CBS' AM dilemma

[Bill_W]

What about the Phillies reaching an agreement similar to what the Eagles have now with CBS. The Phillies could be on 94 as the primary broadcast synced to the TV [big sell with all the horrible national announcers (read: Joe Buck)] and then they could simulcast the broadcast on 1210 in real time to listen to at the game. It seems to have worked well with the Eagles. I don't see why it wouldn't work with the Phillies.

But most of the time the Phillies TV broadcast is done by the local broadcast on CSN on PHL17. In fact, don't some of the radio guys do TV and TV guy do radio for a couple of innings? What would the point be to sync up FM and TV then. And which TV is it? Xfinity, FiOS, HD feed, SD feed? They're all off by a couple of seconds each.

 

[imhomerjay]

What about the Phillies reaching an agreement similar to what the Eagles have now with CBS. The Phillies could be on 94 as the primary broadcast synced to the TV [big sell with all the horrible national announcers (read: Joe Buck)] and then they could simulcast the broadcast on 1210 in real time to listen to at the game. It seems to have worked well with the Eagles. I don't see why it wouldn't work with the Phillies.

Because 162 games is different than 16.

 

[aindik]

What about the Phillies reaching an agreement similar to what the Eagles have now with CBS. The Phillies could be on 94 as the primary broadcast synced to the TV [big sell with all the horrible national announcers (read: Joe Buck)] and then they could simulcast the broadcast on 1210 in real time to listen to at the game. It seems to have worked well with the Eagles. I don't see why it wouldn't work with the Phillies.

But most of the time the Phillies TV broadcast is done by the local broadcast on CSN on PHL17. In fact, don't some of the radio guys do TV and TV guy do radio for a couple of innings?

Not since Harry Kalas died. The teams are now separate. McCarthy, Wheeler and Matthews (or two of the three) on TV. Franzke and Anderson on radio.

The TV people do three innings on the radio only during the postseason, because there's no local TV during the postseason.

What would the point be to sync up FM and TV then. And which TV is it? Xfinity, FiOS, HD feed, SD feed? They're all off by a couple of seconds each.

I would delay the broadcast slightly later than all of them, and then tell people to pause their DVRs to synchronize the videos with your favorite announcers. That's what I do with Eagles games when I watch them. YSP is synced with Comcast's SD feed of whatever channel has the game (on the theory that that's the channel most people are watching). Luckily, the HD feed is slightly ahead of that, so I can pause the DVR to get the sync perfectly. (I sync to the referee announcing penalties).

 

[BRUSSTAR]

I've been saying this for years here and elsewhere-- but whenever someone else crystallizes it so well (as did Observer2 in the lead-off post here)-- it gives me personal validation and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

For a 50,000-watt non-D, 1210's signal sucks. It has for some time, at least going back to the last decade or so of WCAU. Why message board- and radio geeks drool over the supposed "value" of moving, say, WIP or KYW to this lateral (if not, inferior) facility boggles the mind.

In many parts of Montgomery and Chester counties, 1210 is but a faint whisper in the shadow of a "King of Prussia" daytimer on 1180.

But the bigger problem isn't 1210, or it's ground system. It's the nature of AM radio, and the fact that it's long been past time to sunset this 100+ year-old technology.

In a similar-but-unrelated story, the 106.9 signal is terrible too. Getting sick of people trying to put it in a league with the ones from Rox. You people posting from other markets may look at those freebie Radio-Locator maps and think, "CBS will put KYW on 106.9." (Even though there's no solid information the company will ever even *have* this station.) What you don't know is that the signal has a severe penetration problem, transmitting from an average-sized tower on the eastern bank of the Delaware. It's not ready for prime-time.

I too would love to hear the Phillies on FM. This needs to happen. Everyone wants it to happen, including the Phillies. But remove the Phillies from WPHT, and it's suddenly revealed (to those who don't already get the breakdowns) just how weak that Talk station really is (and I'm not just talking about signal). Someone earlier put it well-- without the Phillies "1210" won't be just the station's frequency-- but also its cume.