Automation and College Radio

[rcs]

Program automation certainly has a place in college radio. I've personally installed automation systems at a number of educational stations that allowed them to stay on the air 24/7 with quality programming and I've seen lots of stations "grow" their musical libraries using automation since they don't have to worry about physical space to store a CDs. These two things, along with the incredible convenience of automation can add a lot to college radio.

However, I've noticed a trend in the last five years or so, and that is that at some college stations once automation is installed things start to go down hill. Examples:

Stations that never change their automation. It takes a lot of work to keep canned programming fresh and sometimes stations let the same stuff play over and over. A related problem is when only one person handles programming the automated segments of the broadcast day . . . you end of with a lot of repeated songs day after day.

Stations that have smaller and smaller staffs each year because they don't need to recruit as hard to get students involved to keep the station on the air. I've seen stations with volunteer staffs of 70-100 drop down to only 20-30 students after automation was installed.

Lots of dead air at the stations that either have automation equipment that is not very reliable or who don't bother to maintain their systems.

Lots of missed IDs become someone forgot to program them.

An overall decrease in the quality of programming as more and more stations sound like an iPod on shuffle play.

Frustrated listeners who's calls go unanswered (college radio has always been one of the places where the listener could almost always talk to the host).

A handful of canned national PSAs repeated over and over instead of fresh local ones.

Has anyone else noticed this trend?

 

[profradio]

However, I've noticed a trend in the last five years or so, and that is that at some college stations once automation is installed things start to go down hill.

...

Has anyone else noticed this trend?

If there's such a phenomenon, I believe it varies widely. Several of the problems you identify (missed IDs, music and PSA rotation) are easily solved with the proper use of software. Others have technological solutions (silence sensors, dead air pages, and "go next" triggers -- at our station, adopting a playout system has resulted in less net dead air and technical flubs ... "OE"). Others (stale rotations) have been a problem, in some cases, even with live college radio. Therefore, the occurance of several of the issues you mention depend on implementation. Loss of personalized audience contact is indeed a problem when playout systems are used for automated operation.

I had to chuckle over "more and more stations sound like an iPod on shuffle play" ... isn't that what college radio, to an extent, has always sounded like? "We play music you've never heard before." "None of the hits, all of the time."

The question in my mind is if you're describing a cause, or an effect. Radio in general today is much less an element in the lives of traditional college-age people than in times past. As a result, fewer and fewer students have an interest in doing radio. Therefore, are smaller staffs and less dedication the result of the use of computerized playout systems, or are these some of the reasons more stations are adopting such technology?

This year marks the beginning of my fourth decade working with college radio (!). Watching the staffing trends at our station and at stations nationwide has really caused me to invest some heavy thinking time as to our collective futures.

 

[rcs]

I agree entirely that it isn't the technology that is at fault but the implementation of (and maintenance of) automation. I am aware of some stations that use automation very effectively. I wasn't trying to blame the technology just point out something that I have observed.

"Good" programming is always in the ear of the beholder but from my experience college radio can be so much better than an iPod on shuffle play. I'm totally against rigid playlists and freeform radio can be lots of fun but it takes a very talented programmer to pull off Frank Sinatra, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Devo in the same set yet this is the type of mixing of musical styles I'm hearing on stations where the automation is just set to random.

And I agree too that radio is much less important to your average college student and that this has a direct effect on the number of students who want to be on the air. With the stations I was referring to in my original post I know first hand that because of automation the stations put recruitment and staff training on the back burner and interested students were not given a chance to get on the air.

You brought up what is probably the biggest problem in college radio today . . . in general how to get more students interested in listening to radio and specifically how to engage them in the campus station (both as listeners and as participants). At the university station I am responsible for we address the first part of that question by producing unique programming (lots of live music, forums and interviews on subjects the students will be interested in, etc) and making sure that it is promoted properly on campus. We address the second part by emphasizing how employers look for "real world" work experience and how working at a college station and becoming part of the management team can add to one's resume. We tie in with the "non-profit organization management" courses on campus too.

 

[educ-engineer]

Automation at an educ station can be an advantage. It allows time for training students in console operation, psa recordiing and uploading of the music.
The trick is to have a structured automation formating not random. At the station
I engineer we have very structured automation. IE: Oldies, Jazz, Current, Country Dance etc etc.
The programing is scheduled in automation system to run at the same time daily and on weekend.
Student operation and live programs daily in the same time frame
I find that automation has been very helpful with the stations "on air" presentation.
It has also been very well received by our audience

 

[Big_Ben]

I know there are those out there that love the idea of "college radio" - something different on the air. But now you've got internet radio for that. I've always thought that a college station's purpose is to train the students for a job in the REAL WORLD. Well, the REAL WORLD has AUTOMATION. Like it or not, the "business" of radio profits more from that. I agree that ipod-fm stations suck. They're no fun and cut jobs. BUT, using automation properly will make the jock's jobs easier and allow them to concentrate on content. I know for the college station I'm involved with at a community college, there's not enough staff around, especially during the summer, to make it run without automation. And once we flipped from college rock to a friendlier Top 40 mix, our listenership went through the roof and now is getting the attention of the high schoolers in the area wanting to enroll. Plus, now our station is getting played in businesses around the city and that's generating interest in underwriting. So I'd say that properly used automation in combination with better music has helped grow our station, curriculum, and interest in radio in general.

Sure, play the crappy music that no other station will play. Be "edgy" and "underground" - but be smart and prepare your students for a real job. I guaruntee that is why the school put forth the money to have a station, not to hold on to some dream of being different and the anti-radio station.

