JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Some fans going to a Major League Baseball game take a radio with them in order to hear live play-by-play from their favorite broadcasters. Many teams delay what people can hear because of a Federal Communications Commission rule. That's made it difficult for some fans to be in the moment, especially the visually impaired. Abbey Marshall from member station Ideastream Public Media reports.
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ABBEY MARSHALL, BYLINE: It's been an exciting season for the Cleveland Guardians. They're headed for the playoffs. And at a game earlier this summer, the stands at Progressive Field were packed.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) At the old ball game.
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MARSHALL: Want to know what happened? So did Ken Hoegler. He's visually impaired and typically holds a radio at games to hear play-by-play and commentary, but there's a 30-second broadcast delay. So as those around him jump to their feet, he has to wait to find out why. Was it a double, a grand slam?
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #1: Swung and (inaudible), baby - way out of here and a third of the way up the bleachers.
MARSHALL: Hoegler has enjoyed games at Cleveland's ballpark, now called Progressive Field, for decades. Bringing his radio and his guide dog is a practice he tracks back to his time as a foster child.
KEN HOEGLER: When I finally landed at the home I stayed in, one of the first gifts I received was a very small AM radio, little transistor radio back in the mid-'60s. And the first thing I heard was Jimmy Dudley doing a broadcast of the Cleveland Indians and broadcasting a home run, and I was hooked.
MARSHALL: The team, now called the Guardians, say they implemented the broadcast delay in recent years to accommodate a rule from the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, which mandates censoring obscenity on live radio. But Hoegler says that slowdown simply doesn't work for the visually impaired.
HOEGLER: You can't watch a game that way. You have to have it in real time.
MARSHALL: An FCC spokesperson says other technical reasons like the feed of the broadcast running through internet radio could cause the slower audio. Major League Baseball did not respond to a request for comment. And while a majority of the teams say they offer assisted listening devices or radios available for checkout, it's unclear how many of those devices are on a delay. Some teams have found a workaround. After meeting with visually impaired fans, the Minnesota Twins built a small FM transmitter that allows real-time distribution of the games broadcast within the ballpark.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #2: Swung and fouled upstairs - strike one. And we're underway at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario with a game...
MARSHALL: On social media, other fans who also like live play-by-play have complained about the delay of game audio. However, Alicia Howerton of the Cleveland Sight Center says visually impaired people deal with this kind of thing all the time. And while the Guardians do provide accessible parking and seating for those with disabilities, Howerton says there's generally fewer accommodations at ballparks and other facilities for the blind.
ALICIA HOWERTON: There are so many variables that can cause accessibility not to be usable, or Even when they're usable, are they truly accessible.
MARSHALL: And until the guardians and other teams provide a way for people to listen live in the stadium, Ken Hoegler says many fans are going to miss out.
HOEGLER: This seems like they've kicked my group to the curb. And that makes me feel sad because I love the game of baseball. I believe it was the greatest game ever invented by humankind. And I learned the rules in half an hour, and I've been figuring out the nuances for the rest of my life.
MARSHALL: But Hoegler says he won't be going back to a ballpark anytime soon until he can hear the play by play he gets on the radio in real time.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #3: Bang goes Malloy (ph). He jumps. Ball hits off the wall, richochets...
MARSHALL: For NPR News, I'm Abbey Marshall in Cleveland.
(SOUNDBITE OF NANCY BEA HEFLEY'S "TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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