunday during an Eagles game on WYSP? If I tune to WYSP, there would be no HD signal but, how would I get to KYW on WYSP-HD2?

 

[DanStrassberg]

So they can run analog only with no delay instead of an HD-1 and they can still run the HD-2 and HD-3? What's my radio going to do say on Sunday during an Eagles game on WYSP? If I tune to WYSP, there would be no HD signal but, how would I get to KYW on WYSP-HD2?

There would be no HD-1 signal but there would be HD-2 and HD-3 signals (assuming that there is an HD-3 signal at other times). Are you saying that the receiver needs the HD-1 signal to function on the other HD-n subchannels? Are you sure? I don't think that is the case. I think you should get silence on HD-1 but HD-2 and HD-3 should function normally. In other words, HD-1 would be, in effect, an open carrier. It would be present, just without modulation.

 

[Bill_W]

So they can run analog only with no delay instead of an HD-1 and they can still run the HD-2 and HD-3? What's my radio going to do say on Sunday during an Eagles game on WYSP? If I tune to WYSP, there would be no HD signal but, how would I get to KYW on WYSP-HD2?

There would be no HD-1 signal but there would be HD-2 and HD-3 signals (assuming that there is an HD-3 signal at other times). Are you saying that the receiver needs the HD-1 signal to function on the other HD-n subchannels? Are you sure? I don't think that is the case. I think you should get silence on HD-1 but HD-2 and HD-3 should function normally. In other words, HD-1 would be, in effect, an open carrier. It would be present, just without modulation.

From my experience with the 2HD radios that I have, they grab the analog signal 1st then see the digital signal and change to that. Unless I put one of the sub-channels as a preset, I need to tune to the frequency, wait for the digital light to appear, then I can tune to one of the sub-channels. What's the radio going to do? Would it play just an analog signal? What's going to happen when it locks on to the digital signal?

 

[bigtom101]

So they can run analog only with no delay instead of an HD-1 and they can still run the HD-2 and HD-3? What's my radio going to do say on Sunday during an Eagles game on WYSP? If I tune to WYSP, there would be no HD signal but, how would I get to KYW on WYSP-HD2?

What happens is that instead of hearing the digital signal on the HD1, you get the non delayed analog audio. Muticast channels and PAD still work.

My HD Jump doesnt do ballpark mode unfortunately, so it depends on the radio.

 

[DStroyer]

A few weeks ago, when I was in the car driving to Philly just as the Eagles game was starting, WYSP-HD1 (with the game audio, delayed due to the digital process) was "LOCKED" on my radio ...meaning, when the digital signal got weak in the fringe areas, I would just get dead air rather than the radio switching back to the analog signal.

 

[aindik]

During last night's Phillies game, I think 97.5 and 950 were running the game with different delays. I think 97.5 was legit live. They were noticeably ahead of TBS-HD and WPHT. 950 was behind 97.5 but I didn't compare it to the others.

I applaud the desire to cater to different audiences, with the FM geared to in-stadium people who are not being served by WPHT (because they are, understandably, delaying the broadcast to cater to the people at home with the TV sound down). But shouldn't the in-stadium feed be on the AM station? I guess they're trying to promote the new station.

At home I did my modified radio thing. WPHT on a radio in front of my TV. TBS-HD on my home theater, with the center channel speaker unplugged to eliminate the TBS commentary. So, I get WPHT's commentary and TBS's surround sound and game sounds (ball in mitt, bat on ball, crowd noise, etc.). I used the TiVo to sync them up (luckily the HDTV feed is slightly ahead of the radio, rather than slightly behind).