A kind of shouting News at radio Listeners

[thezak]

A kind of shouting News at Radio Listeners are among production
qualities of WBZ-AM 1030 Medford Greater Boston
not that Listeners expect BBC kind of rendition.

However, imagine a toning down of false urgency created
by voice techniques of broadcasting, currently a misdirection considered
industry standard when it's now 2020 with newer performance
techniques taught for the best dramatic arts programs, for example
https://www.juilliard.edu/drama

 

[nowradioguy]

A kind of shouting News at Radio Listeners are among production
qualities of WBZ-AM 1030 Medford Greater Boston
not that Listeners expect BBC kind of rendition.

However, imagine a toning down of false urgency created
by voice techniques of broadcasting, currently a misdirection considered
industry standard when it's now 2020 with newer performance
techniques taught for the best dramatic arts programs, for example
https://www.juilliard.edu/drama

The above is "im-parse-able". Can anyone tell me (us?) what this poster is trying to convey?

 

[kevtronics]

I think that was a Haiku-esque way of saying that the announcers at WBZ sound like they're shouting, and they should tone it down.

 

[inorm99]

I think that was a Haiku-esque way of saying that the announcers at WBZ sound like they're shouting, and they should tone it down.

I have noticed a lot of inane ad libs, and summaries of weather forecasts as if
just a straight reading of the forecasts aren't sufficient enough.

 

[nowradioguy]

I have noticed a lot of inane ad libs, and summaries of weather forecasts as if
just a straight reading of the forecasts aren't sufficient enough.

OK, I had an inkling that's what this was about and I don't agree at all.

First of all, the shouting ceased months ago when CHARLIE SHERMAN (!) disappeared from 'BZ's airwaves.

Second, I like the more conversational tone of the 'BZ newscasts, as opposed to straight "read what the editor wrote". Yes, sometimes there can be some stumbling over words, as in any kind of ad-libbling, and some newscasters are more adept at free-form than others, but it's nowhere near as bad as either the OP or any of you are suggesting.

 

[Cap-n Spackle]

thezak should try Talk 1200, where at the top of the hour you get BZ's news and the national news, at the same time.

And it's been happening for years, even before they started using BZ.

 

[raccoonradio]

Last Fri 8:15 pm WRKO's pre recorded newscast from WBZ and an ad and iHeart feature starts rolling at same time as Joe Pags show.After a couple minutes it was just the Pags show. In the past the same kind of thing happened during Howie Carr when the newscast would pop up at quarter past the hour or some other inopportune time, airing at same time as the talk program.

 

[Cap-n Spackle]

Last Fri 8:15 pm WRKO's pre recorded newscast from WBZ and an ad and iHeart feature starts rolling at same time as Joe Pags show.After a couple minutes it was just the Pags show. In the past the same kind of thing happened during Howie Carr when the newscast would pop up at quarter past the hour or some other inopportune time, airing at same time as the talk program.

Sometimes I'll listen to shows using an iHeart stream, for shows not carried by any Boston affiliates. This has one advantage over the antenna version of the show: they avoid the overlapping multiple sources of audio, but it's not at all uncommon for their news+ad breaks at the top of the hour to keep shoving ads and PSAs for several minutes past when the program clock indicates the show starts. When this happens, swapping to another affiliate's stream brings up the show already in progress. Annoying as hell.

 

[nowradioguy]

Last Fri 8:15 pm WRKO's pre recorded newscast from WBZ and an ad and iHeart feature starts rolling at same time as Joe Pags show.After a couple minutes it was just the Pags show. In the past the same kind of thing happened during Howie Carr when the newscast would pop up at quarter past the hour or some other inopportune time, airing at same time as the talk program.

You don't say.

My, my, so what has become of that much-ballyhooed program scheduler/controller/sequencer that iHeart installed for its Medford cluster, especially to accommodate WBZ and WRKO and the stations that were already in the cluster? Some Wheatstone product, as I recall? And just who is in charge of programming this machine? Is it supposed to think for itself?

 

[davideduardo]

You don't say.

My, my, so what has become of that much-ballyhooed program scheduler/controller/sequencer that iHeart installed for its Medford cluster, especially to accommodate WBZ and WRKO and the stations that were already in the cluster? Some Wheatstone product, as I recall? And just who is in charge of programming this machine? Is it supposed to think for itself?

iHeart stations are run with RCS Zetta automation (which is also used for live assist) and G-Selector music scheduling.

Operating Zetta is relatively easy, although a good engineer has to set it, as with any broadcast gear, up for use.

There are thousands of stations around the world using Zetta.

Zetta takes the traffic* input and the music scheduling input and runs them on the air, whether live or fully automated.

Radio automation has been in use since the later 60's, but mistakes have been happening since the first humans walked the earth.

