Bill Moyers Journal Sound Problems

On Friday night 8/24/07 at 8pm, Bill Moyers Journal featured the media activist
Hannah Sassaman in a discussion of local broadcasting.

I got it from KCET-DT 28.1 in Los Angeles

I enjoyed the show but found the audio distortion annoying.
Here is a six second sound clip illustrating the problem:

BMJAudio.wav

The distortion was much worse on her than her male partner/guest,
although it would occasonally happen on him, too.

As near as I can tell, it's not broadcast clipping. There is no flattopping of the audio
waveform and the overall audio level is well within broadcast tolerances.

I did a quick audio spectrum analysis and her speaking voice had the lumps and bumps normally
associated with a human voice. When she distorted, the spectrum
filled up solid 20 Hz to 15 KHz like someone drew it with a fresh Magic Marker.

It almost sounds like pre-emphasis distortion, but correct me, there are no FM systems
anywhere in the chain.

I suppose the microphones could be FM wireless, but wouldn't the audio mixer have heard that?

It is a puzzlement.

--20070824--

Here it is Sunday and I downloaded the PBS.org h.264/AAC (podcast) version
of the show and it's clean.

BMJ1120_radio_480.wav

Another note, I went back to a segment from a very much earlier show and found the
problem there, too. This show's dated 5/18/07 and the guest was John R. MacArthur. His voice
cracked all over the place--always on "S" and "SH" sounds

I don't notice this distortion on any other show, so it's the "Bill Moyers Effect."

--20070829--