TV Station Broadcast Logs

[Pistol Pete]

Does anyone know if TV stations keep to-the-minute logs of their broadcasts – i.e., detailed accountings of all network, syndicated, and locally produced programs, as well as commercials, interruptions for news bulletins, etc.? I would think that the FCC would require something along these lines in case there are complaints.

If so, what is the industry term for these broadcast logs? And, how long do stations typically hold onto them? Do they have to file copies with the FCC? Can a member of the public examine these records?

 

[kenglish]

They are called "Program Logs", and most automation systems will also output an "As-Run Log" that shows everything that the automation system had control of.

I'm not the station "legal guy", so I'm not sure if the Program Logs (in their entirety) are part of the "Public Inspection File", which all viewers are welcome to look over during business hours.

 

[TheRob]

I'm sure the program log for the public inspection file looks a little different. But the program log I check daily for my commercial times lists every commercial and promo by title, the running time, the hit time, the date and the inventory code. The programming itself will say "FOX 4 News at 6:00 (8:25)" indicating a running time of eight minutes, 25 seconds for that particular news block, plus the time the block starts. Other programming might say "Terra Nova VS-FOX1 (22:00 TRT)" followed by the running time of each block in between the commercial logs.

You should be able to examine a program log upon request. But I don't know how far back ours logs go. We also file news story ascertainments with the FCC.

 

[Pistol Pete]

Re: TV Station Program Logs

They are called "Program Logs", and most automation systems will also output an "As-Run Log" that shows everything that the automation system had control of.

I'm not the station "legal guy", so I'm not sure if the Program Logs (in their entirety) are part of the "Public Inspection File", which all viewers are welcome to look over during business hours.

I'm sure the program log for the public inspection file looks a little different. But the program log I check daily for my commercial times lists every commercial and promo by title, the running time, the hit time, the date and the inventory code. The programming itself will say "FOX 4 News at 6:00 (8:25)" indicating a running time of eight minutes, 25 seconds for that particular news block, plus the time the block starts. Other programming might say "Terra Nova VS-FOX1 (22:00 TRT)" followed by the running time of each block in between the commercial logs.

You should be able to examine a program log upon request. But I don't know how far back ours logs go. We also file news story ascertainments with the FCC.

Thank you both for this information. "Program Logs" - I wasn't too far off with my guess.

From your description of these program logs, TheRob, it doesn't sound like they would include what the topic or episode title or even the episode number is for a particular program, just the program's uniform title.

FYI: I am researching the broadcast history of a high school quiz show that ran locally some 20 years ago. In addition to accurate air dates and times, I am trying to determine which schools played each week. TV Guide doesn't always include all of this information or there were last-minute changes. Unfortunately, the station's public affairs department, which produced the show, discarded any records about it some years ago.

I was hoping that the station had retained some sort of master daily schedule of its programming in its archives. Maybe I should request to see something besides the program log - like the public inspection file for educational programming?

 

[Apollo7979]

Pete,

It probably varies station to station regarding the listing of episode numbers, etc., but when I worked at a master control hub where we ran 15 television stations, everything was included on the program logs. Commercials, program titles, promos, lengths program segments and breaks, and episode numbers. Anything that didn't run as logged was written up in a discrepancy report which was turned over to traffic, programming, promotions, sales, and accounting for reconciliation. In TV, its vital that everything is timed out to the second so any little mistake (if a 4 second promo was scheduled in place of a 5 second promo, for instance) had to be documented.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Any of the public file information is only required to be kept for a short period - 3 or 5 years. Granted, your station may keep things longer, but they aren't required to let you see any "expired" information.

Program logs from a pre-automation era have probably been thrown out too.

 

[w9wi]

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.html#_Toc202587573

Note that program logs are NOT required to be in the public file -- even current logs are NOT required to be available to the public.

Of course, the station may (or may not) be willing to voluntarily let you look at the logs. But I rather doubt they have logs going back that far -- and as noted in the other thread, usually the program log only shows the name & possibly the nature of the program, not the topic of a specific episode.

That topic information may be recorded somewhere else. Again, the station may be willing to let you look at those records -- but they're not required to allow you to do so, and they're not required to keep those records at all.

 

[TheRob]

The station certainly would have discarded program logs from 20 years ago.

You might check newspaper listings in your public library's microfilm catalog.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

The station certainly would have discarded program logs from 20 years ago.

You might check newspaper listings in your public library's microfilm catalog.

Those listings might only include abbreviated program titles and don't ever list last minute changes.

 

[Pistol Pete]

Re: TV Station Program Logs

First off, I wish to thank everyone who has contributed his insider knowledge to this thread. I sort of realized going in that what I was looking for was a long shot. Now I know just how long a shot it is. Something may turn up at the local university, which has a TV broadcasting major: the station's records may have been donated to the library's special collections. Otherwise, the program logs et al. are probably gone, as you suggest - TV stations can't afford to be overly sentimental.

If anyone has suggestions of other places or sources to look at, I'm all ears.

The station certainly would have discarded program logs from 20 years ago.

You might check newspaper listings in your public library's microfilm catalog.

Those listings might only include abbreviated program titles and don't ever list last minute changes.

Actually, what got me started was when I got nostalgic, googled the name of the quiz show, and found newspaper TV listings in Google News Archives. Between these and the microfilm rolls of TV Guide's regional edition at the Library of Congress, I've found 90-95% of the show's run. It's the last 5-10% where I've run into a brick wall. (And I can't tell if the listings I found are 100% accurate.)

Most weeks, the schools competing are listed in one source or the other; occasionally, though, there's nothing in any of them but the program title. This was probably due to the station not having finalized its schedule prior to the deadlines for submission to TV Guide and the other listing bureaus. Else, episode information may have been eliminated to conserve space. A week-by-week comparison revealed that what was included or not often varied among the different listing services. (BTW, how many TV listing services were there? In addition to TV Guide, there appear to have been at least two producing weekly guides for the newspapers.)