• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Carts as a piece of history

J

johnbasalla

Here's something that just happened to me today.

I was going through the carts the station has looking for anything that might be interesting to dub to CD in relation to the station's history, and to throw out. A young man (20'ish) saw me doing this and asked with a surprised voice -- "8 tracks?" -- I responded "no" and proceeded to tell him about carts. He was very interested and curious. We have some cart decks (not in service), but I I was still able to show him how the cart went in, and explained how a record deck would deposit a stop tone, so when playing, the cart would stop itself, and use for secondary and tertiary tones which had little lights to display them on the machine. This station never used them in an automation system. I gave him two carts in which he thanked me way more then I deserved seeing as they were headed for the garbage can anyway. What was funny is I gave him a cart whose label read "Marrakesh Express" by Crosby, Stills and Nash. He said, "Ooh, I like that one". That was funny since he couldn't play it anyway.
Keeping some old gear around can have its rewards well into the future.
 
Yes, keeping a serviceable Spotmaster, ITC or Audicord cart deck around can truly save your bacon if the computer automation system goes down!

Whenever I spec a station for equipment on a new or remodelling job, if rack space and audio console configuration allows, I say wire a 3-bank cart deck in the on-air board, keep a record/play deck in production, and hold on to a couple dozen carts, with IDs, liners and bumpers already recorded onto one. Believe me, there are more automation glitches than their manufacturers let on, and this analog backup approach can save you, or at least gain you valuable time until the digital system comes back up.
 
I'm a former pro, who plays on the internet as a hobby. I'm fortunate to be at the last station I worked with during renos, so a lot of analog gear was tossed and through some contacts managed to pick up 4 ITC 3D triple deckers....1 record stereo, 1 mono repro and a ITC WP record. fond memories of my overnight jock days plugging carts with music and spots....not to mentiom carting music libraries back in the 80s. I love the technology.

My oldest decks are gates criterions, mid late 1960s...play the large 30 min carts....and are used frequently for a background loop on my podcast/internet shows...

too often the pads seem to go with age....but rubber weatherstripping can be a wonderful thing....:)

I came to the realization awhile back that few students or pros getting into the industry have even touched a cart....much like kids and the dial telephone.
 
I used to have to rebuild carts with an old cart threading machine. I'd put on new tape & pads (sometimes using Elmer's Glue, sometimes having to bend the little metal "anti slip" rod so it didn't rattle. Sometimes I'd make my own custom length carts. The :10 ones for one sound effect were my favorite.
 
Carts. I loved carts. Staple of the Top 40 era. Became intrigued with them when, as a 14 year-old, I was lucky to visit the studio of legendary MusicRadio 77 WABC, NY in 1967. Not a record or open-reel tape to found anywhere. Everything was on cart. In four 6-foot revolving racks, or in one of the six Gates Criterion decks flanking either side of the engineer. At the DJ's command, carts were loaded, faders turned up, and the engineer's hands hovered over the controls to punch a button when the DJ's finger pointed at him. Top 40 wouldn't have sounded as hot as it did without carts.

In 1974 I bought myself a reconditioned 1967 Tapecaster RP 700 and started buying carts for my home studio. I still have the Tapecaster; it still plays, although the record electronics need work, and I saved some carts for posterity: a couple of prized 'A'-size, plus a 'B'-size and a 'C'-size.

What an amazing innovation carts were.
 
The old cart carousels were so fun to watch (for me anyway, when they worked!)
I had a very old unusual cart deck-but it had the same play head, no record head, no cue head & it's slot was huge. It only had a "headphone out" plug & a speaker built in. It had a carrying case handle, which makes me think the station used to use it to just use as background music when set up at an appearance beyond listening range. It played normal carts, I just had to take them to a regular deck & re-cue them.
 
The King Bee said:
Yes, keeping a serviceable Spotmaster, ITC or Audicord cart deck around can truly save your bacon if the computer automation system goes down!

Whenever I spec a station for equipment on a new or remodelling job, if rack space and audio console configuration allows, I say wire a 3-bank cart deck in the on-air board, keep a record/play deck in production, and hold on to a couple dozen carts, with IDs, liners and bumpers already recorded onto one. Believe me, there are more automation glitches than their manufacturers let on, and this analog backup approach can save you, or at least gain you valuable time until the digital system comes back up.
Click to expand...

