Action line #80510 - AFN commercials Published June 17, 2008 By Anonymous 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- Complaint: I have a major concern and a little bit of a complain about AFN TV. Watching normal television programs scheduled on TV is a way to relax, sit-back and enjoy off-duty time but when you have to deal with AFN commercials being 10 to 15 times louder than any other program is an issue. As a matter of fact, the speakers on my brand new television are damaged because of this issue. Is there any way to program the commercials produced by AFN to be adjusted to the same sound volume as the regular TV commercials. I don't know if you've heard this many times or not but it is a real big issue in my house. It also disrupts the sleeping patterns my kids are on. I understand that the commercials are standard TV protocol on this base to promote either safety, weather advisories and base regulations. Just regulate the sound volume on the commercials so that no one has to complain. I appreciate it if you can help me out. It would mean a lot. Response: Thank you for your feedback. While most of our programming and AFN 'commercials' originate in the U.S. and come to us via satellite, we do have some control over the locally produced spots that we inject through our automation control equipment. We have been controlling the audio levels of local spots while they are being produced for optimum playback quality. However, you are correct in identifying that many of the local spots have somewhat higher audio levels than the incoming programming. To correct this, we are re-leveling the audio for all of our local spots to a level more consistent with that of the incoming signal. The audio match will not always be perfect, because the levels of incoming signals will vary from channel to channel and show to show, but we will make every effort to eliminate the volume difference you have identified. Thanks for taking the time to write.