Someone who works here at KQED, a much more brilliant person than I, actually tried it last night. Here's what he wrote about the results. To me, who is still waiting for eight-track tapes to make a comeback, it sounds a little like the sounds humans make as heard by a dog. But for you, it might help:
Basically, you run either a radio or your iPhone/Android (with a paid MLB radio stream) into your computer, use software to delay the audio and then output it to speakers. PC users can use a free utility called RadioDelay ( http://www.daansystems.com/radiodelay/) that will you up to 30 seconds of delay.
But since I’m on a Mac, I had to go another route. I have a terrestrial radio, which I ran into my computer’s audio input. I then set the computer’s audio input signal to the input line (as opposed to built-in mic). Then I opened a new project in Garageband and set audio input to the computer input, turned on the monitor and record-enabled the track. I then added the UADelay effect.
But here’s the problem: AU Delay will give you a maximum of 2 seconds delay. You can apply four AU Delay effects to one track, plus one to the master, which gives you a total delay of 10 seconds. I tried it out in the morning, and it worked perfectly. But come game-time, after dragging my radio, laptop and audio cables over to a friend’s apartment, and hooking up the whole set-up, we discovered that the 10-second delay only got us about half-way there. It seems like the broadcast delay is about 20 to 30 seconds.
If I were on a PC, it would be no problem (a declaration I’ve never ever thought I would write) using RadioDelay. But on a Mac, I can either install some other third-party plugins and mess around with ProTools, etc. OR I can piggyback more laptops with Garageband until we get the right amount of delay. I imagine three will get the job done, but having four laptops (with a maximum possible delay of 40 seconds) will definitely do the trick.
Now I just need to convince three friends with Macbooks to come watch the game at my place...
I sent out a call for other solutions from the folks here, and here's what I got back:
My chums on Athletics Nation (Editors Note: KQED requires us to treat our A's-loving colleagues with respect) have been dealing with this problem for several years, because most of us prefer to have the radio audio and the TV picture, but they’re not in sync. Eventually someone found the solution, a device called DelayPlay. Unfortunately it costs $175 and you need to order it from Pennsylvania, so probably not going to work for the Series. But here’s the link to our 2007 discussion.
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Frankly, I love the delay between the radio and the TV broadcasts. It allows me time to prepare my dinner in the kitchen while listening to Kruk and Kuip on the radio. They can alert me to great developments in the game. I then have 15-20 seconds to walk over to my living room and SEE the action our local guys have just described.
I should mention that one of my favorite moments last night, among many, was when Joe Buck said something to the effect that “this score shows that we didn’t know what we were talking about when we predicted a pitcher’s duel.”
Refreshing.
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The radio broadcast on KNBR is about 9-10 seconds ahead of the TV broadcast. So you hear it, then see it (if you want). I tried the streamed KNBR broadcast last night and discovered that it was 40 seconds ahead of their own radio broadcast, or about 50 seconds ahead of TV. Useless. I timed it with a stopwatch during the pre-game stuff.
For those of us to whom a Buck/McCarver broadcast is simply an unconscionable travesty and a Giants game isn't a Giants game without Kruk, Kuip and John Miller, this is both annoying and challenging. It is remarkable, however, how the brain adjusts. After just a couple of innings I was perfectly comfortable experiencing the game through the radio, which has always been by far the superior medium for tension, imagery, emotion and memory, while using the TV as a reference point as needed for close pitches and plays in the field.
