Voicetrack or no Voicetrack ?

[bossbill]

When I was working in Seattle in the 70s, (that's over 35 years ago) automation salesman Chester Coleman demonstrated to me air checks of wet voice-tracking from WGTR near Boston (Natick). It sounded pretty good. The equipment took a lot more space, and the automation system cost a lot more money, even without factoring in the time value of money.

 

[Mike Brewer]

Until the mid-90s KEZR in San Jose wet VTd on their Schaefer system. You couldn't tell it was Memorex. And it was pretty much liner card reading.

 

[bobdavcav]

Mason showed up at our family easter celebration yesterday and told me she was tracked. I would not have known that though, her Sunday shift sounds just like her weekday shift. It could be that she lays down tracks in the 2 PM hour for the entire shift on weekdays then stays to answer the phones I don't know. I will have to come in the studio one of these days and see how it all works over there.

 

[searadiofreak]

I am currently employed at a small market radio station in the Rocky Mountain region. Total metro around 300K. Our AC does well in the once a year (Spring) ratings, and we run live from 5:30 AM to 7 PM. We take calls. We do live contests. We do live weather/temps, and live traffic if a problem exists. We do events. Lots of local events. We have actually hired an events staff. Somehow, we are making it work. Revenue is strong. We are respected and loved by the community.

OK, what is the secret? No secret, really. Just doing the basic building blocks of what radio has been and can continue to be if the management supports the cause. The only VT we use is from in-house talent on the weekends.

I guess my question is, how can a small market radio station accomplish all this, while bigger markets struggle? I guess I am lucky to be involved with such a successful small market outfit. But it really isn't luck. It is just doing it right, and guess what? It still can work.

 

[multiplex]

Searadiofreak, I'm sure it can still work, especially if the small town is some distance from a major market. I did small-town radio for six years. I (unofficially) represented the station just by being at many local events, and that was always received well. At one station I'm sure management had no idea of the great response; they could never be found at such public events.
I was let go for whatever reasons the boss had (I never knew.) Then I crossed the street to the competition and did the same thing, again with everyone knowing who I worked for, thus appearing to show station involvement, when in fact it was personal community involvement.
This time I at least lost my job to a satellite rather than for some arbitrary reason.
All I can say from my experience is: imagine how successful it must be when you do it on purpose, when management considers it important.
Major market management could learn a lot from the best small-town stations ... if their owners cared. Generally, they don't. And it shows on the air.
I like the old Hollywood expression for a performer who didn't give much of an effort: phoning it in. Most radio these days is "phoned in." That's what voicetracking is in most cases. The audience may not know when they hear voicetracking, but they do know when no one is relating to them. No wonder many people are finding other forms of entertainment.

 

[TimmyWA]

I have a buddy who does a little VT on weekends and he said the best way to make it sound more natural is to let little mistakes happen. If you stumble or flub a word or two, leave it in. I would assume the default feeling is to make it sound perfect, since you can when you're recording breaks.

 

[TheBigA]

I guess my question is, how can a small market radio station accomplish all this, while bigger markets struggle? I guess I am lucky to be involved with such a successful small market outfit. But it really isn't luck. It is just doing it right, and guess what? It still can work.

One word: Competition. In big markets, people are being bombarded with stuff. In small markets, high school and college sports is big. In bigger markets, they're dwarfed by the NFL and pro teams. In small markets, you can make an impact just showing up at events. In a big market, there are so many people and so many competing events, you get lost. And it simply costs a lot more money to make an impact in a large market.

 

[multiplex]

KCMS? Really? You don't say!
Actually, KCMS sounds so canned and lifeless these days that I can no longer listen to them. They were good once.

 

[searadiofreak]

I guess my question is, how can a small market radio station accomplish all this, while bigger markets struggle? I guess I am lucky to be involved with such a successful small market outfit. But it really isn't luck. It is just doing it right, and guess what? It still can work.

One word: Competition. In big markets, people are being bombarded with stuff. In small markets, high school and college sports is big. In bigger markets, they're dwarfed by the NFL and pro teams. In small markets, you can make an impact just showing up at events. In a big market, there are so many people and so many competing events, you get lost. And it simply costs a lot more money to make an impact in a large market.

The Big A: Yes, you make a good point with the size of the market. Radio stations still work as the home of local celebs in smaller markets, but there is more going on here. Local ownership/management care more about the community, don't usually have to answer to the stockholder, and understand they can make money by doing things right. Not sure the big players have the same advantages.

 

[bobdavcav]

KCMS? Really? You don't say!
Actually, KCMS sounds so canned and lifeless these days that I can no longer listen to them. They were good once.

Yes. Was it really 2005 when I toured that building? Wow. Speaking of KCMS, sorry to throw this thread off topic, but whatever happened to Linette Morgan? I know she was tracked during her time at KCMS.

 

[MissInformation]

LYNNette is and has been off KCMS oh for about 5 years, guess you don't listen that much or follow the trades. She went to Lyden long time ago to do am drive. Then they brought in Matt Case, who made no sense what so ever and now it's a voice track fest. The am show is canned out of Austin. Mid Days are tracked. PM drive maybe somewhat live and nights well that's tracked. Not sure if anyone is live there. A good VTer will make it sound so good you do t know if they are here, in Austin, NYC, or Miami. 8)

 

[bobdavcav]

She went where? I know it's been a long time, I was just wondering where she went.

