Sox on HD radio

[Dumpjerry]

WMVP/ESPN 1000 is now also on 100.3 HD radio. No more missing the game because you're driving around a lot of tall buildings or in tunnels.

[XplodingScorbord]

Not a huge deal, obviously, but anything that could expand the Sox footprint is a good thing.

[Dumpjerry]

Not a huge deal, obviously, but anything that could expand the Sox footprint is a good thing.

It makes it actually possible to listen to the game in Chicago while driving. The AM signal is horrendous. Full of static, useless downtown, etc. Thsi is not just one car, but every car I drive.

This is as huge of a deal as landing the top FA.

[tebman]

It makes it actually possible to listen to the game in Chicago while driving. The AM signal is horrendous. Full of static, useless downtown, etc. Thsi is not just one car, but every car I drive.

This is as huge of a deal as landing the top FA.

There's a real limitation on WMVP's signal if you're west of DuPage County after sunset. The station switches its pattern at night to beam to the east of the Downers Grove transmitter site because it shares 1000 AM with a station in Seattle. If you're listening west of there the signal is unlistenable. That's a legacy thing that dates back to the station's origin as WCFL in the 1920s-1930s. In those days there was nothing but prairie and beanfields west of Cook County and an eastern-pointing transmitter site made sense.

The other problem is the station's own doing. The audio quality it bad, really bad. It's tinny and harsh. The difference is obvious if you're listening in the car and switch between WMVP and almost any other AM station. Audio-processing choices are separate from the radio signal, which is a set by the terms of the license. I don't understand why they choose to make it sound that way. If the audio is clean, it's easier to cut through the signal limitations. WLS did that through the 60s and 70s when they were the hot music station in town -- their signal was actually worse than the other big AMs but they processed the audio so that it cut through and sounded punchier.

Maybe WMVP is trying to drive listeners to the new HD channel or to the MLB app. In the meantime, if you're trying to listen west of Downers Grove you can hear the games on WBIG 1280 in Aurora. It's a small station but has *much* cleaner audio.

[Hitmen77]

WMVP/ESPN 1000 is now also on 100.3 HD radio. No more missing the game because you're driving around a lot of tall buildings or in tunnels.

Link to story about this move. Note that WSCR already has an HD2 simulcast.

https://www.robertfeder.com/2021/06/18/espn-1000-set-launch-fm-simulcast-new-hd2-channel/