MSNBC’s early morning programming runs into some audio hiccups

MSNBC had a bit of a case of the “Tuesdays” on Dec. 12, 2023.

After the first block of “Way Too Early” started at 5 a.m. eastern, the network returned from a break with a strangle crackling noise in the background. 

Anchor Jonathan Lemire managed to get through the block with the audio issues, though it wasn’t immediately clear if he was aware of the problem.

He tossed to a break and the network cut to over six minutes of commercials, including several back-to-back house promos.

Lemire never returned to air on “Early,” with the network opting to cut to the taped version of the previous night’s edition of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

The network tried again at 6 a.m. eastern, when “Morning Joe” usually starts.

The show started with a live view of the Capitol dome and “Baba O’Riley” by The Who playing (also known as the theme for “CSI: New York”). The music played at different volumes for just under a minute before the network crashed to commercial. 

When programming resumed, it the previous evening’s version of “The Last Word.”

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At 6:11 a.m., the network returned with live programming, again opening with the same shot of the Capitol.

The technical issues were mentioned on air and the show’s hosts thanked viewers for sticking around. 

The show continued for the rest of its timeslot largely as normal, though based on recordings from some TV providers, the audio appeared slightly out of sync for the rest of the show.

Lemire was anchoring “Way Too Early” from New York City and then appeared on “Morning Joe,” while Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough appeared to be broadcasting from the Florida studio the network built inside their home. Willie Geist was also in New York’s Studio 3A along with Lemire and in-studio guests.

Because “Way Too Early” and “Morning Joe” originate from separate locations and the technical issues appeared to involve mainly audio, it’s not clear exactly what happened, though it seems unlikely that facilities in both Florida and New York were having separate audio problems at the same time. Instead, it’s probably more likely the issue was in New York.

New York typically handles control room operations for both shows, including when “Morning Joe” partially or completely originates from Florida. 

The audio issues did not appear to affect commercial breaks or the repeats of earlier programs, which could indicate that master control was not to blame.

It’s not clear if the later audio sync issues were connected to the earlier problems. At times these types of issues can pop up due to issues with pay TV provider headends.