 

[Bongwater]

She went to KCMS's Lynden sister station, KWPZ 106.5.....

 

[Rock 100.7]

Having done voice tracking for years during my DJ years at a Salt Lake City FM, I can tell you that if you never hear the time or weather in a given hour, then most likely the shift is being voice tracked. Music is queued up in the computer to fill the hour, usually 12-14 tunes depending on the format. It is unusual for a voice track to go over the top of the music too, unless this has changed in the last 2 years. I would look at the screen and there would be four to five songs in a row, then just prior to a commercial load, the screen would say "Talk." I would hit the button and say whatever I had to say and then hit finish. My talk was usually back announcing songs or announcing an upcoming event or a short liner describing our format. There would be three "Talk" settings per hour (so I would use about 60-90 seconds in an hour). I would do a six hour Sunday shift in about 30 minutes on Friday night. I had some people fooled though, as I would actually give the time. My PD didn't like me doing that, but I did anyway. I could usually surmise the time within a minute or two of being accurate. I would go to Church on Sunday and people would say, hey, I just heard you on the radio a few minutes ago and you told me what time it was. I used to get a good laugh out of this until I explained to them about voice tracking. Any more, I truly believe most stations are using canned satellite feeds with central hub DJ's just playing hits and talking and they distribute that programming to 100-300 stations at once. I know Clear Channel uses something called Premiere Choice, that is what I just described. They'll have a live morning show on most stations and then to Premiere Choice based on the format they are using for that station. Just for laughs, I remember one week I said on Friday night that it would be sunny and 45 on Sunday and I woke up to snow (about three inches), and I rushed over to the station to change my voice track to match the reality of the weather outside.

We do weather and time checks in our voice tracking... and I'm in a podunk town in Nebraska. It's EASY if you pay attention and prep your show.

 

[searadiofreak]

Having done voice tracking for years during my DJ years at a Salt Lake City FM, I can tell you that if you never hear the time or weather in a given hour, then most likely the shift is being voice tracked. Music is queued up in the computer to fill the hour, usually 12-14 tunes depending on the format. It is unusual for a voice track to go over the top of the music too, unless this has changed in the last 2 years. I would look at the screen and there would be four to five songs in a row, then just prior to a commercial load, the screen would say "Talk." I would hit the button and say whatever I had to say and then hit finish. My talk was usually back announcing songs or announcing an upcoming event or a short liner describing our format. There would be three "Talk" settings per hour (so I would use about 60-90 seconds in an hour). I would do a six hour Sunday shift in about 30 minutes on Friday night. I had some people fooled though, as I would actually give the time. My PD didn't like me doing that, but I did anyway. I could usually surmise the time within a minute or two of being accurate. I would go to Church on Sunday and people would say, hey, I just heard you on the radio a few minutes ago and you told me what time it was. I used to get a good laugh out of this until I explained to them about voice tracking. Any more, I truly believe most stations are using canned satellite feeds with central hub DJ's just playing hits and talking and they distribute that programming to 100-300 stations at once. I know Clear Channel uses something called Premiere Choice, that is what I just described. They'll have a live morning show on most stations and then to Premiere Choice based on the format they are using for that station. Just for laughs, I remember one week I said on Friday night that it would be sunny and 45 on Sunday and I woke up to snow (about three inches), and I rushed over to the station to change my voice track to match the reality of the weather outside.

We do weather and time checks in our voice tracking... and I'm in a podunk town in Nebraska. It's EASY if you pay attention and prep your show.

Time is a bit complicated, but most listeners don't care. Weather is much easier just using a 5-day from the Weather Channel. The only rule is not to say what it is doing "right now". Talkovers are EZ with most systems, especially NexGen, in fact it can make you sound like a talkover expert. VT is easier than ever, but still doesn't compare to live. "Call me now", and "We are following this breaking news", are impossible with VT'ing. This all being said, these elements don't matter to most radio listeners today.

 

[bossbill]

I don't understand what's so complicated about using time checks if you have a decent automation system. If you time out each hour, which you should, especially if you join network news, you should never be more than a minute off, unless of course you have spots missing, which you shouldn't if everybody's doing their job.

It may be necessary, however, to hire talent that knows how to add minutes and seconds.

 

[discjockeyjohn64]

The only issue we had at our Salt Lake FM was that if you didn't quite load the hour with sufficient music, talk, and ads then you ended up with dead air for 30-120 seconds at the tail end of an hour. My program director would put it about 13 songs each hour, and depending on the ad load, this could cause the Prophet system to continue playing a song over the top of the hour, and then readjust to start the next hour a few minutes in. This always caused me a little trouble with giving out exact time. I would usually say in the first break of the hour, welcome to the seven o' clock hour, now more of your favorites on ---- FM. Other fun times would be when the system got a hiccup, and then you would have dead air for a long time, and my PD would have to drive in on the weekend to reboot the system.

 

[notalent]

Having dead air at the tail end of an hour only happens if you don't spend enough money to hire someone who knows how to run the system correctly.

Rolling over the top of an hour is pretty simple even without over scheduling each hour.