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NERW on WMEX's return date and programming

CTListener said:
I'll have to give it a listen online (It is online, right?) when I'm free later tonight. Do they go autopilot oldies overnight, repeat earlier shows, or what?
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Before 9 AM weekdays, after 6 PM weeknights, and for the whole weekend, WBMS currently goes to a simulcast of the owners longtime station WATD, Marshfield, MA 95.9 FM, which after a weekday morning news magazine show is gold-based AC with South Shore community features during the weekdays until 6 PM, and a variety of talk and music shows (some brokered) evenings and weeknights that are simulcast on WBMS. The original oldies programming on WBMS, so far, is only weekdays 9 AM - 6 PM.

There are also oldies shows on WATD Saturdays 12 noon to 12 midnight, and on Sundays 1-5 PM and 10 PM-2 AM (a '50s doo-wop specialty show) simulcast with the weekend shows on WBMS.

CTListener said:
The idea of DJs picking their own music here 20 years into the 21st century is going to be a really loud dog whistle for the usual cast of big-time radio pros on this board.
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That may be at least somewhat temporary. I've seen posted that they are working on a digital oldies music library program for WMEX for after it starts on March 9, I'm guessing a version of it may also be used on WBMS. It's still being developed "in house", though.
 
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A post on Remembering WMEX facebook group says WMEX debut will now be March 23
"Equipment delay in Florida where Larry Justice will be broadcasting from."

Joe McMillan adds "I will be doing afternoon Drive on 1510 WMEX 2-6pm starting that day...Have done Oldies 103 WROR WVBF WHDH WMJX and WATD 3 Times WMEX FM soon Right now 915am-2pm on WBMS 101.1 FM and AM 1460 AM"
 
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And it looks like they are ready to fall off the table. I hope they do have remote starts. On the other hand you get your steps in having to get up and walk around to cue up the next song.
 
xmtrland said:
And it looks like they are ready to fall off the table. I hope they do have remote starts. On the other hand you get your steps in having to get up and walk around to cue up the next song.
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Having the microphone booms bolted to the same table as the turntables means that when the talent adjusts his mic, it will cause the record to skip.
 
TheBigA said:
Not sure how he intends to use those turntables. If he starts them by tapping the start button, the sound will be picked up by the tonearm. They need remote starts. There's also the issue of isolation from the floor and table. Which is why so many stations back in the day didn't use turntables.
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As someone who did turntable radio for decades, the idea was to back cue the vinyl to several seconds before the beginning of the song. Then, with the board fader (pot) for the turntable all the way down, start the turntable. Once the turntable has come up to speed just before the music starts, fade up the pot quickly.

Once you're used to particular turntables, you can judge exactly when to fade up the pot with no dead air from the previous record (or other source), talk up the instrumental intro of the song to the vocal if you're doing that kind of format, whatever, but without allowing any sound from tapping the start button, or any "woosh" from the platter coming up to speed, onto the air because the fader is down until after the platter has been started and has come up to speed. It's all done within a matter of seconds, and it may require two hands depending on the configuration of the studio.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
As someone who did turntable radio for decades, the idea was to back cue the vinyl to several seconds before the beginning of the song. Then, with the board fader (pot) for the turntable all the way down, start the turntable. Once the turntable has come up to speed just before the music starts, fade up the pot quickly.
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"Several seconds?" You realize there's only two seconds between songs on an album. There's also a slip cue, where the turntable is already running, and your finger holding the disc, until you want it to start.

Still having the turntables on the other side of the table from the mixing console makes running the board "pot down" very difficult.
 
TheBigA said:
"Several seconds?" You realize there's only two seconds between songs on an album. There's also a slip cue, where the turntable is already running, and your finger holding the disc, until you want it to start.

Still having the turntables on the other side of the table from the mixing console makes running the board "pot down" very difficult.
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Well, this is what I know first-hand about this, if all of those obstacles are true, then I was never aware of it at all! When major stations such as the original WROR, they used carts!

However, when I had personally visited 2 separate AM stations during the early 80's, they were both were still using turntables! And again, they just made it seamless, without missing a cue, no pun intended!

Even when I was friends with mobile Disc Jockeys, they would just cue the record up, spinning it backwards, and when it was time, they just let it rip! No interruptions, no tone arm noise, no nothing! Just continuous flow of uninterrupted music!
 
Retro said:
Even when I was friends with mobile Disc Jockeys, they would just cue the record up, spinning it backwards, and when it was time, they just let it rip! No interruptions, no tone arm noise, no nothing! Just continuous flow of uninterrupted music!
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The thing about mobile DJs is they're constantly checking their cues. That's because a direct drive turntable is loose until you hit start. Checking cue is what led to using that sound as a rhythmic device in shows. The sound became a big part of rap songs. The DJ is cuing up the song with pot up, and it creates a neat effect.

Which is why I recommend the slip cue. You develop a relationship with the turntable, knowing exactly how much of a turn you need (1/3 of a turn usually worked) to get up to speed.
 
at least through all of the delays of WMEX and WBMS over the last year, we know exactly where Joe McMillan used to work.... since he has to tell us every time he posts.
 
It used to be even more fun with a Classical LP where you had to flip the LP over (when you only had one copy to work with). Hit the end of side one, pot the turntable down, flip the LP over, cue it up (typically used power cue), start the turntable up, pot the turntable volume. When I was in practice, less than 10 seconds.
 
TheBigA said:
"Several seconds?" You realize there's only two seconds between songs on an album.
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Many albums aren’t quite that tight between tracks, but I should have said back cue “a few” rather than “several” seconds before the song you want to play begins.

I rarely had to back cue so far that it was into the audio of the end of the previous song, but if I had to, it didn’t matter because the pot was faded down until a fraction of a second before the platter reached the song to be played, and then faded up quickly.

Qualify broadcast turntables reach speed (33 or 45 RPM) within a second (or less) of pressing the start button. Consumer home turntables took a slight bit longer but weren’t used for that purpose.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
I should have said back cue “a few” rather than “several” seconds before the song you want to play begins.
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Yep, I understand. But the real issue is the location of the turntables in the WMEX control room. Was that done for show or will those turntables actually be used where they are?
 
"Didn't the silence sensors go off? Or did they not use them in classical radio?"

10 second wait for silence sensors was too long. Near the end of a side, listen on the studio monitors (I didn't use hedphones). To paraphrase "30 minutes of boredom punctuated by 10 seconds of stark terror."
 
TheBigA said:
Yep, I understand. But the real issue is the location of the turntables in the WMEX control room. Was that done for show or will those turntables actually be used where they are?
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It does look like a very awkward placement in the picture. I wouldn't recommend it.
 
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