Aircheck Advice

[SPRINGFIELDRAD]

1. Roll tape (old school term) all the time. Aircheck the jocks/talent in your market every month or two. They could be canned, hired by a bigger station or they can quit the biz at any time.

2. Date the aircheck. Correct name of jock/talent.

3. No hiss!!!! If you live close to the stick and the station comes in clear, tape in stereo. If not, go mono.

4. When I lived just outside New York City you could catch some jocks trying out during overnights or weekends. Ya never know when a PD will try a jock out.

5. You never know what jocks will make it big. One of my classic tapes is Opie from WBAB/Long Island. On the tape you hear Anthony. He wasn't getting any billing. What a different Anthony.

One night I taped Tom King on WALK-FM in the early '90s. Is that Tom Poleman of Z-100/NY?

 

[JamzUSA]

> Roll tape (old school term) all the time. Aircheck the
> jocks/talent in your market every month or two. They could
> be canned, hired by a bigger station or they can quit the
> biz at any time.
>

I agree. I've learned that the hard way.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> > Roll tape (old school term) all the time. Aircheck the
> > jocks/talent in your market every month or two. They
> could
> > be canned, hired by a bigger station or they can quit the
> > biz at any time.
> >
>
> I agree. I've learned that the hard way.
>

Luclally, I've done it for my favorite DJs.

One WIERD thing I've done was just this past week. I had a sudden urge to aircheck 1050 WLIP with them running ABC Memories thinking "Its gonna be gone some day you better record it." And sure enough within a day after, they flipped to Oldies to my suprise thinking "YOU ARE SO LUCKY YOU HIT RECORD THE OTHER DAY" in my head when it happened. So I usually always have to give into my urges. Luckally, the new format isn't bad nor too much different from the old one.
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[sfradio]

> > > Roll tape (old school term) all the time. Aircheck the
>
> > > jocks/talent in your market every month or two. They
> > could
> > > be canned, hired by a bigger station or they can quit
> the
> > > biz at any time.
> > >
> >
> > I agree. I've learned that the hard way.
> >
>
> Luclally, I've done it for my favorite DJs.
>
> One WIERD thing I've done was just this past week. I had a
> sudden urge to aircheck 1050 WLIP with them running ABC
> Memories thinking "Its gonna be gone some day you better
> record it." And sure enough within a day after, they flipped
> to Oldies to my suprise thinking "YOU ARE SO LUCKY YOU HIT
> RECORD THE OTHER DAY" in my head when it happened. So I
> usually always have to give into my urges. Luckally, the new
> format isn't bad nor too much different from the old one.
>
yeah me too, i had the urge to record kvvz/kvvf viva 100.7/105.7 and then they flipped to la kalle, i didint have a chance to record it<P ID="signature">______________
xxnate_doggxx (at) myway (dot) com
</P>

 

[Tim]

Fairly new term: "old school".

How did the pop culture phrase "old school" become so.....uh..."popular" in the past couple years or so?
***
"Old school" occurance: Most jocks had at least some real personality. Not very many jocks in 2005 actually have much talent, ability to ad lib, or have much ability to entertain, and are permitted to display that talent on the air? (typical music sweep back-sells on most music stations are so predictable and boring it's incredible).

>Date the aircheck. Correct name of jock/talent.>
***

> 4. When I lived just outside New York City you could catch
some jocks trying out during overnights or weekends.>

Wonder how many overnight or weekend shifts are actually live jocks...not voice tracked?

***

> 5. You never know what jocks will make it big.?>

With the ridiculous spread of voice tracking middays, evenings, overnights, and most weekend shifts...there are so few actual jock jobs...how many potentially talented persons will simply give up on radio and change careers?

The radio industry has only itself to blame for the sea of blah-ness we have from 92.1 to 107.9 all over the US. Most real talent in 2005 comes from the rare live, local talk show hosts, mostly on AM radio. Sad...isn't it?

