voicetracking

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I dunno - I'm in the middle of the road. As a Jock - yea I will VT if I've got a hell of a day planned and what not, just so I can get my interviews done and then air them as needed. Then again, when the studio cam is up, I get a ton of calls asking "Why aren't you talking into the mic when I hear you on the signal?" then I tell them I tracked it... Like the other jock said, I can do a 5 hour show in about an hour and change depending on how many takes the bit takes to finish.

So, that being said, I've been in the same boat with having to track to get to a live remote somewhere at 6 when my show is on til 6:30 ya know? And the same thing - if I get there early, I've been at the event listening to my own show. Some listeners get a kick outta it, others say you're cheating - I say - it depends LoL

 

[dannyscott101]

I dunno - I'm in the middle of the road. As a Jock - yea I will VT if I've got a hell of a day planned and what not, just so I can get my interviews done and then air them as needed. Then again, when the studio cam is up, I get a ton of calls asking "Why aren't you talking into the mic when I hear you on the signal?" then I tell them I tracked it... Like the other jock said, I can do a 5 hour show in about an hour and change depending on how many takes the bit takes to finish.

So, that being said, I've been in the same boat with having to track to get to a live remote somewhere at 6 when my show is on til 6:30 ya know? And the same thing - if I get there early, I've been at the event listening to my own show. Some listeners get a kick outta it, others say you're cheating - I say - it depends LoL

Even in our tiny little market here in upstate NY, the rule is not to be on a remote (or show up at one representing the station) when you are "on the air". This goes so far as to have the jock who is leaving a remote NOT do the first couple of voice tracks in the next hour, in order to allow the time to "get back to the station"... Studio cam? I guess that would kinda screw everything!

A lot of people seem to know about automation, but quite a few still believe there is a jock on 24/7. I even knew a guy who thought that XM radio must have a giant building filled with little cubicle studios with guys playing CDs all day and night!

 

[TheBigA]

I even knew a guy who thought that XM radio must have a giant building filled with little cubicle studios with guys playing CDs all day and night!

Some of that is right...it IS a giant building, and there are lots of small studios. No CDs, about 35% are gals, and it's all mainly voicetracked.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Around 97 or so (if not earlier), the weekend evening host on a heritage oldies station in my hometown used early VT'ing-like practices for callers to the request-and-dedication shows he helmed live. They were so well-interwoven into the show that one could claim he had a direct influence on the practice. Perhaps, as the station wasn't hooked up with Prophet well into 1999.

 

[TheBigA]

Look...there were thousands of radio stations in the 60s and 70s whose format was 100% on reel to reel tape 24/7. Sure, there was a human in the building to thread up the tapes, or load carts with pre-taped weather. But what people heard on the air was pre-taped music programming that was shipped to them from program suppliers in other towns. Some of these stations were hugely successful. The reason voicetracking was developed was to find a way to localize that system, to incorporate some local elements in the pre-taped programming. That is the history of how this came about.

 

[Super Scribbler]

BigA,

Thanks for that healthy dose of realism. These unemployed radio whipper snappers always think it was better back then, back when they were drueling on their baby bibs and wishing they could be radio stars. Kids, the grass is rarely greener on the other side and sadly, you can't go home again. Grow up.

 

[sbe1]

WDUV When it was in Bradenton on 103.3 was all on tape. Seems like I remember a big carosel that had carts in it with all the spots, imaging etc on it. Werent they using Bonnevilles beautiful music format? WMLO and other call signs 106.3 on City Island in Sarasota had the reel to reel tapes. The FM automation was behind sliding glass doors overlooking the AM studio.

 

[dannyscott101]

Look...there were thousands of radio stations in the 60s and 70s whose format was 100% on reel to reel tape 24/7. Sure, there was a human in the building to thread up the tapes, or load carts with pre-taped weather. But what people heard on the air was pre-taped music programming that was shipped to them from program suppliers in other towns. Some of these stations were hugely successful. The reason voicetracking was developed was to find a way to localize that system, to incorporate some local elements in the pre-taped programming. That is the history of how this came about.

Our AM station in the mid 90s was still using programmed 1/4" tape reels. We had to babysit the AM automation while doing live FM shifts. It was a three-reel system (dubbed "green machine") that used subsonic tones to fire off the next event. There were those clunky cart 'carousels' to play the spots, and a couple of single deck cart machines that held liners and jingles.

The best part was the "all instrumental" reels that would play at the end of the hour to time up to the legal ID and network news. Sometimes it would fire off a song and play it for about 7 seconds before fading out and dumping to the legal ID!