Broadcasting Schools

[Eli Polonsky]

I recently had to show an Emerson grad how to thread a reel-to-reel deck. I'm not kidding.

Really though, how often do you use a reel to reel these days? I might have used it 3 times (if that) in the last 2-3 years (probably longer than that).

WBUR uses reel-to-reel tape every day. They use every media from analog tape to CD-R's to digital AudioVault. Tape is no longer used much on the air, though until recently they were still using it for one delayed BBC hour broadcast every day. They also still occasionally use tape snippets for news actualities, but those are usually done into the AudioVault with CoolEdit or ProTools nowadays.

Otherwise, they still use tape mainly for recording certain daily network feeds that they don't air, but that they check regularly for content. For feeds that are re-recorded over again every day, tape is more economical and reliable than CD-RW's, which actually fail and wear out much sooner with daily use.

They also use tape for backups for the backups for the backups. If I'm running the BBC overnight and there's, heaven forbid, a complete breakdown of everything digital (in other words, if the satellite feed and/or demodulators fail, and the broadband T1 phone backup feed also fails, and the digital AudioVault with previous hours of BBC on it also fails, and the backup CD-R's don't work), then at least I should have an hour or two of BBC from earlier in the evening on reels. A number of hours of BBC are still recorded on reels every day.

Also, WMBR at MIT has a reel-to-reel archive of some live concerts and interviews that were recorded at the station dating back to the mid-60's. Once in a while, I'll dig something out, dub it to disc, and play it on my edition of their "Lost & Found" show.

 

[Ozman]

college radio... its always the back door in somtimes...
as for reel to reel tapes, never used one always wanted to
for liners psa's underwriting etc the two college stations I have/am on do not use computers except for automation. WWLR uses MD (mini disk players) and my time at WXCI uses cd's for liners psa's ETC

Broadcast schools have always been a waste of time. Every single person I ever hired from those places had to be retrained! Want to get into radio, get a part time job and work your way up.

 

[Neanderpaul]

Neanderpaul, where did you graduate with a 4.0 ? Northeast Broadcasting School or Connecticut Broadcasting?
I'm just curious.

My college days were...ahem...probably before you were born....the early 70s...

NBS...Which I hear they now call the Mass. College Of Communications.

I still have my transcripts around here somewhere...oooh and the pretty Dean's List enamel pin!!!! Yaaay!

 

[Neanderpaul]

Well as a former director of the famed "CONnecticut School of Broadcasting, I saw there demise awhile ago. Although it seemed CSB was more interested in tuition than education.

When I walked into the Wellesley building, met Bud Stone, who couldn't speak, dunno if he had a throat problem or if he was just sick, and they proceeded to correct my posture...not a slouch but turned my chair to face the copy board so that I was "heads up with the board, I knew that wasn't the place for me.

 

[Varulven]

Neanderpaul, NBS turned into Masscom and changed its name at least once, possibly twice since then.

It's part of a national chain now, NEIA, but the "branding" is kind of ...interesting. Sounds like an art school.

http://www.artinstitutes.edu/boston/ The New England Institutue of Art

Does Rod Fritz teach there? Jerry "Duke Of Madness" Goodwin does.

That's where we had our IBS Regional Conference on November 4th.

here's their radio station http://www.aine.aiiradio.com/

 

[martin1945]

<<I had a friend of mine say that he used to do weekends at WHDH-AM when it was a music station>> Care to divulge his name? I was a frequent listener of 'HDH when they played music.

 

[webcastboy]

I taught at CSB for a while. and I will tell you this about reel-to-reel editing - the purpose of teaching it is to teach the concept of editing. too many digital people edit with their eyes, and not their ears. I hear it on the radio all the time - the natural rythym of what they are editing sounds chopped because they're looking for the exact same mark to edit instead of listening for the exact same sound. the exact same mark is often a different sound completely.

Yeah, I'll definitely buy that. Technically I started in commercial radio but I've mostly been a pubradio slut for my career, and when I first started the station I worked at still had lots of reels and used them extensively. At the time the computer system took too damn long to load/edit/unload audio....reels were just faster. I don't exactly remember those days fondly...more than once I had to make three cuts in a reel that had to air in less than 180 seconds. That's some sweaty-brow editing, all right! Pray...PRAY that the splice tape doesn't unstick!!! ;D

BUT, it's true; it taught me how to edit by ear and that's important. So admittedly, it was indeed good training...regardless of what you see with your eyes - always go with what your ears are telling you. I see a lot of people on Protools trying to edit with their eyes and it really shows; they think all these breaths and pauses that people naturally make while speaking are a bad thing, and try to cut them out. The result frequently sounds like lukewarm ass.

I suppose learning on reels & carts has also made me appreciate just how good Protools and AudioVault have made my life, too.

 

[SheaTheDJ]

Neanderpaul, NBS turned into Masscom and changed its name at least once, possibly twice since then.

It's part of a national chain now, NEIA, but the "branding" is kind of ...interesting. Sounds like an art school.

http://www.artinstitutes.edu/boston/ The New England Institutue of Art

Does Rod Fritz teach there? Jerry "Duke Of Madness" Goodwin does.

That's where we had our IBS Regional Conference on November 4th.

here's their radio station http://www.aine.aiiradio.com/

I went to NEIA and had the duke as an instructor. I don't regret a minute of it and I landed a full time position within 2 weeks of graduation. Len Mailloux & Larry Miller are also there and are great.

