Top reasons why automation is better than part-timers

[RockofHBG]

I've been a PD for almost 25 years. In the past, it seems a disproportionate amount of my time was spent scheduling and managing weekend on-air part-timers. I, like many people, initially resisted voice-tracking of any type. Now after 18 months of almost total weekend voice-tracking, here is why I now think it is far superior. First off, my apologies to those part-timers who are dependable, professional, who "get it", and truly add something when they are on the air. Now, "the top reasons why automation is better than part-timers":

1. The automation doesn't call in Thursday afternoon at 5 asking to be off that week's Saturday midnight airshift.
2. The automation doesn't smoke in the studio after being told not to three times.
3. The automation never asks for a raise.
4. The automation always follows the format.
5. The automation never has friends in the studio.
6. The automation doesn't skip songs it doesn't like.
7. The automation doesn't hang on the phone for three hours with underage girls.
8. The automation doesn't leave a pizza box with a slice left in it in the studio after clearly being told "no eating".
9. The automation does not rummage through offices and prize closets.
10 The automation does not show up hung over or still drunk.
11. The automation always shows up for its shift.
12. The automation doesn't gossip with competition or disclose company secrets.
13. The automation does not ramble on incessantly while listeners tune away
14. An automation has never been arrested for downloading child porn.
15. An automation can't trouble-shoot a technical issue, but neither can most part-timers.
16. An automation does not get into fights with other employees or equipment
17. An automation doesn't get jealous and call the PD when another automation is used instead.
18. An automation rarely quits without notice.
19. An automation never spills a coke in the board and then deny it did it.
20. The automation always wears it's deodorant.
21. The automation doesn't have a criminal record that it denies having.
22. Automations don't steal.
23. Automations can take criticism without having a meltdown.

 

[RockofHBG]

More:

24. The automation doesn't piss off clients.
25. The automation doesn't clog the toilet and then not tell anyone.
26. The automation doesn't invoke the station call letters when trying to get free stuff from businesses .
27. The automation doesn't use the station vehicle without permission.
28. The automation doesn't arrogantly consider itself on the same level as a full-time airstaff member.
29. The automation is rarely an embarrassment to the station.
30. The automation doesn't gorge itself on free food at station remotes.
31. The automation doesn't freak out when it forgets its meds.

 

[pdgreatness]

Classic. We must know some of the same part timers. Applies to some full timers also, but then again they could have their own list.

 

[bigtom101]

Wow...I must be a rare part-timer! Only thing I have done was move songs around for timing purposes....aside from that, never broke a board, used the request lines for Dial-a-Date, or any of that other nonsense. And as far as technical ability, I've had PD's instruct jocks to call ME when something in the studio was acting up.

Maybe you've just had a bad bunch of part timers? Not that all of us are innocent...I can think of one former co-worker who I wouldn't hire to run a lemonade stand, let alone AudioVault & VoxPro.

 

[maines]

Sounds like a management problem. People respect those who pay attention to them. Maybe more communication with the part time staff might lead to better performance.

 

[sprtschick]

Wow.....RockofHbg, sounds like you have some interesting stories to share. I've worked with some parttime folks who sound like the ones you described, but I've also worked with some who have wanted to produce the best product possible with the equipment and situations given them. Let's face it....in alot of cases, these folks are often forgotten by the full time staff, often not given the information on contests and promotions they need to answer listeners questions, often cannot get hold of an engineer or a manager if a problem arises and often are the only person in the building. I'm not defending the thiefs, the rule breakers, the lonely hearts who tie up the phone line, the druggies and drunks or the immature louts. But I will defend the ones who take their jobs seriously....and I am fortunatel to have worked with many over the years.

 

[pdgreatness]

Of course there are some very talented and competent part timers as well as full timers. However there are also a whole bunch of.....idiots out there, to keep this clean. Sportschick, you know who some of them are. You have worked with some

 

[RBW]

20. The automation always wears it's deodorant.

My apologies. NO I'm not one of those people. But I have to take you to task for your improper usage of "it's". In this particular case, it should be "its" w/no apostrophe.

