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WBZ..."The Tone"
- Thread starter ebol
- Start date
Why? Time tones are a connection to the station's heritage. It's always been there, who's it hurting by leaving it in? It's the same reason WTIC still airs the "Victory" tone TOH, and WINS runs the teletype. It's not everybody's cup of tea, but then again, not everyone appreciates heritage.
I use it to set the clock in my car back to proper time after my wife has set it ahead two minutes.
This happens daily.
This happens daily.
I think all the Westinghouse stations did this. Do the former Westinghouse stations still do this?
It's an authoritative audio symbol. The concept of "news"...the "new" in "news" is completely dependent upon the predicate of time. The entire rhythm of the station is based upon the sounding of the tone...with traffic on the ones, weather on the threes, etc., restarted at the top of the hour. The metric of the station is structured, making it easier to understand and to digest...and, reassuringly familiar to the listener.
Plus, the nostalgic notion of people setting their clocks...their lives...to the sounding of the tone, suggests that all of New England might run off the thing. Powerful stuff.
It's an authoritative audio symbol. The concept of "news"...the "new" in "news" is completely dependent upon the predicate of time. The entire rhythm of the station is based upon the sounding of the tone...with traffic on the ones, weather on the threes, etc., restarted at the top of the hour. The metric of the station is structured, making it easier to understand and to digest...and, reassuringly familiar to the listener.
Plus, the nostalgic notion of people setting their clocks...their lives...to the sounding of the tone, suggests that all of New England might run off the thing. Powerful stuff.
In a world filled with people searching for nonsense to complain about this leads the league, this may be the most purely idiotic comment I've ever seen -- in any forum, on any topic, ever.
It's not just heritage, it is a useful service.
WINS does a tone time check at the bottom of the hour "if you wish to set your clocks"
It's not just heritage, it is a useful service.
WINS does a tone time check at the bottom of the hour "if you wish to set your clocks"
True and often during the news they will say the current time, etc
One can always use (if you can) time.gov to set clocks, or WWV (still running?) and years ago I would call a certain number and get:
"New England Telephone (or whatever) time is seven-thirty-three (ding) exactly. Temperature 70, Fahrenheit..."
I think we were told to dial NESTLES or 637-xxxx or something
One can always use (if you can) time.gov to set clocks, or WWV (still running?) and years ago I would call a certain number and get:
"New England Telephone (or whatever) time is seven-thirty-three (ding) exactly. Temperature 70, Fahrenheit..."
I think we were told to dial NESTLES or 637-xxxx or something
The WTIC victory tone at the top of the hour is a welcome continuation of an old tradition. Many younger people have no idea why its there. Years ago...they used to time their ID's so the tone would pop up after they said WTIC Hartford. (tone here) Now, the tone just pops on no matter what is running at the time. Still, nice to hear it. 
raccoonradio said:
The 637 exchange used for the recorded time announcements was originally MEridian 7. There was no connection to Nestle's. 936-xxxx was the weather number; the 93 stood, logically, for WEather.
Sadly, 617.637.1212 (Boston time and temperature) was discontinued about 2 years ago. However WWV and WWVH are still alive and well on 2.5, 5, 10, 15 MHz and WWV is also on 20 MHz. You can phone in WWV at 303.499.7111 or WWVH at 808.335.4363. The calls are at regular rates and last for 2 minutes.raccoonradio said:
The old 617.637.1212 was originally known as MEridian 7-1212 back in the days of lettered exchanges. For fun, to dial the time lady you could punch in N-E-S-T-L-E-S or dial N-E-R-V-O-U-S or just dial 637-xxxx (any 4 digits would do).
WRLK said:The WTIC victory tone at the top of the hour is a welcome continuation of an old tradition. Many younger people have no idea why its there. Years ago...they used to time their ID's so the tone would pop up after they said WTIC Hartford. (tone here) Now, the tone just pops on no matter what is running at the time. Still, nice to hear it.
I'm fairly certain the tone has always been timed exactly to sound when the station's internal clock hits the TOH. The reason the tone always coincided with "WTIC Hartford" was because the producers and hosts/production liners were skilled at their timing. Unfortunately, WTIC's production values/standards aren't what they used to be, whether by attrition or design.
Still have no idea why they got rid of their awesome news/traffic/weather sounders from the 1999-2005. The stuff they've had since has been garbage.
thirdendorsed said:
Really? With the who-knows-how-much delay imposed by having to sync their analog signal with their HD signal? Has anyone tried to sync the tone with WWV lately?
We had an engineer at WLLH in Lowell back in the mid-late 80s, Jeff Merrow. One of his beliefs was that no technical idea was not worth exploring. In a programming meeting, someone said, "Wouldn't it be neat if..." Jeff's ears perked up, "We can have a sound like a watch beeping at the top of every hour!" Jeff disappeared for a while, and returned with a small circuit board, battery and speaker. "Is this what you want?" <beepbeep> A resounding YES all around the room and high fives.
For the next 5 years or so, that little circuit board chirped the top of every hour, sounding exactly like the wristwatches of the day. I don't know of any other station that did that! We used ABC's chirp off the bird to trigger our watch beep!
It's still a rush hearing it on the old airchecks.
For the next 5 years or so, that little circuit board chirped the top of every hour, sounding exactly like the wristwatches of the day. I don't know of any other station that did that! We used ABC's chirp off the bird to trigger our watch beep!
It's still a rush hearing it on the old airchecks.
The WTIC tone is generated in the rack room at the studio, but is inserted into the sidechain with time correction. It's a great custom system, here's a picture:
http://www.wticalumni.com/events/2008 Reunion/WTIC_Tour-DHK.html#12
As I understand how it works, the GPS clock time is advanced by 15.5 seconds (7 second profanity delay, 8.5 second HD delay.) By doing this, the tone airs at exactly the right time.
http://www.wticalumni.com/events/2008 Reunion/WTIC_Tour-DHK.html#12
As I understand how it works, the GPS clock time is advanced by 15.5 seconds (7 second profanity delay, 8.5 second HD delay.) By doing this, the tone airs at exactly the right time.
reelyreal said:
Great post! I'm not into all of the technicality of it, but the fact that they have timed the on-air tone to the precise second is fascinating.
But then, this is a station that sponsored pattern changes.
I believe this was during the Bob Steele show, yes.thirdendorsed said:
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