 

[epsilon]

I recently had to show an Emerson grad how to thread a reel-to-reel deck. I'm not kidding.

Also, WMBR at MIT has a reel-to-reel archive of some live concerts and interviews that were recorded at the station dating back to the mid-60's. Once in a while, I'll dig something out, dub it to disc, and play it on my edition of their "Lost & Found" show.

If it's still around, Greg Reibman's 1980 Late Riser's Club interview with Johnny Rotten was one of the best I've ever heard.

 

[AKLes]

In musing about the various broadcasting schools.....


Never do I recall hearing from any "graduate" or reading in any brochure that there was even a hint of a thought given to teaching grammar or pronounciation. Especially when the schools knew a grad was headed for a place where he/she might encounter "Quonochuntaug", "Wequetequock", "Quequechan" or even the especially "Worcester".

 

[faderraider]

Like anything, if you want it bad enough, you don't need "school"

 

[Neanderpaul]

Neanderpaul, NBS turned into Masscom and changed its name at least once, possibly twice since then.
Does Rod Fritz teach there? Jerry "Duke Of Madness" Goodwin does.

Rod did when I went there..so did Jerry, and Larry Miller. I actually enjoyed my time there. It was positive overall, but not at all representative of what I was doing at WZLX prior to and after classes every day.

 

[Neanderpaul]

In musing about the various broadcasting schools.....

Never do I recall hearing from any "graduate" or reading in any brochure that there was even a hint of a thought given to teaching grammar or pronounciation. Especially when the schools knew a grad was headed for a place where he/she might encounter "Quonochuntaug", "Wequetequock", "Quequechan" or even the especially "Worcester".

Actually, NBS did have a language class, Hilary Stevens was the teacher. She was a complete stickler for proper prononciation. And deliberatly avoided any regional mannerisms because we were told that regionalisms limited employment opportunities (see: Eddie Andleman).

I remember having to help teach Opie & Anthony how to pronounce Masconomet and Quincy...and the classic aircheck exists somewhere of Opie referring to "Nah tick"

 

[webcastboy]

On my first ever airshift (out of college) with a newscast I completely mangled the pronunciation of a certain town...the phone lines absolutely lit up with annoyed residents. The producer for that evening called in, too, and was pissed...but he gave me valuable advice: whenever you're not sure about a pronunciation, call up the local police department and ask them. There's usually someone there on-call 24/7 and they've likely heard every odd name for every street, river and building in their town.

That said, I remember a few years ago, working at WRNI when the controversy in Rhode Island over the Woonasquatucket River Watershed broke...and EVERY SINGLE announcer [EDIT] up that name on-air at least once. That was a tough one. ;D

[EDIT--profanity]

 

[Neanderpaul]

Actually, NBS did have a language class, Hilary Stevens was the teacher. She was a complete stickler for proper prononciation.

Lest I be scolded by the grammar police...a thousand pardons for the typo.

 

[wkrpfm]

Reel to Reel? I think every station I've been at, there has been one with no tape on it, shoved up on a filing cabinet with a few laywers of dust...
VoxPro is my new boyfriend.

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

...where classes that start in September will put you on the air by January... Yea, right! The quickie "schools" deserve to die a horrible, agonizing death. No substitute for getting out there in the real world and "paying your dues". Just be emotionally and financially ready to pay for years...

Having come up through the ranks with carts, reel-to-reels, vinyl, etc. :
the technology is only a small part of the total equation. You can still practice, work on your timing, etc. with older technology. The basics are always the same. I'll take analog transmission of RF signals over digital any day!

 

[FPB]

>After a few I identified a couple of schools which, when their names appeared in a resume, condemned the letter and the "applicant" to the trash heap.<

Ya, I know that hiring in any business is primarily negative - a process of rejection and weeding out. But I wonder if the problem is not so much the schools as the stations and the PD's. It's just plain unfair to rule an applicant out because of past history with the school the individual attended. Somebody who truly wants to get into radio (even willing to go into debt for it!) gets tossed out just because of the school s/he went to.

Not only is it unfair, it shows a real lack of application on the part of the reviewer. So, who DESERVES to have a job??? Of course, stations are in a prime position to weed out with as little time and care as they please. There are fewer jobs all the time and the PD could expect hundreds of applications for one job.

A couple years ago I heard about a station in Willimantic, CT that had an opening, and they stipulated two years' full time experience. Well, where the hell do you GET 2 years'-worth of experience if not someplace like Willimantic, CT? And if you DO have that on your resume, why would you WANT to work in Willimantic, CT?

But, that's what stations can demand these days.

 

[AKLes]

>After a few I identified a couple of schools which, when their names appeared in a resume, condemned the letter and the "applicant" to the trash heap.<

Ya, I know that hiring in any business is primarily negative - a process of rejection and weeding out. But I wonder if the problem is not so much the schools as the stations and the PD's. It's just plain unfair to rule an applicant out because of past history with the school the individual attended. Somebody who truly wants to get into radio (even willing to go into debt for it!) gets tossed out just because of the school s/he went to.

When ya got so much wheat it's madness to examine every grain Best results come from those without obvious negatives. Does anyone let every religious zealot who rings the doorbell into the house to waste your day?

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Does anyone let every religious zealot who rings the doorbell into the house to waste your day?

I take the batteries out of my wireless doorbell unless I'm expecting someone. I work overnights, and I have to sleep in the daytime. I can't let spam doorbell rings (salespeople, evangelists, UPS deliveries for other apartments, etc...) cause me to lose precious sleep.