To an extent, an amount of compression helped in-car listening where the noise level is high. But most of the help in listenability came from AGC, which was the function of the Audimax. That part of the CBS pair made lower level parts of content louder while doing some high peak leveling. The Volumax finished the job, making the high modulation level legal and as loud as possible.
I have seen it explained that "Car Talk" on NPR had someone call the callers, who had left messages, and then they would be put on with Click and Clack who answered as if they had never heard the caller and had to have the problem explained to them, and the calls would be put together into a show. Still, they didn't prepare in advance because that would be "work". Is this what you're saying happens?
That's correct. Listeners with questions would leave them in a voicemail. Producer would call them back, hear how their present the question, then set up a time Thursday afternoon to call them back. They would have the questions stacked and ready to send calls to air/recording.
Correct too. Some editing for time and language is done after the show records.
There needs to be a certain amount of spontaneity, especially with guys like the Magliozzi brothers because they were mechanics, not actors.
Specific theme shows can do that, because each call is a separate subject. In Kelly's example, the lousy carburetor in the 87 Mustang followed by the best brand of replacement shocks.
A local station, WVVV (V96.9) in Parkersburg, West Virginia takes calls weekdays 12 noon to 1 pm.
It was discussed in another Radio Discussions thread that in recent years, Delilah basically spends hours per day taking calls, which are recorded and then then later selected, edited, etc. and they're used in the following day's show in many cases. That wasn't the way it was done in the earlier years of her program, but now there are a few versions of her program (especially during the holidays when some stations run a holiday version, while others stick with her standard AC format), some stations use her content and callers, but program their own music from their local libraries, etc.
Those calls weren't live either. Chances are they were from several days prior.
Since voicetracking is pretty much the norm, it's hard to take live calls when you're cranking out two or three VT'ed shows per day.
That was the problem with diary ratings; in spite of Karen having her dedication played on the Neal and Bob Morning Zoo, chances are she was never sent a diary. In fact, most people never tracked what station they listened-to on a daily, let alone hourly basis, and would just wing-it by filling the diary out the day before it was due.
That's not true. The Magnavox system was the superior AM stereo system decided when actual engineers still occupied the Commission. By the time Leonard Kahn started suing everyone, was when Magnavox bowed out of the competition, deciding not to sell their system to stations. Magnavox also felt the interest in the AM stereo market was too limited from a future business perspective. The only person who felt the Commission made the wrong call was Leonard, who felt his ISB system should have been the selected system.
Belar dropped out before the final decision was made. Magnavox dropped out when Leonard Kahn started suing everyone.It was Belar who dropped out of the AM Stereo race when the FCC announced the marketplace decision. The Belar system was different from the others in that it used FM to transmit the L-R stereo difference component, rather than phase or quadrature modulation.
You could write a whole book about how the FCC screwed up the AM Stereo decision -- and someone actually did:
AM Stereo and the FCC
Based on firsthand interviews with directly involved sources, as well as on original research, this volume is a commentary on the personalities and the politics of a federal regulatory agency during a period of philosophical upheaval. This book carefully and authoritatively analyzes issues...books.google.com