One night at a station I was working for they had to take the AudioValt down for an hour or two for an OS upgrade. The spot breaks were recoded on CD and the 360 Systems short cut had some jingles and ID's on it. That's how I ran things without the AudioVault and without carts.

There were carts in the studio but all the cart machines were gone, not an single one in the place. The air studio didn't even have a reel to reel machine, how quickly things change!
 
The Chief Engineer at the station I worked for between 1999 and 2004 did something quite unbecoming an engineer when he took their last cart machines (Deltas) out of service. He actually took the machines out behind the station and destroyed them. Very odd behavior toward a medium that played a significant role in the station's operation for 30-some-odd years.

Wonder what he does with his old cars.
 
Lots of people had a love/hate relationship with cart machines, that might explain it. He could have also been told to destroy them.

We had 6 Deltas in the studio 3 with another 3 stacked on top. They sure got warm!
 
And where I engineer, we still keep current songs and liners and spots on carts. And our sports operators still prefer them. We're in Southeastern TN Lightning country. And the PC needs backup material. We still have functioning turntables and open reel too and use them when we run live or Simian or WaveCart have a bad hair day.
 
A station I worked at in the 80s bought 6 brand new Deltas for the air studio. At the time, we were running a TM library on Supercarts. They would literally MELT in the Deltas while playing. (Stacked 2 rows of 3) The engineer solved this by encasing them in a wooden structure with a big honkin' exhaust fan attached to the back. The fan not only kept the machines cool, but kept that meatball sub warm too!
 
Kent T said:
And where I engineer, we still keep current songs and liners and spots on carts. And our sports operators still prefer them. We're in Southeastern TN Lightning country. And the PC needs backup material. We still have functioning turntables and open reel too and use them when we run live or Simian or WaveCart have a bad hair day.
Click to expand...

Smart. VERY Smart. The last station I programmed put in an Arrakis Digilink in 1995 and an Enco in 2000. The engineer wanted to THROW AWAY the tape equipment. I insisted that it stay--just dust it off once a week. And everyone producing spots must take the extra 30-60 seconds to make a cart. Why? Computers crash, especially when you need them most. Much of the staff thought I was nuts---until---one day....well, you KNOW what happened.

I didn't actually SAY "Told ya so!" but everyone knew I was thinking it!! Grinnin' like a Cheshire cat I was---watching those carts being punched up, and the sales staff loved me. (If only for that day.) :) 'Twas business as usual at Radio Ranch, and no one outside the building was any the wiser.
 
Kent T said:
And where I engineer, we still keep current songs and liners and spots on carts.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it ultimately be cheaper to burn the songs and imaging and such onto recordable CD's? Much more compact, lots cheaper, and there are a variety of decent CD players out there that meet broadcast requirements.

Putting spots on CD also allows you to easily archive the material if there is a billing / wrong copy issue in the future.
 
trackertalent said:
Very odd behavior toward a medium that played a significant role in the station's operation for 30-some-odd years.
Click to expand...

30 years maintaining cart machines and doing the same things over and over and over is enough to make you want to throw them off a cliff.
 
johnbasalla said:
That was funny since he couldn't play it anyway.
Keeping some old gear around can have its rewards well into the future.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the industry ever tried to ramp up a consumer cart?

Joe
 
DavidEduardo,

Define good in CD players. Also must be able to cue quickly and cope with heavy use. Must not be a DVD or other do it all player. Must be gentle on discs (too many slot players are less than gentle). Must read CD-R dependably. We use carts due to no room in that tiny studio for a second PC. This facility is older. And we may be doing CD for this job soon when we get our new automation PC finished. Our old one is an ancient Phantom Lite with a bad relay card (this facility tends to be on a budget). Our new one will run BSI WaveCart and Simian and we'll have AudioScience cards in it. Our CD players are about to be replaced, likely with new Marantz players.
 
Kent T said:
And where I engineer, we still keep current songs and liners and spots on carts. And our sports operators still prefer them. We're in Southeastern TN Lightning country. And the PC needs backup material. We still have functioning turntables and open reel too and use them when we run live or Simian or WaveCart have a bad hair day.
Click to expand...

While running the board for a high school basketball game last week, I thought this would be easier to run the spots with carts. Otherwise, I don't miss them at all. The only tape machine we now have in the building is a cassette deck in the prod room for a couple of monthly church services that come in on cassette.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom