The end of AM radio in your car? • Hacker News Board

Re: The end of AM radio in your car?

#101

Post by taylodl » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 9:15 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #81

RF_Enthusiast wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As do many people. AM stations that run play-by-play sports programming do very well in the ratings, and do very well with the station's sales team.

The skill of the broadcast announcers is remarkable. They paint the scene with audio-only in an amazing way. My father (and my grandfather before him) takes a little battery-powered AM radio with him to games (football, baseball, etc) and listen to it while watching the game live. They've even muted the TV and used TV picture with radio sound to get a better experience. That makes it easy to take naps and close your…

I grew up listening to baseball on AM radio. Can't stand to watch the game on TV. Too boring. But on radio? I can go into the garage or the shop and work on something and listen to the game.

I listen to football games in a pinch. Sometimes I have errands to run while a game is on and so I listen in on radio. It's amazing how they call a game. That's a talent that's going to be sad to see die.

Re: The end of AM radio in your car?

#102

Post by aidenn0 » Fri, Dec 09, 2022, 11:54 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #100

aidenn0 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hank Azaria (played the title character on Brockman) joked a few times that baseball announcers could say whatever they wanted as long as it ended in a pitch count. I think that adds to the effect of "being at the game" with the announcer; go to a ballgame with a friend you haven't seen in a few weeks and you'll end up talking about random stuff too.

Love it! Had he not been so wildly talented at voice-work, he could have been a damn good announcer himself (as evidenced by his work as announcers in the Simpson's), so that's extra great

If you haven't seen this, a great recent interview with him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5TaYFi4UVA

Re: The end of AM radio in your car?

#103

Post by IIsi50MHz » Sat, Dec 10, 2022, 2:14 AM UTC

vikingerik wrote: post #84

freedomben wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The skill of the broadcast announcers is remarkable. They paint the scene with audio-only in an amazing way. My father (and my grandfather before him) takes a little battery-powered AM radio with him to games (football, baseball, etc) and listen to it while watching the game live. They've even muted the TV and used TV picture with radio sound to get a better experience. That makes it easy to take naps and close your…

One thing that makes a radio-TV combination work less well nowadays is latency in the TV feed. Running 15 to 20 seconds or even more behind the radio is not uncommon with all the processing and distribution layers that go on with a modern video feed. I've heard of setups where someone plugs a radio receiver into a computer with software to buffer and apply the same delay.

Also, the mandated delays in USA for TV and radio to allow censoring (and thereby reduce the risk that Something Untoward is enacted on a live broadcast) . IIRC, radio has a 10 second delay, while TV has a 30 second delay. This allowed a Lt. Col. I knew to hear the conclusion of any play before the television image was even close to definitive. Even with "pure broadcast" TV and radio (no digitising, no cable, no satellite…). Processing delays, such as for DVR or streaming, only add to the overall delay.

Re: The end of AM radio in your car?

#104

Post by IIsi50MHz » Sat, Dec 10, 2022, 2:21 AM UTC

andirk wrote: post #83

uni_rule wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am still surprised how relatively few people have a set of rabbit ears wired to their "streaming" TVs for basic news or whatever in the current year considering how cheap they are.

Those ears need to be HD-capable or whatever the term is. And I need to get those HD rabbit ears so I can watch sports on broadcast tele instead of choppy rando streams.

False. The broadcast waveform remains analogue. The receiving electronics (not the antenna) need to be DTV-capable to correctly interpret digital content of the received waveform.