 

[johnny]

> 3. No hiss!!!! If you live close to the stick and the
> station comes in clear, tape in stereo. If not, go mono.

I agree ONLY if the hiss is enough to be over the top of everything. If you only hear the hiss at quiet times, and you don't hear it when there is music going, I would rather have it in stereo. In either case, I would want someone to tell me that it had to be mono rather than it blindly being recorded so.

 

[SPRINGFIELDRAD]

You make some valid points. I did most of my airchecking in the late '70s to the early '90s. Yes, the business has changed. The Telcom Act of 1996 was the worst thing to hit the radio biz. Hello voice tracking. Only a few major players in the biz.

I'll take the radio biz in the early '80s over todays radio biz. With more players (radio station owners) the business was on fire. It wasn't perfect but the business was better for the listeners and talent.

I believe many talented folks quit the radio biz each day because of the low wages. You can make more money doing something else.

Yes, I enjoy the local talk show on the AM dial. It's getting harder and harder to find live local talk shows. I can't find any good New York talk shows (non sports), so I find myself listening to WBZ (BOSTON) with their two local talk shows at night.

 

[RMarino]

> The Telcom Act of 1996 was the worst thing to hit
> the radio biz. Hello voice tracking. Only a few major
> players in the biz.

The Telcom Act had nothing to do with voice-tracking. Blame that on technology. Most people don't remember this, but the radio business was falling apart in the early-to-mid '90s. Even successful stations were losing money. The Telcom Act saved radio (well as much as it could be saved.)

> I'll take the radio biz in the early '80s over todays radio
> biz.

Well of course, who wouldn't? But it was a different time. Radio had fewer technology to compete with. Radio has had to adapt with the times.

> I believe many talented folks quit the radio biz each day
> because of the low wages. You can make more money doing
> something else.

Count me in on that one. Although I do part-time on a station now as a "labor of love" but an on-air career these days won't feed the family.

 

[MegoMan]

> 1. Roll tape (old school term) all the time. Aircheck the
> jocks/talent in your market every month or two. They could
> be canned, hired by a bigger station or they can quit the
> biz at any time.
>
Two words, "Howard Stern". Better record his show from your local afilliate while you still can. I recorded his last E! show on TV last Friday. Wished I had recorded the radio show the previous Friday.

> 2. Date the aircheck. Correct name of jock/talent.
>
> 3. No hiss!!!! If you live close to the stick and the
> station comes in clear, tape in stereo. If not, go mono.
>
> 4. When I lived just outside New York City you could catch
> some jocks trying out during overnights or weekends. Ya
> never know when a PD will try a jock out.
>
> 5. You never know what jocks will make it big. One of my
> classic tapes is Opie from WBAB/Long Island. On the tape
> you hear Anthony. He wasn't getting any billing. What a
> different Anthony.

Hearing a young O&A would be interesting to hear. One of Seattle's FM talkers, BJ Shea, used to work with Opie back in the day in Boston. Opie was just an intern at that time.
>
> One night I taped Tom King on WALK-FM in the early '90s. Is
> that Tom Poleman of Z-100/NY?
>
<P ID="signature">______________
"Always on the move." Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge Of the Sith</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by MegoMan on 07/14/05 01:11 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[MegoMan]