 

[johnbasalla]

I think automation at a college station is both good and bad. It's good if there is an educational outcome to it in reference to getting ready for the real world. It's bad if it's used to be lazy. A tip-off that laziness has infected the staff is when quality control takes a nose-dive as indicated on previous posts. Another unprofessional problem occurs with some systems if, in loading music into the system, time is not taken to shave the beginnings and, more importantly, the ends so that you don't have a few seconds of dead air before the next song starts. Now, how worthless is it for college stations that seemingly pride themselves on being "anti-radio" and so-called "underground" to be automated with no well done voice tracking? If you're playing tons of new music, with lots of unkown songs by unknown artists and have little or no official rotation what's the point? One of the station's calling cards would be that you play all this new music, and you'll hear college radio people say they want to promote the new, exciting and unkown. But during automation a listener never hears the names of the songs or artists. That means the new music isn't really promoted even though it was technically on-the-air and the listenership base who wants to keep on top of the latest will only get frustrated because during the automated hours, nobody is there to tell them what they just heard. If there is a listing of songs played, printed on the website or available from yes.com, that will help somewhat.

 

[Dancerev889]

that is an easy problem to fix and its something we do at WBZC. When we are playing a new track we have a sweep saying Z 889 new music from prior to the song playing. I love the automation. One of the biggest issues with college radio is the turn over especially in the summer. Having the automation makes you sound more professional.

 

[Ozman]

at WWLR 91.5 the impulse we use simian and natural Music for our automation. Unfortunately, I don't have the password or I'd program ours to play Damn good music. I am getting sick of it crashing or getting to the end of the log and trying to find a director or IT at our school to reset the program. I dream of being the program director and being able to fire it up with what a real radio station should sound like!

-OZ

 

[djfrresh]

we have automation set up on our station 1450am kpsu since we dont air 24 hours a day on 1450am we set up 24/7 internet and campus only fm station 981 wwell we automate on there and cool

 

[stratace05]

Automation at my station is a love/hate relationship. I'm the PD of a completely student-run station at a Webcast/Cable injected station that plays top-40 music. As a program director, you would love to have 24/7, 7 days a week of constant on-air staff and a host of interesting programs. But lets be realistic, thats not likely to ever happen. This is a COLLEGE radio station. Our staff for the most part is made up of students who also must concentrate on their studies and are involved in various other clubs/organizations that eat up their time. I'm not saying we have a lazy staff, that certaintly isn't the case, its just that the size of our staff mixed with the availability of the jocks to do air shifts means that automation must be employed to have constant programming. It sure beats having to sign off you station at night or something. It's a nessicary evil in my eyes.

I know someone also mentioned that their listeners get frustrated during automation hours on not knowing the artist/tracks that play on the station. If you have a website, I advise you to do this: We have on our website a function that lists the current track playing on the station as well as the previous teack that played. If you have a dedicated tech/IT guy, this should be no problem to hook up. Now just tell your listens to look at your website for the latest tracks played and that should solve your problems in that aspect.

 

[instigator]

I USED TO PROGRAM WDBK WHEN IT WAS A DANCE STATION IN THE 90S.WE DID NOT HAVE AUTOMATION AND THE MUSIC WAS PROGRAMMED LOOSELY. THE STUDENTS WERE ALOWED TO PICK THE ORDER OF SONGS AND TO INTRODUCE NEW MUSIC(IF IT FIT THE FORMAT). I FEEL THAT AUTOMATION HAS RUINED SOME OF THE FUN OF COLLEGE RADIO. PICKING THE MUSIC ALLOWS YOU TO BOND WITH THE LISTENERS IN A WAY THAT JUST CRACKING THE MIC CANT.I ALSO FEEL THAT PART OF THE CHARM OF COLLEGE RADIO WERE THE TALKING OVER NO INTROS AND NOT BEING"ON A CLOCK" OR TIME LIMIT OF A 14 SECOND INTRO. I DO FEEL,HOWEVER, THAT IF DONE RIGHT LIKE Z889 ,WHERE I NOW HOLD A SHIFT, A COLLEGE STATION CAN ACTUALLY CHALLANGE OTHER STATIONS IN THE MARKET WITH THE PROFESSIONALISM OF AUTOMATION. I JUST THINK I MISS THE "DJ BEING THE DJ".

 

[butlerguy03]

On a different level, I have noticed participation falling off fast in high school radio. HS radio used to be huge in Indianapolis (we have 6 high schools that each have signals that cover most of the metro area). I am an advisor at one of those schools. In my 4 years here we installed automation and coupled with the "want-it-now" and "video-game" generation, have noticed our core group fall from 20 to 7 or 8 and our total involvement fall from 90-ish to 30-ish. I don't think automation had anything to do with it, because all it did was introduce them to an era they were already familiar with. Hardly any of my students have CD's...and most have never owned a cassette. Automation is very similiar to what they already have with Ipods and Itunes. Today me and my co-worker (we advise the station) were talking about cutting back on sports broadcasts because the money isn't coming in, community support is down for all high school activities, and doing 4 high school basketball games a week is not smart for us (even in Indiana!). We are now looking for adult and former student volunteers to fill gaps.

I guess my point is to never blame yourself or technology (if anything tech brings some kids in). These students, especially the fringe ones that won't ever be in professional radio, have many other activities and concerns.

Oh, I guess I should mention that we run NexGen. Real-world and practical. We also now have an agreement with My Old Kentucky Blog Radio and a show produced here for Sirius Satalite Radio. It can be done, fewer students means better control, which is not a bad thing in the current FCC-watchdog era.