Tech Focus: Radio, Part 1 - A Slow Transition to Digital Analog still rules for many sports-radio remotes By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, November 7, 2019 - 10:11 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
The seminal year for sports on the air was 1921, when KDKA Pittsburgh broadcast live radio coverage of a 10-round boxing match - the first live sports broadcast in history. In August that year, the station also aired a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies from Forbes Field and, in October, the first live college-football radio broadcast, calling the University of Pittsburgh against West Virginia University. Television, on the other hand, had to wait until 1939 for NBC's airing of a college baseball game between the Columbia Lions and Princeton Tigers from Columbia's Baker Field.
Radio has certainly made its own technology strides since then, but a network A1 from 50 years ago would likely feel right at home at the helm of most radio remotes today, where analog still tends to be the rule. Basically, all radio needs is a good microphone, someone who knows how to properly balance levels and build a gain structure, and a good connection to the plant.
Engineer Michael Dooley: The move to digital has opened up a lot more possibilities, but there's still something very comforting about analog.
Freelance engineer Michael Dooley, who has worked on hundreds of remote broadcasts for various radio stations over the past 30 years, including the ESPN LA 710 broadcasts of Los Angeles Lakers games from the Staples Center since 2004, is typical: he made the jump to digital only last year.
He replaced his trusty Mackie 1604 mixer with a 16-channel Yamaha TF1 digital desk and added five Dante-enabled, hybrid digital/analog Studio Technologies Model 205 announcer consoles. But the Mackie 1604 remains in a closet near the media table Dooley works from at the Staples Center - wired, labeled, and ready to go just in case.
The move to digital has opened up a lot more possibilities in terms of what you can do on location, and it sounds great, he says. But there's still something very comforting about analog. It still works well after all these years.
No More ISDN
For the Lakers broadcasts, Dooley has the unique ability to connect to the flagship station using fiber interconnectivity (ESPN's plant is across the street). But, for other remote broadcasts, a Comrex 2USB codec is the norm, since ISDN lines are now all but nonexistent.
ISDN is pretty much gone by now, replaced by IP and codecs, he says. That part has moved into digital, but the rest of it has remained largely analog. Using the Dante connectivity, I'm able to set up a five-position broadcast area that doesn't use any XLR cables. The combination of built-in compressors and clean mic preamps gives me superb audio from each announcer. It works flawlessly within my new broadcast workflow.
Dooley, who is also stadium engineer for the MLS LAFC team at Banc of California Stadium, uses the Model 205 announcer consoles for the two ESPN radio commentators, the producer, the statistician, and one backup position at the Lakers games; two more lines are used for the broadcast's halftime host and game-end interviews on the court. Those are done using a combination of Sennheiser headsets and wireless gear. The radio show also takes PA and effects feeds from the television trucks that put the game's sneaker squeaks and basket bangs into the radio broadcast. All this is easier with a digital console, says Dooley, noting that it lets him have processing like EQ and comp/limiting from within the mixer instead of having to rely on outboard gear.
I now have EQ for each channel, as well as noise gates, which really help keep the sound from the court much cleaner, he explains, as does the Dugan automixing firmware integrated into the TF series console. There's also a second loop I use for talkback that lets the producer talk with the station while we're on the air. Before, we had to wait until we had a [commercial] break, because there weren't enough I/Os.
Nonetheless, Dooley's digital conversion came seemingly late in the game, in an industry that traded waveforms for zeroes and ones nearly three decades ago. He cites the higher cost of some of the specialized digital gear, which hasn't benefited from Moore's Law nearly as much as more commonly used digital audio products, as well digital's learning curve: many radio A1s have been working in the field for decades and are simply more comfortable with analog. Moreover, there are few dynamics arguing against leaving the analog domain for radio remotes.
There are a lot of advantages to digital, such as putting everything on a Dante network, says Dooley, who describes himself as one of just two radio remote-broadcast engineers in the Los Angeles area who have moved to digital systems. I'm in a unique position. Analog sounds and works great, but it limits your capabilities. [Digital] can be a lot to learn, but, once you're set up, it's so much easier and better. Radio just hasn't evolved as fast as television.
Click here for Tech Focus: Radio, Part 2 - Audio-Only Consoles Meet Sports-Broadcast Needs
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
Tech Focus: Radio, Part 1 - A Slow Transition to Digital Analog still rules for many sports-radio remotes By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
