Delay gives some pause Reds try to sync WLW, TV broadcasts;some fans not with program

[robmadden1]

Delay gives some pause
Reds try to sync WLW, TV broadcasts; some fans not with program

By John Kiesewetter • jkiesewetter@enquirer.com • July 6, 2008

Reds officials confirmed last week that the club is intentionally delaying the radio broadcast this season in order to synchronize announcers' radio descriptions with the Fox Sports Net Ohio telecasts on cable or satellite.
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In previous seasons, Reds Radio broadcasts have been several seconds ahead of the TV picture.

The move is geared toward Reds fans who like to watch games on TV, but listen to radio announcers Marty and Thom Brennaman and Jeff Brantley.

So far, the experiment is getting mixed reviews.

Radio sponsors are pleased with the effort, said Bill Reinberger, Reds vice president for corporate sales. But there are still times when the radio call is not synchronized with the action on television.

And fans who bring radios to Great American Ball Park may experience up to a nine-second delay between what they see and hear.

"It's not as an enjoyable an experience, if they tell you on radio about the action after it happens. What's the use of bringing a radio to the game?" says Mary Lynn Knochelman, 47, from Delhi Township.

The delay has been obvious at the ball park during this homestand. On Tuesday night, as Adam Dunn coasted into second base with a double, radio announcer Thom Brennaman was just announcing that Dunn had hit the ball.

In another instance, catcher David Ross was already in the dugout by the time announcer Jeff Brantley called a third strike on the radio.

Marty Brennaman said he suggested the delay several years ago to make Reds Radio more appealing to the vast TV audience. He said Reds officials decided to implement the delay this season, after the club took over Reds Radio network advertising and marketing in its new five-year deal with flagship WLW-AM (700).

"The ball club realizes the importance of doing this," he said.

And he knows that the 20,000 fans at the ball park won't hear a timely description of the action.

"This is a small trade-off compared to all the people watching on TV in what we used to call 'Reds Country.' It's the price you have to make to make this work," Marty Brennaman said.

He added: "Not one single fan has said anything to me."

Reds telecasts reach an average of 165,000 TV homes in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia and Tennessee, according to FSN Ohio.

But syncing the audio to TV can be tricky. It takes five to six seconds for the TV signal to be sent up to a satellite, beamed back down to a cable operator, and delivered by wire to homes, says FSN Ohio.

The radio was several seconds behind the Reds-Indians telecasts on FSN Ohio on Time Warner cable last weekend. The pitcher often had the ball back from the catcher when the radio announcer called a ball or strike.

Monty Farmer, 52, of Clermont County's Union Township - who prefers the Brennamans over Reds TV announcer George Grande - said when they happen, radio delays are "annoying, because you already know what has happened."

Knochelman said Reds Radio was in sync with FSN Ohio on her Dish Network last week.

Reinberger called the audio delay "an experiment," and invited fans to e-mail comments to him at breinberger@reds.com">breinberger@reds.com.

"We are monitoring the reaction," he says. "If we got overwhelming feedback, or a bunch of comments, we might talk about switching it back. But we haven't."

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...807060403/1071

[improbus]

I know I'm going to get attacked for this, but why on earth would you bring a radio to a game? You look ridiculous (see: Bartman), seem anti-social, and do you really need Marty to tell you that Bruce is 1-2 with a walk? Doesn't the scoreboard do the same job? Someone please explain.

[Newman4]

I use my smartphone for all the stats at the game that I need to know.

[bgwilly31]

to people that go to games by themselves.(not many)
the only nice thing I can see coming from it are when action is down at the field and you can't tell what's going on. (bad calls, arguments, injuries)0

[AccordinglyReds]

I have experienced this many times when I'm working out and listening on the radio, and then when something happens, I'll run into the next room, and the play will already be over with. It does kinda take some of the 'live-ness' out of the game when the radio is behind the TV.

[runningman]

I know I'm going to get attacked for this, but why on earth would you bring a radio to a game? You look ridiculous (see: Bartman), seem anti-social, and do you really need Marty to tell you that Bruce is 1-2 with a walk? Doesn't the scoreboard do the same job? Someone please explain.

I just like listening to the game on the radio while I watch it. Makes more sense than involving yourself in a game thread of a game you are watching on TV.

[improbus]

Maybe I'm strange, but I would like the option of watching the game with the stadium sounds but without commentary (like you get when you are in the ballpark). I feel like I see more when this happens, especially in football and basketball because I'm not watching the obvious things that commentators point out.

[LouisvilleCARDS]

If they're syncing it, they're not doing a good job. I don't know what game I was listening to recently, but the inning was already over, then like 12 seconds later the final pitch was made. It wa ridiculous. What the heck are they syncing this on, broadcasts to Serbia?

[redsfan1966]

It finally makes sense why the radio coverage has been behind the action on the field this season....it is no surprise to me that Marty is the spearhead behind this...he has for many years considered FSN "competition". If I am going to a game alone, I like to listen to the game while watching--as stated above, it really helps when there is an injury situation, argument on the field or a questionable play/scoring controversy....plus what the heck, I like listening to Marty and the "Cowboy"...even when going with others, I have an earphone in one ear and one ear free to hear the inane comments of my friends. ---plus they're used to it...

[HalMorrisRules]

I have been doing this with WONE-AM in Dayton for years. They are even further behind WLW and it allows me to sync my Tivo/DVR by pausing it and it matches up perfectly.