I however had the misfortune of once hiring a "dufus" who didn't do anything as bad as leave a slice of pizza in the studio...........................
HE ORDERED AN ENTIRE PIZZA "OVER THE AIR" TO BE DELIVERED TO HIM WHILE ON THE AIR

Can you top that one???

 

[RayThomas]

To RockofHBG...a different viewpoint to your post...

I am very familiar with your excellent station and relate to many of your points about part-timers. Another PD friend always used to say "the automation doesn't call in sick at the last minute" and such things. All true. Our station is automated in the evening and much (but not all) of the weekend to control costs just like everyone else, and I accept that as a necessity of today's radio.

But given my absolute preference, I'd go back to all live people all the time, with all of their attendant problems (possibly except for overnights) in a heartbeat, and here's why, here's what the automation CANNOT do:

1. The automation cannot put the AM transmitter back on after it gets kicked off when there's a thunderstorm.
2. The automation cannot correct itself when it glitches and the NASCAR race, football game, etc. does not come on as programmed. It works flawlessly MOST of the time, put with a sponsored event, MOST is not good enough. Somebody has to monitor and make sure all events come on and the netcues are picked up so the spots play. Constant diligence is required. I used to be able to go home Friday evening and not (usually) worry about the station till Monday morning. Those days are over.
3. The automation cannot keep listeners on top of ever-changing weather conditions, storm warnings, etc. To avoid the always-embarrasing "partly sunny today" when its pouring down rain, I simply don't program weather forecasts in automated hours. A compromise I'd really rather not have to make.
4. The automation cannot inform listeners when the local parade, street fair, graduation ceremony, etc. is postponed due to the weather or any reason. A community service we don't get to provide.
5. The automation cannot inform listeners when there is a truck wreck on I-81 that sends all of the interstate traffic through town, something that happens from time to time. See #4.
6. The automation cannot respond to a listener request to wish his grandmom a happy 80th birthday and play a Willie Nelson song for her because she loves Willie. A personal connection to the listeners we don't get to make. Not that we want to do dedications all day (we have a weekly dedication show for that purpose) but occasionally this adds a nice personal touch to the station.

To summarize this post, IMHO, excessive use of automation/voice-tracking is gradually eroding the personal connection that our stations make with the listeners. Folks, they can get all the music they want on their Ipods. But only our local stations can provide a personal connection to what's happening in each local community that makes local radio so valuable.

Another point...without part-timers, where does the next generation of radio talent get to develop their skills? At this point it almost seems like there IS NO next generation of talent!

 

[RockofHBG]

Ray,

I agree with many of your points. My list is a composite of 25 years of programming and is somewhat "tongue in cheek", fashioned after those " why beer is better than women" lists. However, much of what is said on a music station can be pre-recorded and sound every bit as good or better than a lesser talent doing it live. There are times when you need to be live in the moment. However, as far as weather emergencies the EAS handles that well. My biggest issue about being voice-tracked on the weekend is that occasional ten car pile up or haz-mat incident occurs. On weather-related cancellations, like when they start canceling the soccer games on Saturday mornings in the fall. Outside of that, voice-tracking sounds better most of the time if that full-time talent puts the same effort that they would in a live show, which I always try to do. Sadly, our industry stopped commenting on the moment long before digital automation took over.

 

[jonbruce]

Best of all it saves money leaving more for the rest of us. And with Scott Systems it sounds exactly the same as if it were live, maybe even better......no mistakes.

 

[Seltzer]

So if I have a question about something on the air and I call on the weekend, I'm sure the Scott System will be able to answer my question.

More money for the rest of us.....Gawd, you must be some sales geek.

 

[bigtom101]

Best of all it saves money leaving more for the rest of us. And with Scott Systems it sounds exactly the same as if it were live, maybe even better......no mistakes.

