Caller ID Software

[BlueTights]

We are a small ethnic radio program, that needs a caller id program that will tell us who is calling on our 6 lines. We do not have nor need a pre-screener. Any ideas on what is out there?

 

[Bill981]

How about 6 caller ID boxes lined up in front of the operator? There's a PILE of them on e-bay for under $10 each. Cheaper than a hard/software solution. Otherwise, be prepared to pay upwards of $500 for six lines.

 

[RolfTaylor]

Look at the Whozz at www.sandman.com

Also you might ask the folks at Telos ([email protected]) - when I was there I wrote an email that should be in their Phone system group that lists about 4-6 options out there.

Best of luck.

Rolf Taylor
Applications/Support Engineer APT North America
www.aptx.com

We are a small ethnic radio program, that needs a caller id program that will tell us who is calling on our 6 lines. We do not have nor need a pre-screener. Any ideas on what is out there?

 

[HD_Ready]

I've seen this software in action.



http://www.yes-tele.com/

works pretty good

 

[Sgeirk]

This won't work if your telco has you on analog "choke lines", will it?

 

[littlejohn]

The 'call forward' function at the choke switch would have to pass ANI through with the call. I don't know if that capability exists in the current switches... does anyone?

 

[RolfTaylor]

The answer is "it all depends". I know for certain there are stations that have caller ID on their lines. It is certainly available when using ISDN BRI (2B+D) and PRI (23 B+D).

But I also know that some stations have it on analog lines - I don't know for certain if those lines were on the choke exchange or not.

While there are choke exchanges that are still on crossbar, there are also choke exchanges that are virtual exchanges on a 5ESS.

If you want caller ID I would suggest going the ISDN route just because it will give you significantly improved hybrid perfromance.

However, if you want it on your analog lines I would call the business office and if they say know get the state utility commision involved. There is no reason in 2009 that any customer who wishes to have caller ID should not be able to get it. Any reason given is an excuse and that should be your line (over and over as necessary) to the utility's commission.

As usual fro broadcaster working wiht the phone company, don't accept the first answer and don't take no for an answer - that said, expect it to take an effort!

Best of luck

Rolf Taylor
Applications/Support Engineer
APT North America

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

You read the original post differently than I did. I didn't read where he said that the caller ID function was not available to him.

So I am assuming he does not find the idea of six little caller ID boxes from Home Depot further cluttering up his studio appealing.

I think he is wanting the output of the caller ID process to put all the info on ONE COMPUTER SCREEN, and post them to the screen in the order they arrived (or rang).

When I took on-air calls many years ago, there were callers who did not share their names (or FULL names) with us but in my head I created nick-names for them. I kept a hand-written log of the calls and each caller got some kind of identification in my log. Real name if we knew it, the nick-name I assigned them, or for a first time caller, some description like "the lady agitate about the mayor". ALL OF THAT to get to this: I suspect he would like the softward that puts these flotsams of CALLER ID info on a computer screen to be able to reach into a data base they would maintain that would take callers that are identified by phone number only on the caller id and also display any nick-name or other info that would help the host of the show to have some idea of what to expect when answering the call, and GIVE THE HOST THE WARNING to just plain skip past this troublesome caller on this particular topic.

That is the Caller ID software I would buy or write IF I were doing calls on the air today. If I had a rule you are to call only once per day or once per week on my show, the software would display the times of the last 3 or 5 most recent calls from this person.

 

[techie2]

There's a local swap-shop type show here that really needs something like that. They get prank calls all the time.

 

[bilco]

We have specifically NOT put caller ID on our contest lines, just so no-one can accuse us of fixing our contests. If you see the number of a prize pig and ignore it, if you don't anwer out of area code calls, if you do anything except "you are the 25th caller, Congratulations, who is this", you risk an FCC complaint and with no Caller ID, you have some defense that you could not have known who it was that was calling.
Bill C., Las Vegas

 

[BlueTights]

You read the original post differently than I did. I didn't read where he said that the caller ID function was not available to him.

So I am assuming he does not find the idea of six little caller ID boxes from Home Depot further cluttering up his studio appealing.

I think he is wanting the output of the caller ID process to put all the info on ONE COMPUTER SCREEN, and post them to the screen in the order they arrived (or rang).

When I took on-air calls many years ago, there were callers who did not share their names (or FULL names) with us but in my head I created nick-names for them. I kept a hand-written log of the calls and each caller got some kind of identification in my log. Real name if we knew it, the nick-name I assigned them, or for a first time caller, some description like "the lady agitate about the mayor". ALL OF THAT to get to this: I suspect he would like the softward that puts these flotsams of CALLER ID info on a computer screen to be able to reach into a data base they would maintain that would take callers that are identified by phone number only on the caller id and also display any nick-name or other info that would help the host of the show to have some idea of what to expect when answering the call, and GIVE THE HOST THE WARNING to just plain skip past this troublesome caller on this particular topic.

That is the Caller ID software I would buy or write IF I were doing calls on the air today. If I had a rule you are to call only once per day or once per week on my show, the software would display the times of the last 3 or 5 most recent calls from this person.

Yes, that is exactly what I am looking for. We do not have a budget for screeners at my station, and since we are an ethnic program. We get the same callers very often. Of course there are certain people that we would rather not have go on the air. This is my reasoning for this type of software.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I have no idea what software the stations that have more abundant resources are using, but if they buy it on the market, I don't expect it to be very economical. I also have no idea how many stations have tackled the idea of "rolling their own" in-house.

You might try putting an announcement on the air that your station has a small software project "that some geek might like to tackle just for the bragging rights".

I suspect the earlier post that pointed out that having caller-ID present in the studio or on the line where contests take place might not be a good idea. A troublesome lawyer could really mess up life for a station with a flamboyant legal action claiming "fixed" contests. If you are able to obtain the system you are wanting for a talk show, make sure it has a fence around it that prevents mis-use during other types of programming.