online streams do some like this when the commercials aren't quite done yet only online its a much more cut right back to the main station audio.
taylorjsdad said:
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Clear Channel automation screw-up
- Thread starter MarcB
- Start date
frnkp2000 said:
Ummm.....back before consolidation and deregulation, oftentimes that live body was an engineer at the site babysitting the transmitter and playing tapes. His idea of 'backtiming' was remembering to get back in time to pot down whatever was playing when he heard the news cues come over the monitor.
That was also during the time when, even on stations like WBZ, you'd occasionally be hearing two news reports or liners or promos at the same time because somebody forget that cart machines didn't have erase heads.
Technical screwups are not a recent invention. They are also to be expected in any operation where a human being is in the loop. I also don't think that the average listener even notices some glitches that radio geeks consider the equivalent of fingernails dragged over a blackboard.
Regards,
TSB
This reminds me of something a local Tallahassee station owner did back in the early 70s: He monitored his station constantly. If the jock started Paul Harvey late, talked too much/too little, was sloppy, etc etc he would "fine" the offending jock and deduct it from their paycheck.
He took it too far though and someone went to Wage and Hour. That more or less ended the practice
because he was required to pay the "fine" money back to several employees. Some just quit when their fines exceeded the paycheck.
I joined this station a few years later under a different owner. I learned how to backtime at this station.
CC does have some automation issues. My wife had been running errands and had the CC talker on. She said she kept losing the signal. I checked, and every local break was running dead air..apparently this went on all afternoon. My early bosses would have had a fit over something like that. None used automation of any kind.
He took it too far though and someone went to Wage and Hour. That more or less ended the practice
because he was required to pay the "fine" money back to several employees. Some just quit when their fines exceeded the paycheck.
I joined this station a few years later under a different owner. I learned how to backtime at this station.
CC does have some automation issues. My wife had been running errands and had the CC talker on. She said she kept losing the signal. I checked, and every local break was running dead air..apparently this went on all afternoon. My early bosses would have had a fit over something like that. None used automation of any kind.
I remember a week after Valentine's Day, WODS-HD3 "The Cove" played only IDs and no music for a day, then it reverted to Christmas music for 2 days. Nobody noticed the automation system had crashed for 3 days! I think they only flipped it back to The Cove after I had posted it on the 103.3 Amp Radio Facebook page, started a thread here, and tweeted about it, because The Cove was back on WODS-HD3 less than 6 hours after I posted about it. If I hadn't noticed it, perhaps the Christmas music would still be going on today.
System WMWM uses: if the wrong date is entered in, it plays every PSA/promo etc and then there's dead air.
N
necrat
Guest
MarcB said:
TSBench said:
Ummm...glad I never worked THERE!
Ummm...readings were taken by the board operator on duty who held a Third Phone.
Ummm...Transmitters could be controlled (and still are) from the main studio via a remote control device connected by a dry pair from Telco.
Good LORD, what is CSB teaching you'se guys?
TheBigA said:
Radiotelephone Operator Permit. FCC Form 753. Stations were required to keep copies for each operator who signed the transmitter log in their license binders. Older "equivalent" was called a "Third Phone" and the name stuck with some people. (753 required no test, only affirmation of US citizenship and a fee, I think it was $25, valid for life). Deemed unnecessary around 1991, if memory serves correct, though I still carry my battered laminated card in my wallet; useless as it is. (Issued 1980)
Ummm...glad I never worked THERE!
Me, too. I was always picky about who I worked with.
But I'm glad I did. It gave me a start in a business that provided me with the wherewithal to do anything I want today in my dotage
Ummm...readings were taken by the board operator on duty who held a Third Phone.
Our transmitter engineers had 1st phones. I could be wrong, but I think they were allowed to take meter readings.
Ummm...Transmitters could be controlled (and still are) from the main studio via a remote control device connected by a dry pair from Telco.
Yep, they could. You could also install a Revox or two at the transmitter site and have the engineer on duty turn them on and change reels when needed. Our staff engineers were pretty clever like that. Since the engineer HAD to be there, I don't think Bill McCormack was going to keep a third phone in the studio drinking coffee and doing crosswords as some kind of radio WPA project. He was a frugal guy.
Good LORD, what is CSB teaching you'se guys?
Beats the bejesus out of me, since I'm a history major out of Boston State. Nice try, though, but you should remember that this business existed before you got into it, assuming you are into it.
Good rule of thumb....think twice, post once. The pool is too deep for non-swimmers.
Regards,
TSB
Me, too. I was always picky about who I worked with.
But I'm glad I did. It gave me a start in a business that provided me with the wherewithal to do anything I want today in my dotage
Ummm...readings were taken by the board operator on duty who held a Third Phone.
Our transmitter engineers had 1st phones. I could be wrong, but I think they were allowed to take meter readings.
Ummm...Transmitters could be controlled (and still are) from the main studio via a remote control device connected by a dry pair from Telco.
Yep, they could. You could also install a Revox or two at the transmitter site and have the engineer on duty turn them on and change reels when needed. Our staff engineers were pretty clever like that. Since the engineer HAD to be there, I don't think Bill McCormack was going to keep a third phone in the studio drinking coffee and doing crosswords as some kind of radio WPA project. He was a frugal guy.
Good LORD, what is CSB teaching you'se guys?
Beats the bejesus out of me, since I'm a history major out of Boston State. Nice try, though, but you should remember that this business existed before you got into it, assuming you are into it.
Good rule of thumb....think twice, post once. The pool is too deep for non-swimmers.
Regards,
TSB
but you should remember that this business existed before you got into it, assuming you are into it.
1980-2012. And engineers were not required to be present at transmitters. That practice went out in the 70's at all but the largest of stations. Permit holders could take readings, make adjustments, run EBS tests/alerts, and turn the transmitter on/off.
Good rule of thumb....think twice, post once. The pool is too deep for non-swimmers.
Excuse me??
1980-2012. And engineers were not required to be present at transmitters. That practice went out in the 70's at all but the largest of stations. Permit holders could take readings, make adjustments, run EBS tests/alerts, and turn the transmitter on/off.
Good rule of thumb....think twice, post once. The pool is too deep for non-swimmers.
Excuse me??
tvradiogeek said:
Oh, streaming can be a nightmare! Some agency spots and PSAs are labeled "Not for internet," etc. due to AFTRA and Sound Exchange complications. Makes it that much more fun! I'm sure a lot of stations who stream are brainstorming how to do it better. At least let's hope they are.
12/1/95 was the date. It is now a form 605 and applies only to certain aircraft and marine radio operators. Correction it was a Restricted Radiotelephone permit. (mine is badly worn.)
"You no longer need a
Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
to operate a Broadcast station (e.g.,
AM, FM, TV). This requirement was
eliminated on 12/1/95 (Report and Order,
MM Docket No. 94-130 released 10/23/95)."
http://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form1070/1070y.pdf
"You no longer need a
Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
to operate a Broadcast station (e.g.,
AM, FM, TV). This requirement was
eliminated on 12/1/95 (Report and Order,
MM Docket No. 94-130 released 10/23/95)."
http://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form1070/1070y.pdf
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