In case you haven't noticed, the Nauvoo Bell tolls no more for KSL Radio.

The signature "clang" that originated live from Temple Square for the West's 50,000-watt station has been silenced — at least for the near future — by the move by KSL (AM-1160) to become Utah's first radio station to convert to a digital signal.

Digital, or high-definition, radio is the rough equivalent of HDTV, and the switch to this higher quality signal is not without repercussions in both the AM and FM radio worlds.

Perhaps the biggest is a seven-second delay from the point of origin to a radio listener's ear. Hence, the need to quit using the bell, which marked each hour, precisely on the hour, with a clang.

KSL Radio engineer John Dehnel said the Nauvoo Bell hasn't sounded on the air since KSL switched to the digital signal about the middle of May.

"The way digital radio works, it's much like an Internet stream," he said. "There's a delay."

Rod Arquette, KSL Radio vice president of programming and operations, said the loss of the bell isn't set in stone. A way still might be found to bring it back.

KSL first considered keeping the chime live, with the seven-second delay.

"Those setting their clocks by the radio would be seven seconds off," Dehnel said. Also, the chime would interrupt announcers.

Next, KSL considered using a recording of the bell at the proper time. However, that caused programming and timing issues, too. Listeners might also be confused, because the bell would ring seven seconds before the CBS News broadcast started — instead of as it always has at the beginning.

The simplest solution was to stop the chime altogether.

The 1,500-pound Nauvoo Bell, located just southwest of the Tabernacle on Temple Square, will continue to chime live on the hour there, just not on the radio.

KSL's many sister stations, as well as KBYU, KRCL and KUER and others, are making similar plans to convert to HD radio.

TV sports coverage already has a signal delay of about four seconds. But unless the digital radio issue is resolved, you'll find sports fans in stadiums this fall trying to enjoy play-by-play radio broadcasts with a delay of seven seconds between action on the field and what they're hearing from their radios.

DJs and radio reporters are also having to wrestle with new time-delay issues as they do remote broadcasts.

Arquette stressed that digital radio is well worth the hassle.

"Digital radio will take AM radio to a new level. . . . It will blow you away," he said, explaining AM will sound like FM does now and FM will move even higher to a CD quality level.

Although KSL began as Utah's first radio station on May 6, 1922, the Nauvoo Bell chime broadcast wasn't added until decades later — probably in the 1960s.

"I've had quite a few calls and e-mails from people who miss the bell chime," Dehnel said.

---

E-mail: lynn@desnews.com