Until "Scott," or one of machines it depends, decides to crash. Which has happened to me, multiple times, while board opping the morning show. Or when a snowstorm knocks out the satellite dishes, killing the nightime show AND morning drive, sending me in a mad dash for the backup CD's and copying logs to cover the lack of a nighttime show. I will say that Scott sounds nicer on segs than Audio Vault, but AudioVault has reliability that can't be beat.

And that leftover money? Hopefully it doesn't go back to corporate.

 

[bossjock 56]

Chances are....if it's Scott....it's Citadel. That leftover money is paying for Farid's new deal!

 

[bossjock 56]

Sounds like a management problem. People respect those who pay attention to them. Maybe more communication with the part time staff might lead to better performance.

No....it's not a management problem. There are two kinds of parttimers. The serious ones, who are perhaps between fulltime gigs....and the ones who are in it for fun and games. Most of the latter are now gone. Most of the remaining parttimers in this business exist because they make life easier for the PD and the staff in general. Ordering Pizza...and eating it in the studio is no longer permitted in most stations. Rock...you hit the nail on the head! The parttimer characteristics you listed are a good example of the non-serious parttimer of the past....including lack of deodorant. We've all known them.....and thank God they are all but gone!

 

[grandoleopry]

The Media Touch systems our stations utilize run nearly flawlessly.
If there is a problem it calls me and I can fix it from home, that includes
most transmitter operations.
As a matter of fact I've logged on remote from a cruise ship, and
from LA, and Nashville to fix problems, modify logs etc.
I can even record and import weather , cancellations and feed reports from
remote locations instantaneously.
Still have ops for Ball games , and a few weekend day parts.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Best of all it saves money leaving more for the rest of us. And with Scott Systems it sounds exactly the same as if it were live, maybe even better......no mistakes.

I'd rather hear an occasional mistake. Perfect radio is perfectly boring. Sometimes a mistake can be turned into the funniest bit.

If I show up to listen, I expect someone live to be there. Otherwise I'm listening to your iPod with commercials. This is exactly what is making radio such a non issue.

 

[bl40modulimiter2]

Really? That non-issue called terrestrial radio you mention is doing quite well, thank you---from Inside Radio Tuesday's newsletter:
Radio's reach remains 239 million.
Arbitron’s quarterly RADAR ratings show the medium reaches more than 239 million people (12+) during a typical week. That’s up nearly seven million compared to a year ago. The figure is on par with the previous RADAR results released in March. As more markets convert from diary-based ratings, the cume numbers grow and the total radio reach is revealed to be larger than in previous surveys.

Do we have some issues to work out and are a few of the big operators making bad decisions regarding local talent? Yes. But radio's death has been predicted since TV came on in the '40's and I for one am sick of hearing this trash repeated on this board. If you think radio's dying, get the hell out and stay out. Those of us who believe have important work to do.

 

[vetguy]

How well any of the computer systems runs voicetracks is very much a part of how well it has been setup and is used. The ducking of the music under the voices can be preset but also can be adjusted by the DJ on some versions. The position of the voicetrack, over the end of one song and over the beginning of the next, along with the tightness of the music segue usually can be all adjusted by the DJ. But does each DJ take that time and effort for every voicetrack? Do they try to get through it quickly in order to head home?

Too many times a jock will do a voicetrack over and over to make it perfect. Are you always perfect on-air? Sometimes a voicetrack flub should be left in, laugh about it the way you would on-air. Listen to the stream of WKNL in New London, CT and try to figure out which jocks are live and voicetracked and even which hours of each shift are live or voicetracked. With effort, it can be done very well but the majority of the quality is up to the person doing the voicetrack. Only a part is the computer.

 

[firepoint525]

If your station is extremely tiny, then it might be to your advantage to actually sign off during overnight hours, particularly on the weekends. You usually can't sell airtime during those hours, and if your station is an AM, your nighttime wattage is probably a joke. And your main demographic (my parents' age group) is probably in bed. I don't know why some stations feel like they must be on the air 24/7.