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K104.7: Fix Your Cue Tones in AudioVault!

L

LenoxAve

I've had this beef with this station for years. Aside from them speeding up music, which sounds ridiculous on an AC, they set the cue tones on the imaging to let the intros of the next songs roll under the tail end of some imaging. That's all well and good, and it does flow better when the songs actually HAVE an intro. Just heard an imaging piece step all over the zero intro to fun's "Some Nights."

It's ridiculous. If there's a live jock, have them (gasp) hit it manually. People are too reliant on using the ampersands and automation mode even when they're live. And if the station is voice tracked, then put the cue tones at the very end of the imaging. It's just sloppiness and laziness. It could easily be fixed when the logs are being edited as well. But no one - neither the (live) jocks nor management - seem to care. It's frustrating, when the station has the potential to be good.
 
The imaging is supposed to run over the intros of the song without stepping all over the vocal of course. Occasionally there is a song with no intro or one that's too short for the Image piece. Going through the log whoever is doing the shift, (either live or voice tracked) is supposed to catch these things, sometimes they get missed. It's especially maddening at Christmas since the Christmas songs tend to have shorter intros. The options are find a shorter liner or use a jingle in place of the liner.

I don't blame the on air people for this it's the listeners fault. Yes the listeners who keep saying they want less talk on the radio. You got your wish, managers have found that music stations can reduce their live on air content to almost nothing and still get ratings. If the air people are not fully involved with what they are doing things like this are going to happen as they plow through another shift just to get it done.

My question is: Where did the fun go, where is the information that used to along with the entertainment?
 
Have you called the station and talked to the Engineer or PD? if so what did they say?
 
@Mike Sheridan:

Is there an APD or MD who edits the logs who can catch these things? They are fairly easy to catch in Linker if you know your imaging pieces. I'm not saying the people on the air (live or V/T) shouldn't review the log to double check, but wouldn't it be easier if someone responsible for editing logs actually looked at these things? That way, the air talent can "double check," but wouldn't be solely responsible. Or, just put the cue tones at the end of the imaging and call it a day.

I don't really think K 104.7 is one of CBS's better ACs. It used to be back when it signed on. It had a very unique sound and was a great alternative when Magic 96.1 flipped to the Beat. Good presentation, music flow and just enough jock interaction to make it sound lively. Now, there is barely any interaction, and it sounds like a jukebox. With subpar imaging and music flow. In a market like Charlotte with no classic hits station, I would think that a speciality weekend (other than the 80s weekend they are currently doing) or a few 70s tracks wouldn't exactly hurt them or take away from their "at work" image. If cherry-picked properly, it wouldn't make the station sound old or boring. It seems, however, that CBS is extremely progressive with the format and is trying to limit a lot of pre-90s material.

I would be curious to see how their money demo numbers are.

@snailboy:

I have written to them before with no response. It is what it is. But I would hope that someone who works there may read the boards and pass the message along. Although I feel that it may fall on deaf ears.
 
tylerSC said:
I think 107.9 has a much better music mix than they used to. And I have also gotten to like 102.9.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Heard Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" into Taio Cruz' "Dynamite" yesterday on K-104.7. Ouch. Sound codes, people. They can be your friend. Who's scheduling music over there?
 
Can't they just change the setting in their automation to detect "zero intros"? With the automation I use, I set it to recognize zero intros, and, when my imaging has a very tight and early tone, it will "sense" the next song has a :00 intro and it will automatically cancel out the tone for that segue only and will start the song AFTER the audio of the imaging has ended, not where the tone is placed.
 
Technically (I have not listened to the stream, nor do I know what automation system is in use), it sounds like the trip tones, or markers on electronic files, are being set at a standard time before the end of the imaging tracks. This will always provide an overlap. And this is the simplest way to program events. Some systems can "do the math" when imaging tracks have the end marked at the end songs have an intro time and pre-roll the song at the appropriate time to hit the post.
 
PirateJohnny; That sounds like what is going on. I worked at a station one time where they let the "auto tone" always set itself, never manually telling the file where to place the tone marker. I think the generic auto setting was 1 second before the end of each file, no matter whether it was a fade, sustained echo, or whatever. It as pure "Lazy" crap.
 
thatwasradio said:
PirateJohnny; That sounds like what is going on. I worked at a station one time where they let the "auto tone" always set itself, never manually telling the file where to place the tone marker. I think the generic auto setting was 1 second before the end of each file, no matter whether it was a fade, sustained echo, or whatever. It as pure "Lazy" crap.
Click to expand...

Having fixed my share of poorly placed sec tones or auto trimmed files, I assure you it's neither. The sec tones in AV were placed at the beginning of a dry portion of the imaging where a song should fire. It was well over the split second the automatic tones are placed.

It's just people letting automation rule the station. No surprise there.

And if the consultant is also responsible for speeding up the music and the odd imaging... Ouch.
 
Occasionally there is a song with no intro or one that's too short for the Image piece. Going through the log whoever is doing the shift, (either live or voice tracked) is supposed to catch these things, sometimes they get missed. It's especially maddening at Christmas since the Christmas songs tend to have shorter intros...

Reminds me of when an AC station on the East Coast (which shall remain nameless) played "AT40: The 80's" last week. Right after the number 1 song that week, "Eye Of The Tiger," the station rejoined music, starting with... you guessed it, "Eye Of The Tiger."
 
... In a market like Charlotte with no classic hits station, I would think that a speciality weekend (other than the 80s weekend they are currently doing) or a few 70s tracks wouldn't exactly hurt them or take away from their "at work" image. If cherry-picked properly, it wouldn't make the station sound old or boring...

WHMS "Lite Rock 97.5" in Champaign/Urbana, IL does an 80's weekend every weekend. This is a station that, mind you, also includes ultra-soft ballads in their playlist (Climax Blues Band, anyone?). If it can happen in CU, why not CLT?
 
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