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AM
Behind the scenes with Palace Radio’s Engineer What is your job at Palace Radio, how long have you been involved and what previous/ present experience in radio do you have? My role involves looking after all the behind the scenes engineering work. This involves absolutely everything from maintaining the studio equipment to the AM transmitter and aerial system. I joined the team in 2001 during Simon Jordan’s first season as club owner. What is your normal routine and what are you responsible for on matchdays? I have very little to do on matchdays. The secret of a successful radio station is in the preparation and I spend quite a bit of time at Selhurst during the week ensuring that everything is working before match day arrives. If there has been a breakdown with a particular piece of equipment it is much easier to sort out when we aren’t actually on air. Probably the busiest periods have been when the aerial has been blown down twice in the past ten years and has had to be re-erected before the next game. So on actual match days there is little to do except be on site incase anything breaks down, although I do share the job of rigging and de-rigging the commentary equipment with Daryl Murdoch. Setting up the microphone for our coverage of the after-match press conference is another duty.
PHONE: 020 8653 5796 | TEXT: 07910 060 919 | EMAIL: studio@palaceradio.net Palace Radio is also available live on home matchdays on Palace Player.
palace radio What have you been doing behind the scenes to prepare the station for the coming season? As the seasons have gone by, we have become quite experienced with what needs doing during the closed season periods to ensure that everything works as it should. I also spend the summer installing any new equipment that we have managed to buy. And with each passing season we have equipped the studio with more new gear, such that there isn’t really anything new we need to add at the moment. This year the transmitter was re-furbished with new valves (yes- we still use valves) and I installed a network router for the computers in the studio. I have also had some work to do in the television studio which, amongst other benefits, means that we can now have the countdown clock back on the screens again. Why can’t Palace Radio broadcast on FM? The UK regulatory body Ofcom licenses Palace Radio. For sports events such as ours they only offer a medium wave frequency- at least within the M25. I believe that some sports Restricted Service Licences are available on VHF in other parts of the UK but in London that band is particularly congested and no available frequencies exist. In fact it would be of no real benefit to us to be on VHF since the power levels are more rigidly enforced and limited - so our coverage, whilst possibly sounding better quality within the stadium, would not cover the sort of area it does with Medium Wave.
Why can I sometimes pick up the signal in Eltham but not in South Croydon? One of my perennial problems every year is trying to respond to people’s requests to improve the reception of Palace Radio. The biggest problem is the aerial system. We are required by Ofcom to have the transmitter and aerial actually on the Selhurst Park site and to be honest there really isn’t anywhere suitable to build a proper AM Antenna. After we lost a couple of very good but “top heavy” aerials during October storms in the past we have resorted to what is commonly known as an inverted “L” aerial. This type of aerial is not entirely omni directional, and in fact our signal is beamed towards the East/NorthEast. Hence the signal tends to be much stronger towards Eltham and New Addington but less so in the opposite direction.
Trevor Smith Palace Radio Engineer
THE MATCHDAY SCHEDULE 10AM: Late & Lazy Breakfast Show with Nigel Wearing & Guests.
12 NOON: ‘The Palace Radio News Hour’ everything you need to know about today’s game with Jerry Clark, John Burgess & Chris Dixon.
WWW.TWITTER.COM/OFFICIAL_CPFC
1PM: Bill and James’s Happy Hour. A light-hearted look at today’s game with Bill Relyea & James O’Reilly.
2PM: Big Match Countdown with Nick Macdonald, Clive Bowden, Trevor Hayes and Keith Jeffcoat bringing you the team news, interviews and opinion.
3PM: The Big Match Live – Commentary with Trevor Hayes & Darryl Murdoch.
5PM: ‘Reaction to the Action’ with Don Madgwick & Ian Hart taking your calls on 020 8653 5796.
CRYSTAL PALACE v IPSWICH TOWN
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