* "Traffic" in the business of broadcasting refers to the scheduling of commercials, not vehicles on roadways.

 

[Cap-n Spackle]

Radio automation has been in use since the later 60's, but mistakes have been happening since the first humans walked the earth.

It'd be nice if an entire hour went by without screwing up, once in a while.

 

[davideduardo]

It'd be nice if an entire hour went by without screwing up, once in a while.

Probably the effects of having most of the staff working from home and trying to coordinate so many live elements, recorded elements and different sources. This is a new experience for all of us, so a little patience is appropriate.

 

[TheBigA]

Seems appropriate:

https://youtu.be/zSDj7bjAv2s

 

[davideduardo]

Seems appropriate:

https://youtu.be/zSDj7bjAv2s

 

[nowradioguy]

iHeart stations are run with RCS Zetta automation (which is also used for live assist) and G-Selector music scheduling.

Operating Zetta is relatively easy, although a good engineer has to set it, as with any broadcast gear, up for use.

There are thousands of stations around the world using Zetta.

Zetta takes the traffic* input and the music scheduling input and runs them on the air, whether live or fully automated.

Radio automation has been in use since the later 60's, but mistakes have been happening since the first humans walked the earth.

* "Traffic" in the business of broadcasting refers to the scheduling of commercials, not vehicles on roadways.

Gee, David, none other than Scott Fybush himself leads us to believe that, at iHeart Boston, the electronics are primarily Wheatstone.

[URL="https://radioinsight.com/headlines/170825/radioinsight-tech-wbzs-big-move-part-2-a-shiny-new-home/"[/URL]

 

[nowradioguy]

It'd be nice if an entire hour went by without screwing up, once in a while.

You bring up an interesting point, Cap-n: other than geeks like us on the message boards, does the general audience care if a station has three disparate audio sources running simultaneously, or that certain newscasters appear to be shouting at the listener, or that a beloved on-air personality is moved to another time slot or (worse) out the door? To me, it's a vicious circle: a stations doesn't care about its on-air image/sound, so the audience diminishes, and since the audience is diminishing, there's little incentive to guard and maintain its on-air image/sound.

Maybe the work-from-home syndrome is partly to blame, but it seems Talk 1200, in particular, the station iHeart operates from a broom closet, always had issues. But when bigger players like WRKO and, to a lesser extent, WBZ, start experiencing gremlins in their on-air production, then there's little excuse, especially from America's biggest station owner/operator. And right now, at least, not only WBZ, but also WRKO is doing great in the ratings.

 

[davideduardo]

Gee, David, none other than Scott Fybush himself leads us to believe that, at iHeart Boston, the electronics are primarily Wheatstone.

The Wheatstone equipment is the iHeart studio audio input and processing hardware, not the broadcast automation and digital storage control software.

Wheatstone does audio and AOIP and audio processors, not digital storage and program control / automation. They also do not do the associated traffic and music scheduling software needed to run the content on the storage and program control.

You are talking about hardware for the studio and audio. The systems I am referring to are software based, generally using off the shelf computer hardware to schedule, integrate and broadcast programming through the hardware.

https://www.wheatstone.com/ shows Wheatstone gear.

https://www.rcsworks.com/ shows Zetta and other RCS softwarere.

http://www.marketron.com/radiotraffic/ shows Marketron traffic systems.

There are other software based systems to run a format or certain aspects of a format like commercials or music and promos. Zetta is rivaled by MusicMaster. Marketron is rivaled by Wide Orbit's traffic and automation. There are lots of simpler systems for smaller stations and markets. None is made by Wheatstone.

Here is an article about all the digital (software) systems used to control the programming or certain aspects of it:

https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/radio-automation-grows-with-the-times

 

[TheBigA]

There are other software based systems to run a format or certain aspects of a format like commercials or music and promos. Zetta is rivaled by MusicMaster. Marketron is rivaled by Wide Orbit's traffic and automation. There are lots of simpler systems for smaller stations and markets. None is made by Wheatstone.

Of course since that article was sponsored by Wheatstone, they were going to focus primarily on all the Wheatstone stuff. They didn't mention who made the mics, who made the monitors, and the stuff you don't see under the hood. But it was an interesting article. One other little detail is that iHeart owns RCS Zetta.

 

[Cap-n Spackle]

Probably the effects of having most of the staff working from home and trying to coordinate so many live elements, recorded elements and different sources. This is a new experience for all of us, so a little patience is appropriate.

Yes, I can see how that could happen, but in 1200's case it's been going on for years.

 

[davideduardo]

Yes, I can see how that could happen, but in 1200's case it's been going on for years.

It's a station that hasn't, isn't, and won't make money. It just gives clearances to some shows, but really ought to be turned off to tidy up the spectrum.