Sound issues with council’s webcasting system to be resolved as new microphones ordered (finally!)

Sound issues on the council’s webcasting service look set to improve after it was confirmed that new microphones had been ordered for the Guildhall chamber.

Those who regularly tune into watch the webcast on the council website or sit in the Guildhall to watch planning, full council and executive board meetings, will already be aware of microphone issues – some of which result in poor sound while others are caused by microphones not being switched on or off by councillors.

Such issues have been pointed out by councillors and tweeted regularly by us since 2013. However sound in the Guildhall Chamber has got progressively worse in recent months – causing problems for those sitting in the chamber and watching via the council website.

In October Wrexham.com reported that Wrexham Council were looking into the microphone issues, after the September Executive Board meeting resulted in a number of complaints tweeted about the sound being difficult to hear, along with sound dipping out and muffled speech.

This morning’s meeting saw the usual issues with the microphones in the council chamber, with Cllr Derek Wright pointing out to the Executive Board that the sound for councillors at near the back of the chamber was once again poor.

Despite the swapping over of microphones, the sound on the webcasting system in particular was still poor and sometimes difficult to hear what the councillors were saying.

These issues look set to stop by the end of the year, with Council Leader Mark Pritchard noting he was “delighted” to confirm that new microphones for the chamber had been ordered and that they should arrive within the next month.