Some Fans Say Redskins Radio Fumbles Game Broadcasts

Like every true Redskins fan, Casey McNamara isn't happy that his team has lost its first two games. But something burns him up even more: He can barely hear the games on the radio.

No matter where he goes or how finely he tunes his radio, McNamara, who lives in Olney, says he can't seem to get decent reception. "It's just terrible," says the regional manager of a local restaurant chain. "I get static. It's maddening."

Executives of the three stations that broadcast the games say they have not heard a groundswell of complaints about reception. The three stations, collectively called Triple X ESPN Radio, are owned by Daniel Snyder, the team's owner.

Since the Redskins began preseason play in August, however, some local listeners have grumbled that the team's broadcasts are marred by fading signals, interference from other stations and persistent static.

Victoria Elder -- a self-described "religious Redskins fan" since 1971 -- says she's tried moving three different radios around her home in Annandale, but still gets nothing but static and "a high-pitched whining sound" when she tunes in. "It's so bad I can't listen to it," says Elder, a management consultant, adding: "It's not like Annandale is somewhere way out in the exurbs. I'm inside the Beltway."

The sentiment is similar on Web sites devoted to the Redskins. "Well, I will say that I live in D.C. (I can see the U.S. Capitol from my street) and I definitely couldn't get the Redskins radio signal," wrote one participant on the Webskins discussion group on Yahoo.com.

The frustration has carried over to the team's site, Redskins.com. When the site solicited questions last month for a planned online chat with Snyder, several people posted grumpy questions about the stations. "What is your plan for obtaining a better region-wide broadcast signal strength for the Triple X radio network?" asked one. "The streaming is great, but signal coverage in my car in northern Montgomery County and in my office in downtown Bethesda is almost inaudible."

But Bennett Zier, who heads Snyder's media group, Red Zebra Broadcasting, says: "We have had no level of consistent complaints, [nor] have we had a lot of complaints. We've had mostly positive feedback. People love the format, they love the sound . . . and the whole feel of Triple X. It's been nothing but positives."

Complaints started up soon after the team switched its flagship station this summer from WJFK-FM (106.7) to Snyder's new radio group, a trio of small Washington area stations. Snyder purchased the stations from a Spanish-language broadcaster in January, with the longer-range plan to turn them into the heart of a Redskins broadcasting empire.

Redskins games and sports-talk programs -- including a daily call-in show hosted by ex-Redskin John Riggins -- are broadcast simultaneously on the three stations (92.7 and 94.3 FM and 730 AM). The stations are licensed to broadcast at relatively low power levels and have widely dispersed transmitters (in Calvert County, Warrenton and Alexandria).

Because of those two factors, the signals are hard to receive in some parts of the metropolitan area. The AM station might be the most unpredictable of the three; under its license, it must reduce its power after dark, which made for sketchy reception during the team's two regular-season games, played on a Monday and a Sunday night.

When the stations debuted in July, Eric Edholm, a columnist for Pro Football Weekly, wrote that a friend had trouble hearing the broadcasts even though she was listening in the middle of downtown Washington.