Re: [ARSCLIST] DAT frequency problem

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike Richter wrote:
> David Lennick wrote:
> > This reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask the group. Last 
> > Wednesday I heard something impossible..a broadcast concert by the 
> > Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in which every piece of music was 
> > about a tone sharp, the announcer sounded like Minnie Mouse, and the 
> > program ended at 9:54 and was followed by 5 minutes of dead air, then 
> > a station break. Is it possible that somehow a recording made at 44K 
> > was played at 48K? The other scenario is that it was on CD and a 
> > player with variable pitch is in their control room (and an idiot at 
> > the console). How could this happen?
>
> The 48/44.1 possibility is quite probable. At 6% per semitone, that 
> error would be around 0.8 tone (1.6 semitones) sharp. If the program was 
> nominally 50 minutes long or so, five minutes of dead air would also fit.
>
> How it happened? Likely someone who did not know the player; I'd call 
> him an 'engineer', but that would be presumptuous. <G>
>
> Mike

I wouldn't swear to it being a tone sharp (or 1.6 semitones) but it was 
definitely VERY high, and consistent. The program was actually two hours (or 
1'54" as it turned out). The station must be automated in the evening, hence 
the station break at precisely 9:59. The station is WXXI-FM in Rochester NY.

dl