Simulcast, a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast, is the broadcasting of
programs or events across more than one medium, or more than one service on the
same medium, at exactly the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast
on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts were formerly
simulcast on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Television. Another application is the
transmission of the original-language soundtrack of movies or TV series over
local or Internet radio, with the television broadcast having been dubbed
into a local language. Simulcasting to provide stereo sound for
TV broadcasts Before stereo TV sound transmission was
possible, simulcasting on TV and Radio was a method of effectively transmitting
"stereo" sound to music TV broadcasts. In the 1970s WPXI in Pittsburgh
broadcast a live Boz Scaggs performance which had the audio simultaneously
broadcast on two FM radio stations to create a quadrophonic sound, the first
of its kind. The first such transmission was in 1975, when the BBC broadcast a
recording of Van Morrison's London Rainbow Concert simultaneously on BBC2
TV and Radio 2. Similarly, in the 1980s, before
Multichannel Television Sound, or home theater was commonplace in American
households, broadcasters would air a high fidelity version of a television
program's audio portion over FM stereo simultaneous with the television
broadcast. PBS stations were the most likely, especially when airing a live
concert. It was also a way of allowing MTV and similar music channels to run
stereo sound through the cable-TV network. This method required a stereo
FM transmitter modulating MTV's stereo soundtrack through the cable-TV network
and customers connecting their FM receiver's antenna input to the cable-TV
outlet. Then they would tune the FM receiver to the specified frequency that
would be published in documentation supplied by the cable-TV provider.
With the introduction of commercial FM stations in Australia in July 1980,
commercial TV channels began simulcasting some music based programs
with the new commercial FM stations and continued to do so into the early
1990's. These were initially rock based programs, such as late night music video
shows and rock concerts, but later included some major rock musicals such
as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Blues Brothers when they first aired on
TV. During the mid 1980's the final Australian concert of several major rock
artists such as Dire Straits were simulcast live on a commercial TV and FM
station. The ABC also simulcast some programs on ABC Television and ABC FM,
including the final concert of Elton John with the Melbourne Symphony
Orchestra. The first ever concert "simulcast" was
Frank Zappa's Halloween shows, live from NYC's Palladium and shown on MTV with
the audio-only portion simulcast over the FM "Starfleet Radio" network.
Engineered by Mark Pinske with the UMRK mobile recording truck. A later, notable
application for simulcasting in this context was the Live Aid telethon
concert that was broadcast around the world on July 13, 1985. Most
destinations where this concert was broadcast had the concert simulcast by
at least one TV network and at least one of the local FM stations.
Most stereo-capable video recorders made through the 1980s and early 1990s had a
"simulcast" recording mode where they recorded video signals from the built-in
TV tuner and audio signals from the VCR's audio line-in connectors. This was
to allow one to connect a stereo FM tuner that is tuned to the simulcast
frequency to the VCR's audio input in order to record the stereo sound of a TV
program that would otherwise be recorded in mono. The function was primarily
necessary with stereo VCRs that didn't have a stereo TV tuner or were operated
in areas where stereo TV broadcasting wasn't in place. This was typically
selected through the user setting the input selector to "Simulcast" or "Radio"
mode or, in the case of some JVC units, the user setting another "audio input"
switch from "TV" or "Tuner" to "Line". In the mid to late 1990s, video game
developer Nintendo utilized simulcasting to provide enhanced orchestral scoring
and voice-acting for the first ever "integrated radio-games" – its
Satellaview video games. Whereas digital game data was broadcast to the
Satellaview unit to provide the basic game and game sounds, Nintendo's
partner, satellite radio company St.GIGA, simultaneously broadcast the
musical and vocal portion of the game via radio. These two streams were
combined at the Satellaview to provide a unified audiotrack analogous to stereo.
Other uses The term "simulcast" was coined in 1948
by a press agent at WCAU-TV, Philadelphia. NBC and CBS had begun
broadcasting a few programs both to their established nationwide radio
audience and to the much smaller—though steadily-growing—television audience.
NBC's "Voice of Firestone" was an early example. Toscanini's NBC Symphony
performance of 15 March 1952 is perhaps a first instance of radio/TV
simulcasting of a concert, predating the much-heralded rock concert simulcasts
beginning in the 1980s. Presently, in the United States,
simulcast most often refers to the practice of offering the same
programming on an FM and AM station owned by the same entity, in order to
cut costs. With the advent of solid state AM transmitters and computers, it
has become very easy for AM stations to broadcast a different format without
additional cost; therefore, simulcast between FM/AM combinations are rarely
heard today outside of rural areas, and in urban areas, where often the talk or
all-news radio format of an AM station is simulcast on FM, mainly for the
convenience of office buildings in urban cores which easily block AM signals.
During National Party rule in South Africa, many foreign programmes on SABC
television were dubbed in Afrikaans. The original soundtrack, usually in English,
but sometimes in German or Dutch was available on the Radio 2000 service.
