Les Hollister said:
Kevin, unfortunately not all stations can afford to have the engineer on premises. Not sure I'd want to be tied down waiting for one of these rigs to break down. Tubes used to blow out as scheduled. Solid state and digital gear doesn't keep engineers as busy with the maintenance and parts replacement. But you also have TV-7 in that group in Dayton, and that makes things a bit more complex.
WCNW was a technical mess when Mr. Folmer sold the stations to Broadcast Management in the late 70s. Knowing the current owner, it wouldn't surprise me, that not much has improved. Nice man though.
WMOH used to always broadcast from the antique car parade in downtown Hamilton. It was always fun to listen to the announcers describe the beauty of the antique cars parked around the court house, with the roaming microphone and plenty of wire to follow. Haven't had any contact with them since they moved from downtown. Use a corporate engineer, and Mr. Crawford for their repairs and such.
Moneymaker, I know more of the radio operators in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio than you give credit for. Maybe some of the newer guys I've not had the pleasure of doing business. You are right about cheating the client if the the commercial copied word for word the copy of a commercial for another advertiser. Why don't you contact the misguided advertisers and let them know they've been cheated and should not trust the station? I think it's your responsibility (or someone who can prove this poor action) to prevent these sort of things from happening. I know if I see a crime, I report it. This isn't good for the business. I know if I hear something strange technically or offensive sounding on a station, I'd let the station know about the problem so they can get it corrected. Don't want anyone to get any FCC citations. This could be a violation of copyright or something to that effect. But, you seem to be a bit unkind and targeted at that station (looking at some of your previous posts). And for your comment about scolding...if the members of this forum can dish out the blood, then I can dish out the scolding comments targeting negativity and mean-spirited comments. You seem a little bitchy at the same people.
Tanksback, thank you for your welcome to this forum of radio demolition derby. Well described. However I don't look for touchy feely to read. I look for constructive comments and feedback. Good broadcasters that have high self esteem don't usually tear others down in a public forum. Low self esteem folks write negative things about other people to make themselves feel bigger and better.
Nnmoore, you make many good comments. Many times the needle had to be replaced between records which caused a dj to have to ad-lib while the repair was being made. Ah yes...program variety on radio. Many stations I tune into have variety. TV does it with different programs every hour or so. Who wrote the rule that successful radio stations had to be doing the same thing 24-7? You make good and enjoyable points!
Pioneer, I don't believe the small guys should concern themselves with making a dent in the big guys. I don't think the weekly or rural newspapers have the Indianapolis Star, the Cincy Enquirer or Lou Courier Journal as their target. I think they all serve readers and advertisers of various levels.
Partymarty, do you need any special lines to do the wancast to the studios from your house in Cleves or is it like an ftp file transfer? Not too familiar with how what you described works. I leave the computer automation to the iT savvy.
Joe Mullins is a radioman. Knew his dad Moon very well. It was fun to listen to Moon (dad) in the morning and Joe (son) in the afternoon years ago on WPFB. Moon was legendary in that area. Joe shares that reputation. He's keeping a few stations alive and that is a good thing.
DJJack, thanks for your comment. I don't tune them in often, because I don't hear it as well at my homebase in Indiana. Not sure about how "tight" they are or anything like that. I drive in the area and tune in to most of the AMs for a minute or 2, and the FMs too. I like the smaller operations because they seem to continue the spirit of the industry. The Eagle in Aurora is one of those types. I listen mainly to talk, classical, and country now and then. Not much on the newer rock side. Sometimes hard to say what I like...but I know what I don't like on radio when I hear it. Probably not much different from average radio listeners from a personal standpoint.
I will venture to the Engineering forum for some more constructive feedback and comments exchanges, for the moment. Not many amateurs or radio fans post negative or silly comments in that forum. You all may now reply to my post with your insults and comments about my naive nature.
Les: After approaching 40 years in radio, I'm well aware of the challenge smaller stations have dealing with engineering issues. (I've dealt with many a contract engineer in my time.) But, your post gave me the impression you were suggesting there was no such thing as "full time engineers". Though that's obviously true in the WPFB's, WMOH's and WCNW's of the world, my only point was they are still there in the more metropolitan areas. And not just at WHIO.
Trust me...I thank God every day I'm in a place where we have engineers to make sure the satellite receivers are working, that our ISDN lines between here and whereever are still working, and that if floods in the farm fields where the towers are for our rimshots (WZLR: in a horse pasture southeast of Xenia and WHIO-FM: in a field in Shelby County) cause pioneer rural electric to glitch, or a horse to create havoc for WZLR, we have engineers who jump up and save the day! We've always had two radio engineers, (plus the TV engineers) and I'm grateful to have them around.
I guess as far as the programming comments have been concerned, I do think it's possible for small town stations to survive. But, I think you have to watch the expenses really closely, and as has been said here, you have to have some "unique selling proposition" to the community in terms of your programming. Just being a suburb's, or bedroom community's local version of an all sports station they can easily receive from the big city doesn't really work. But, combine it with local high school or local college sports and...you just might make enough from the limited local programming to make it go.
Music's a harder sell...particularly on AM. Besides the crappy sound quality due largely to the receivers' not being worth a darn anymore, the fact that so few people under 50 bother to tune into AM radio at all really makes any music format iffy. And no station has proven yet that you can put a younger musical format on and pull big numbers with it. (Radio Disney's very unique, but in most cities is a 1 or 2 share proposition at best.)
And while I'm all for smaller stations giving younger people a chance to get in the business, learn and move up, I also think a smaller station operator needs to look at the technologies available. Marty is a good example...to be able to voice track, make it sound like he is in the station and still be relevant with only an very occasional glitch here or there...all from his home studio is pretty darned impressive. I've always wondered if the position of "on-air host" might someday be a contract position with jocks working out of their home studios in many cases tracking over the internet back and forth for anywhere from $500 to $2,000 a month (depending on market size).
WDJO proves if you're good enough at tracking, it can be done. And programming can be updated on a moment's notice for severe weather, etc.
I am working on a similar plan for those of us who volunteer our time for WRPO-LP up at Russell's Point. For us, though, it would be convenience...since it's a non-comm. (In a town of about 7-thousand with a 100 watt signal, you can't really expect to have a lot of live operators and station personnel) . But, being able to have the ability to upload the computer by remote control would allow us to do more real time programming, allow us to improve the amount of information we offer (weather, emergency information, etc). It would make the station sound a bit more "live" and the additional information we could give would certainly allow the station to do a better job in broadcasting in "the public interest, convenience and necessity" department.
I'd love to see the old days come back, but time, and technology marches on...
