Live sports coverage provided by Audacy utilizes Tieline technology for Major League Baseball games.
Bill Eisenhamer, chief engineer of Audacy's San Diego cluster, has praised the Tieline Bridge-IT XTRA II codecs for their significant advantages in radio broadcasting. The codecs, which were installed in Petco Park's broadcast booth rack prior to the 2025 MLB season, have proven to be a valuable asset for the Padres' network, which includes affiliates in Temecula, Palm Springs, and Las Vegas.
The Tieline Bridge-IT XTRA II codecs offer several key advantages. Firstly, they provide enhanced audio fidelity and clarity, improving the listening experience for audiences. Secondly, they offer robust and reliable IP connectivity, ensuring high-quality audio transmission even over unpredictable internet connections. Thirdly, they provide low-latency performance, essential for live broadcasts and real-time communication.
Fourthly, the codecs feature a flexible codec architecture that supports various audio formats and bitrates, allowing stations to tailor audio quality and bandwidth usage to their needs. Lastly, they offer easy operation and remote management capabilities, simplifying workflow for engineering teams handling multiple remote broadcasts.
The setup at Petco Park consists of a Tieline Bridge-IT XTRA II codec that sends stereo program audio to a studio-based Gateway 8 using Tieline Music Plus encoding. The second channel of the stereo return is a produced play-by-play feed routed to the Petco Park control room. One channel of the stereo return sends mono program and IFB communications.
All codecs back at the studio are connected to an SAS system via AES digital audio, according to Eisenhamer. The studio Gateway has two independent ISPs, one of which is internal. The station cluster uses approximately 24 Tieline codecs, including six ViAs and three Merlin Plus units.
Eisenhamer appreciates the front panel access on the Bridge-IT XTRA II, which is helpful for technicians without computer or remote access. The Padres' network uses SmartStream Plus for redundancy. Audacy San Diego uses Tieline's Cloud Codec Controller for remote codec management.
KWFN's primary signal covers San Diego, with the aid of four booster signals. Audacy's 97.3 KWFN(FM) is the San Diego Padres' flagship station. In rare instances, the network uses Opus to accommodate poor internet connectivity at remote sites.
Eisenhamer's philosophy is that flexibility and reliability are critical. The setup at Petco Park utilises NAT translation, ensuring seamless integration with the network. The Tieline Bridge-IT XTRA II codecs have proven to be an invaluable tool for Audacy’s San Diego cluster, combining ease of use with superior audio quality and network resilience to support consistent, high-quality remote broadcasting.
In the future, Eisenhamer sees expansion to include AES67 networking for more flexibility in the Padres' booth. This upgrade, he finds, will be simple due to the Bridge-IT XTRA II's dual AoIP ports.
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