This could be selected using a button labeled simulcast on many televisions
manufactured before 1995. Radio programs have been simulcast on
television since the invention thereof however, as of recent, perhaps the most
visible example of radio shows on television is The Howard Stern Show,
which currently airs on Sirius Satellite Radio as well as Howard TV. Another
prominent radio show that was simulcast on television is Imus in the Morning,
which until the simulcast ended in 2015, aired throughout the years on MSNBC,
RFD-TV and Fox Business Network, in addition to its radio broadcast
distributed by Citadel Media. Multiple sports talk radio shows, including Mike
& Mike, The Herd with Colin Cowherd and Boomer and Carton also are carried on
television, saving those networks the burden of having to air encores of
sporting events or other paid sports programming which may draw lower
audiences. In professional wrestling, a simulcast
happened on March 26, 2001 between WWF Raw is War and WCW Monday Nitro upon
WWE's purchase of WCW's assets to merge the storylines of the two wrestling
promotions, which was the last episode of Monday Nitro.
In another case, popular programs will be aired simultaneously on different
services in adjacent countries, such as The Simpsons, airing Sunday evenings at
8:00 p.m. on both Fox in the United States and Global in Canada. "Simulcast"
is often a colloquial term for the related Canadian practice of
simultaneous substitution. Simulcasts are also used for the
purposes of television ratings, mainly with awards ceremonies such as the MTV
Video Music Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards where the ceremony
airs on other sister channels in the same corporate family. These allow a
bulk ratings number to be competed which allows for more homes to be calculated
in a final rating, along with removing any in-house competition, with each of
the networks carrying the same ceremony and same advertising. Another example is
a "roadblock strategy", where a family of networks will air the premiere of a
new series, music video or other event such as a telethon at the same time to
maximize their audiences. "Live Simulcast" is also used throughout
South America for a real-time live broadcasting from the USA, where it
differs from just a live broadcasting in that, on the former case, the event is
being broadcast live while it is happening in real time, while, the
latter, a show may be a live recording but not necessarily being broadcast in
real time of when the event took place. Yet, local live productions being
broadcast in real time in South America are often just called live, without the
use of the word simulcast. = Simulcasting of sporting events =
In sports, such as American football and baseball, simulcasts are when a single
announcer broadcasts play-by-play coverage both over television and radio.
The practice was common in the early years of television, but since the
1980s, most teams have used a separate team for television and for radio.
As all NFL television broadcasts are done by the national networks or via
cable, there are no regular TV-to-radio football simulcasts. However, NFL rules
require that games airing on cable and satellite networks be simulcast on local
over-air TV stations in markets serving the two local teams participating in
each game. Similarly, no current National
Basketball Association teams use a simulcast. Al McCoy, Chick Hearn, Kevin
Calabro and Rod Hundley were the last NBA team broadcasters to simulcast.
In Major League Baseball, only Vin Scully continues the practice; however,
he simulcasts only the first three innings of Los Angeles Dodgers games at
Dodger Stadium and other National League Western Division parks.
The practice is more prevalent in the National Hockey League where two teams
currently simulcast: The Buffalo Sabres with Rick Jeanneret
and Rob Ray The Dallas Stars with Ralph Strangis and
Daryl Reaugh Simulcasts via satellite can be a
challenge, as there is a significant delay because of the distance - nearly
50,000 miles round-trip - involved. Anything involving video compression
also has an additional significant delay, which is noticeable when watching
local TV stations on direct-broadcast satellites. Even though the process is
not instantaneous, this is still considered a simulcast because it is not
intentionally stored anywhere. (Multiplexing—also sometimes called
"multicasting"—is something of a reversal of this situation, where
multiple program streams are combined into a single broadcast. The two terms
are sometimes confused.) In horse racing, a simulcast is a
broadcast of a horse race which allows wagering at two or more sites; the
simulcast often involves the transmission of wagering information to
a central site, so that all bettors may bet in the same betting pool, as well as
the broadcast of the race. The San Francisco Giants simulcast with
the Oakland Athletics while playing each other on their respective stations and
commercials with a mix of broadcasters from both teams.
On cable television systems, analog-digital simulcasting means that
analog channels are duplicated as digital subchannels. Digital tuners are
programmed to use the digital subchannel instead of the analog. This allows for
smaller, cheaper cable boxes by eliminating the analog tuner and some
analog circuitry. On DVRs, it eliminates the need for an MPEG encoder to convert
the analog signal to digital for recording. The primary advantage is the
elimination of interference, and as analog channels are dropped, the ability
to put 10 or more SDTV channels in its place. The primary drawback is the
common problem of over-compression resulting in fuzzy pictures and
pixelation. In universities with multiple campuses,
simulcasting may be used for a single teacher to teach class to students in
two or more locations at the same time, using videoconferencing equipment.
In many public safety agencies, simulcast refers to the broadcasting of
the same transmission on the same frequency from multiple towers either
simultaneously, or offset by a fixed number of microseconds. This allows for
a larger coverage area without the need for a large number of channels,
resulting in increased spectral efficiency. This comes at the cost of
overall poorer voice quality, as multiple sources increase multipath
interference significantly, resulting in what is called simulcast distortion.
With some of the latest Simulcast control equipment for FM radio networks,
the distortion experienced is almost in-audible to the human ear. With the
introduction of Line Equalisation Modules and Tone Generation Modules, the
phasing advance and retard is so well calculated that the distortion is almost
entirely averted. The Tone Generation Module generates a
pilot tone at 3300 Hz which is then sampled by the Line Equalisation Module
which each channel on each radio high site has 2 of located back at the main
control site. This then determines the phase shift in the signal and adjusts
the transmission accordingly such that all the overlap areas in transmission
are in phase with each other. See also
Single Channel Simulcast References