> > > > Roll tape (old school term) all the time. Aircheck
> the
> >
> > > > jocks/talent in your market every month or two. They
> > > could
> > > > be canned, hired by a bigger station or they can quit
> > the
> > > > biz at any time.
> > > >
> > >
> > > I agree. I've learned that the hard way.
> > >
> >
> > Luclally, I've done it for my favorite DJs.
> >
> > One WIERD thing I've done was just this past week. I had a
>
> > sudden urge to aircheck 1050 WLIP with them running ABC
> > Memories thinking "Its gonna be gone some day you better
> > record it." And sure enough within a day after, they
> flipped
> > to Oldies to my suprise thinking "YOU ARE SO LUCKY YOU HIT
>
> > RECORD THE OTHER DAY" in my head when it happened. So I
> > usually always have to give into my urges. Luckally, the
> new
> > format isn't bad nor too much different from the old one.
> >
> yeah me too, i had the urge to record kvvz/kvvf viva
> 100.7/105.7 and then they flipped to la kalle, i didint have
> a chance to record it
>
I recorded quite a bit of stuff from 96.5 in Seattle from about 1996 to 2002. Back then KYCW "Young Country" and later KYPT "The Point" occupied that frequency. Infinity dropped "The Point" and replaced it with "K-ROCK", which in turn was "Jack'ed" just recently.<P ID="signature">______________
"Always on the move." Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge Of the Sith</P>

 

[JH_Radio]

I want stereo no matter what. I also record in stereo no matter what. I do not like getting mono airchecks without knowing they're in mono. I'm verry glad I defeated the stereo blend on my Yamaha T-85 tuner for when I'm home. If it is not able to be recieved in stereo in NY then I don't record it.

<P ID="signature">______________
John
E-mail: [email protected]
AIM: RainAngelsRule
MSN: [email protected]</P>

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> > 3. No hiss!!!! If you live close to the stick and the
> > station comes in clear, tape in stereo. If not, go mono.
>
> I agree ONLY if the hiss is enough to be over the top of
> everything. If you only hear the hiss at quiet times, and
> you don't hear it when there is music going, I would rather
> have it in stereo. In either case, I would want someone to
> tell me that it had to be mono rather than it blindly being
> recorded so.
>

I've had problems with people complaining about me recording airchecks in mono. The stereo pilot was on the whole time when the currents were being recorded, yet I still got complaints from a person I traded with about 2-3 years ago. How can you tell if its stereo or mono? I sure can't unless the pilot is off. My radio doesn't even have a stereo/mono switch. It was an oldies station so maybe they had the music loaded in mono so both the singing and the music could be heard in both channels.

Over the course of my 5 years of trading, I have had 2 complaints about mono. One was from the person that I sent currents of the oldies station to and the other was from a person that I sent dubbings of tapes that I got from other people to.

I regret recording a lot of my airchecks in mono 4-5 years ago. I just figured having less hiss was better. Combined with the poor tape recorder quality that my old Emerson stereo had, the mono made most of them sound worse.
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[peppertree]

If you are complaining about the same person who gave me a hard time, I think the trouble is with him. I sent him two tapes in stereo and the lights for both sides were on and he complained and did not do any more trades with me.

Some people can be picky.

> > > 3. No hiss!!!! If you live close to the stick and the
> > > station comes in clear, tape in stereo. If not, go
> mono.
> >
> > I agree ONLY if the hiss is enough to be over the top of
> > everything. If you only hear the hiss at quiet times, and
>
> > you don't hear it when there is music going, I would
> rather
> > have it in stereo. In either case, I would want someone
> to
> > tell me that it had to be mono rather than it blindly
> being
> > recorded so.
> >
>
> I've had problems with people complaining about me recording
> airchecks in mono. The stereo pilot was on the whole time
> when the currents were being recorded, yet I still got
> complaints from a person I traded with about 2-3 years ago.
> How can you tell if its stereo or mono? I sure can't unless
> the pilot is off. My radio doesn't even have a stereo/mono
> switch. It was an oldies station so maybe they had the music
> loaded in mono so both the singing and the music could be
> heard in both channels.
>
> Over the course of my 5 years of trading, I have had 2
> complaints about mono. One was from the person that I sent
> currents of the oldies station to and the other was from a
> person that I sent dubbings of tapes that I got from other
> people to.
>
> I regret recording a lot of my airchecks in mono 4-5 years
> ago. I just figured having less hiss was better. Combined
> with the poor tape recorder quality that my old Emerson
> stereo had, the mono made most of them sound worse.
>
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