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Should Radio Stations give time & temperature at night ?

xmradiopro

xmradiopro

I remember back in the 1970s radio stations always gave time and temperature even without djs on the station. Just wondering why so many of today's station don't practice this feature.
 
The ubiquitous cell phone once again is the teller of all things to all people.

:)
 
MusicRadioUSA said:
I remember back in the 1970s radio stations always gave time and temperature even without djs on the station. Just wondering why so many of today's station don't practice this feature.
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Because nearly all listeners have easy access to the time, either via a watch, the clock on their phone or the clock on the dash of their car or truck. As for the temperature, who cares? The listener has a general idea how hot or cold it is, which is sufficient in itself without having to know the exact temp.
 
Personally, I wouldn't give the time and temp at all if I was PD of a radio station today. It's just not necessary.

I think the practice of having automation do time & temp checks was the realization that the automation made the station sound less live and local, not more.
"The time is Six ... Forty ... Seven ... and the temperature is Eighty ... Four .... degrees" was very obviously computerized. Taking it away took away a big clue that the station was automated.
 
Radio stations have not generally given time checks outside of mornings, for decades now.

Think about this: what segment of the audience will find a time check useful?
 
I read how people don't like cookie cutter programming techniques. That's what time & temp is to me. Requiring all stations do time & temp without regard to format or context is more cookie cutter programming. If there's a reason to do it, if it fits with the format, sure. But no need to force it. Most people have a device nearby that provides time and temp. It's called a phone. I don't even wear a watch anymore. And I own a dozen of them.
 
It's for that fellow that time checks are given during morning drive -- at least more commonly than other dayparts.

On the other hand, in PM drive after Phil the Nova driver gets off work, he probably doesn't want to know that he heard the 5:11 and the 5:32 time checks on WZZZ during his drive home.
 

I think we've got to get away from the thinking that all information is easy to get from a smart phone. Music is also easy to get from a smart phone. So we really don't need radio at all.

Except that people are lazy. We will go to 7-Eleven to get a quart of milk, just so we don't have to walk all the way from the parking lot to the supermarket dairy aisle, to the check out counter. We'll pay more for 7-Eleven's convenience.

To get info and music out of my smart phone or other device, I have to do several things. OK, it's not like hiking up a mountain. But with radio, all I do is press one button and it's all there for me. This is why all the successful all-news stations continue to give time checks every couple of minutes, with traffic & weather reports every ten minutes.

I don't understand why all stations don't do at least some rudimentary voice-tracking during off hours. Weather forecasts, whether the local team won or lost, what's coming up this weekend. It can be a rehash of what the DJs were saying during the day, airing every 15 minutes or so late nights and weekends. Stations work so hard to make sure they've got great sounding DJs in AM drive, middays and PM drive. Then they do nothing from 7 pm to 6 am and most of the weekend. It just isn't logical.
 
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Gregg. said:
I don't understand why all stations don't do at least some rudimentary voice-tracking during off hours. Weather, whether the local team won or lost, what's coming up this weekend. It can be a rehash of what the DJs were saying during the day, airing every 15 minutes or so late nights and weekends. Stations work so hard to make sure they've got great sounding DJs in AM drive, middays and PM drive. Then they do nothing from 7 pm to 6 am and most of the weekend.
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Some stations do exactly what you're talking about. As I said, this is not an all-or-nothing thing. Some stations have live talent at night. Not many, but some do. So why are we trying to cookie cutter things more than they are?
 
TheBigA said:
Some stations do exactly what you're talking about. As I said, this is not an all-or-nothing thing. Some stations have live talent at night. Not many, but some do. So why are we trying to cookie cutter things more than they are?
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from the stations i conducted tests i found none have time airchecks at night even for live DJ shows.
 
Some advertisers regularly sponsor time-and-temperature checks on primetime television.
 
Someone who thinks radio stations should do time and temperature all night also think 24/7 live djs and a 5000 song playlist are the absolute answer to success of a station

I work for a 50,000 watt fm and we'll soon be adding time and temperature in an automated format.. each of us 3 djs will record the time and temperaturein every possible combination and right after the weather youll hear "it's three 20 and 69 degrees" by the voice of the dj currently doing the airshift thats on the air. we';re not doing current time and temp on air now...when we had this during dj shifts, we'll continue with time, temp and weather forecasts overnight (our weathjer runs overnight now) and we'll have current temp but itll be a voice that isnt one of our djs
 
Thanks...which station is this ?

SomeRadioGuy said:
Someone who thinks radio stations should do time and temperature all night also think 24/7 live djs and a 5000 song playlist are the absolute answer to success of a station

I work for a 50,000 watt fm and we'll soon be adding time and temperature in an automated format.. each of us 3 djs will record the time and temperaturein every possible combination and right after the weather youll hear "it's three 20 and 69 degrees" by the voice of the dj currently doing the airshift thats on the air. we';re not doing current time and temp on air now...when we had this during dj shifts, we'll continue with time, temp and weather forecasts overnight (our weathjer runs overnight now) and we'll have current temp but itll be a voice that isnt one of our djs
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WSPC Albemarle NC and co-owned WZKY did the temperature and conditions but the conditions were usually wrong. I remember the voice from Dallas (that's where they told me she was) saying it was clear when it was mostly cloudy. That girl must have recorded every possible combination and they told me there was some kind of sensor that knew whether there were clouds or rain.
 
CTListener said:
Because nearly all listeners have easy access to the time, either via a watch, the clock on their phone or the clock on the dash of their car or truck. As for the temperature, who cares? The listener has a general idea how hot or cold it is, which is sufficient in itself without having to know the exact temp.
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No, it isn't.
 
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