[Fon Duc Tow]

Maybe I'm strange, but I would like the option of watching the game with the stadium sounds but without commentary (like you get when you are in the ballpark). I feel like I see more when this happens, especially in football and basketball because I'm not watching the obvious things that commentators point out.

You are not alone here. I would even pay extra per month to be able to toggle on/off the announcers.

Mostly off. Which is why we'll never see this happen.

Every once in a while, when they are having technical difficulties, you'll get game audio with no announcers. The first time I witnessed this, I was surprised how refreshing it was not to have the announcers. You know it is a ball/strike because you CAN ACTUALLY HEAR THE UMPIRE. Why do I need Grande telling me "ball 2?" Then when they come back after the technical difficulties, they apologize as if we had been lost without them.

Fact is, it is nice to be able to hear the atmosphere of the park. But announcers are taught early the evils of "dead air", so the atmosphere of the park is replaced by the standard endless jabbering.

Like most things in life, we should have a choice, but do not because of special interests. Would be nice though.

[LouisvilleCARDS]

You are not alone here. I would even pay extra per month to be able to toggle on/off the announcers.

Mostly off. Which is why we'll never see this happen.

Every once in a while, when they are having technical difficulties, you'll get game audio with no announcers. The first time I witnessed this, I was surprised how refreshing it was not to have the announcers. You know it is a ball/strike because you CAN ACTUALLY HEAR THE UMPIRE. Why do I need Grande telling me "ball 2?" Then when they come back after the technical difficulties, they apologize as if we had been lost without them.

Fact is, it is nice to be able to hear the atmosphere of the park. But announcers are taught early the evils of "dead air", so the atmosphere of the park is replaced by the standard endless jabbering.

Like most things in life, we should have a choice, but do not because of special interests. Would be nice though.

I agree 100%. Heck, even worse than that is the fact that a lot of times they'll basically mute all ambient sounds of an event. Like on TNT last night with NASCAR, I tuned it for the last few laps, its like a complely different broadcast than on FOX. It's like 100% booth commentary, absolutely no crowd noise, it feels like your at the race with ear muffs and headphones listening to a book on tape.

The same with ABC versus NBC when it came to the NBA. Not a big fan of the NBA anymore, but one reason why ratings are horrible besides it sucking nowadays is the idiots running things not implementing noise.

I remember several years ago when the shuttle exploded, U of L was supposed to play IU that day, but it was not on the air because of the tragedy. Locally they played the entire game with all the graphics, video, and everything but there wasn't a bit of commentary. It was extremely refreshing to be able to watch a game and only hear the sounds of the game and the crowd and not some guy telling you how things are every second of play.

It seems like broadcasters are completely out of touch with what the viewer wants.

PS - And also to note, practically every TV nowadays has an SAP button which is rarely ever used, and if so, for the spanish broadcast usually. What is the harm in allowing that to be used for commentaryless broadcast?

[HalMorrisRules]

I agree 100%. Heck, even worse than that is the fact that a lot of times they'll basically mute all ambient sounds of an event. Like on TNT last night with NASCAR, I tuned it for the last few laps, its like a complely different broadcast than on FOX. It's like 100% booth commentary, absolutely no crowd noise, it feels like your at the race with ear muffs and headphones listening to a book on tape.

The same with ABC versus NBC when it came to the NBA. Not a big fan of the NBA anymore, but one reason why ratings are horrible besides it sucking nowadays is the idiots running things not implementing noise.

I remember several years ago when the shuttle exploded, U of L was supposed to play IU that day, but it was not on the air because of the tragedy. Locally they played the entire game with all the graphics, video, and everything but there wasn't a bit of commentary. It was extremely refreshing to be able to watch a game and only hear the sounds of the game and the crowd and not some guy telling you how things are every second of play.

It seems like broadcasters are completely out of touch with what the viewer wants.

PS - And also to note, practically every TV nowadays has an SAP button which is rarely ever used, and if so, for the spanish broadcast usually. What is the harm in allowing that to be used for commentaryless broadcast?

I enjoy being able to watch 150> Reds games on TV each year with no additional charge other than what I pay for my DirecTV subscription. So who do you think pays for me to have the pleasure of watching all of these games? JTM, Farmersonly.com, Grippos, etc. They pay for a lot more than commercials. They pay for their "mentions" during the game and they will not pay the money they do if FSN offers a commentary-free option. That would be the harm by doing that. I will gladly put up with that type of intrusion any day of the week.

[Fon Duc Tow]

I enjoy being able to watch 150> Reds games on TV each year with no additional charge other than what I pay for my DirecTV subscription. So who do you think pays for me to have the pleasure of watching all of these games? JTM, Farmersonly.com, Grippos, etc. They pay for a lot more than commercials. They pay for their "mentions" during the game and they will not pay the money they do if FSN offers a commentary-free option. That would be the harm by doing that. I will gladly put up with that type of intrusion any day of the week.

It would be nice to have the option to toggle on/off, that's all he was saying.

Even if when toggled off, George Grande still piped in every so often to tell me all about hot dogs.

Again, this could be a premium option that is more expensive. SO people like you still get what they want for the same price, but other people have the option to pay more and have the toggle on/off feature.

What's not to like? Then consider the real reasons why it will never be.

[superred]

im glad that they r trying this the radio commentary is so much better than fsn its unbelievable