[BC] technical difficulties with automation

[JYRussell@academicplanet.com]

I have not the foggiest notion about any systems other than the one I am 
going to (briefly) answer for you:

  At the studios in Greenville,  the automation system replaced all the 
audio sources in one shot.  All the carts, turntables, tapes, etc.  The air 
talent was not given the opportunity to practice using the system in 
production... they had to learn it on-the-air and on-the-fly (over the loud 
objections of the software vendor.  The GM didn't want to pay for training)

   To keep things as intuitive as possible, the automation system mimics the 
old technology in many ways.  The air talent is looking at a computer 
screen, and pressing fader starts on the console to make things 'play' from 
the computer.  The talent also still finds the fader starts linked up one to 
one with the individual faders.

   It works just like the old stuff... one pot for each song, that's at 
least 2 pots on the console.  A third pot for the liners, a fourth pot for 
whatever other audio out from the PC... each pot is fed from an individual 
output in the PC.

   Not all automation systems do this... some do all the mixing inside the 
PC and play the finished product out a single pot on the console.

    On our system, the commercials are logged in sequential order.  For 
'live time' or 'live assist' time... that means the music will be on a 
second log... both come together at the on-air position in order.  The 
operator can indeed pick and choose the order, and move things around... or 
he can simply play his way down through the logged items making no changes 
whatsoever.

   When the automation system is placed into the Satellite - or 
'unattended'- mode... the music isn't loaded... just the spots.  In 
individual breaks, showing the scheduled time that particular stopset is to 
play.  Upon closure from the satellite, the entire stopset will play, and 
only on one pot, because it started as a single continuous stopset, playing 
out one audio card, on a single pot.

   If something else plays at the same time... it means that the contact 
closure from the satellite triggered it to start.
Liners are all played out a second pot on our system, and while you can't 
play (by satellite) two liners at the same time (because the audio output 
channel is tied up by the first liner, preventing the second from 
playing)... you CAN hear a liner play over another source (such as a 
commercial...)

   Just like a real jock, using more than one pot... if you hear two things 
at once... that's what's really happening (on our system.)  We have one 
satellite closure for each event... one for each LINER/jingle, one for 
SPOTS, one to start the recorder, one to set the clock...

   What you have to puzzle out is whether the error is happening inside the 
software, or outside.  On ours... it's so simple it's pretty well guaranteed 
to be outside.  Could be mis-punched closures  (not likely if it's an 
intermittant problem) or, it could be a nutty decoder card, or even a 
problem with having two or more closures tied together - that never made a 
difference UNTIL the satellite folks started using one differently...

Hope that helps...
Jason

> SO, over the past several days, I have heard all sorts of weird problems 
> with stations that I know use automation.  This question is going to sound 
> really stoooopid, and forgive me for asking it, but I am not an expert at 
> programming automation systems-- I just know what button to push if I am 
> on the air.  What would cause a station like WBZ, for example, to have a 
> commercial playing over the recorded weather, or on WXKS/WKOX, I heard two 
> commercials playing on top of each other.  Aren't these systems 
> idiot-proof?  I mean, don't they hear some kind of tone and then play the 
> next element?  Or do they depend on a human who could in fact push the 
> wrong button?  Are there some systems that are more idiot-proof (or less 
> prone to error) than others?  [No hidden agenda, I am not writing an 
> article or anything-- I've just heard a series of these things this week, 
> with elements playing over each other, and I am trying to understand how 
> it happens.]