Re: WREF Audio returns... will civility?
Thanks Cab, and again, sorry if I ruffled some feathers earlier...
To answer your question, when I worked for the cluster the WLAD board was a PR&E Radiomixer-24, and the WDAQ was a 12. WREF was using an old Harris Medallion 80, as was Bart Busterna's studio/office as well as all of the production studios. Also, to clarify, the TX was on the air but was not being modulated. No ID's, no nothing. When I called the FM jock, she was surprised, and when I called the business office an hour-and-a-half later, that lady was even more surprised. Nobody had any idea that the STL was out until I called. By the time the CE (or telco) was called, the station had been out of commission for hours. I have no idea how long it was off before I tuned in.
At WLAD, the air receiver was a Sony AM-Stereo car radio running on an el-cheapo 12v supply. It may have been a Micronta from ShadioRack, but don't quote me on it. Air, program, and the various air and production studios could have been monitored from AM control and even patched through the board and put on-air. There were a few people who monitored in program during their shifts. I preferred the AM-Stereo air signal, which not only sounded great, but also allowed me to know whether the station was on the air or not. Back then, believe it or not "Radio Rock Chick," you had to take readings manually and you also had to hold a radiotelephone license. I still have mine.
Oh, and "Radio Rock Chick" or whatever you call yourself-- I suppose you're doing overnights on 98Q or whatever... For your information, I did work there, but it was a long time ago-- about 10 years ago. Things may and probably have changed, which is why I made the statement "IF I RECALL".
About two years after I started there, WREF had just been acquired by Berkshire, and there was talk of swapping calls with WLAD to get the 2500w daytime ERP instead of the 1KW day/286W night that is WLAD. There were calls from the bronx and beyond, congratulating us on the signal after Tom O. rebuilt the WREF TX site after it was acquired. At the time, they were running ABC oldies off the bird.
At that time, the WREF control room was almost directly across from the WDAQ studio, in what used to be the news production studio (between the newsbooth and AM Production). The FM jock on duty had to go into the control room and update the weather on the automation system every so often. So aparently, it has changed since then. Big Whoop.
So, Radio Rock Chick, don't be so quick to snap at me. I do know what I am talking about, even if my information is a bit out of date. I've toned it down, why don't you? Rational discussions are always more fun. Thanks.
Oh,one more thing:
"...Berkshire Broadcasting's world HQ..." That's really quite hillarious! Wish I had thought of it...
-A
> In his last post Turntable asked why people insist on
> listening to the monitor in "program" as opposed to "on
> air". Again, every station I have worked at had the board
> set to monitor "on air". How is your station set up?
>
> And I guess what Turntable is saying is that the station was
> off for a long time becasue no one noticed, not that it was
> because the engineer was too busy. Of course, if the station
> had already been off for 2 hours, and the engineer got
> entrenched in a more serious problem elsewhere...then they
> would just have to wait their turn. And something else to
> consider...with many station having contract engineers, if
> there are many issues at once, the station making the least
> amount of money is usually the last to get fixed (unless it
> is just a matter of calling the TX and turning it backon...)
>
>
> If it truely was a case of "No one at the station was
> listening"...apparently there weren't many listeners that
> noticed either, or they just didn't care enough to call the
> station. That doen't nullify the fact that SOMEONE should
> have noticed though.
>
> When I worked at group stations, whether it was my
> responsibility or not, I would take a walk to each studio
> and take a listen. Even when we were fully staffed, if a
> jock needed a potty break, it was always good practice to
> check his/her studio briefly. Back then, cd's were still in
> the habit of sk..sk..skipping etc. So, we backed each other
> up.
>
> In todays radio world, the companies are trying to get away
> with paying as little as possible for bodies in the
> building. This results in people who have the "I'm not paid
> to do that" attitude. In other words, the jock down the hall
> might be required to load in a weather break or something,
> but maybe it's done directly from the prod room and he
> doesn't have to go into the studio. So he never does. (Just
> another scenerio there, I'm not sayingthat's what
> happened...)
>
> To solve the problem: Number one, those responsible for
> hiring need to have a training checklist that needs to be
> covered by the "training jock/board op". A list of "shift
> duties" should be posted, so if there is a newbie, he/she
> can get into the habit of following those duties. Oneof
> which would require checking up on the sister stations. Also
> as Turntable mentioned, a silence alarm would be nice, but
> maybe it's not in the budget...
>
> This is a good topic to cover.
>
>
>
> > I'm about as familiar with Berkshire Broadcasting's world
> HQ
> > as anyone, but that's not the point. Placing blame is in
> > itself a pointless exercise. The conscientious ones start
>
> > getting tainted attitudes while the lousy employees learn
> to
> > shrug off being in trouble again. On the other hand, you
> > can have the backup plans, redundancies and emergency
> > numbers ready and still run into the unexpected or
> something
> > not in the budget.
> >
> > The only thing unacceptable is not learning from
> experience.
> > How can we avoid this happening again? Solutions, not
> > blame, get you to the next level. No one's focused
> here...
> > or in much of radio... on this.
> >
> <P ID="signature">______________
"...How can you be deaf, with ears like that??"</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">
Edited by Turntable on 08/11/05 07:50 PM.</FONT></P>
