[BC] End of an Era...

[Paul Smith W4KNX]

What you have today is almost every little govt. agency has a Public
Information Officer.  They either post to internet sites what is news or fax
it to you.  Most stations dont have news departments anylonger either.  So
government has gotten bloated, radio has gotten leaner.  (Would you expect
anything less?)  I can log on here and look at all the traffic cameras in
the Tampa area, and look at all the police reports from the various agencies
in the area.  Also, many agencies use either trunked communication systems,
or digital, so it's almost impossible to track them via scanner.

Paul Smith
Sarasota, FL

-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net]On Behalf Of Harold Hallikainen
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 9:06 AM
To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
Subject: RE: [BC] End of an Era...



>
>
> I wonder how many radio stations have police scanners these days.   I
> wonder
> how many stations still have a scanner, with a mute relay, in the control
> room.  The first two stations I worked for frequently covered major wrecks
> and fires with a live special report.  We would hear it on the scanner and
> someone, usually the station's GM, would rush out and do a special report
> over the Marti.  I was even on the air when the boss did a live report
> from
> a helicopter crash site.  One of the pioneers of radio in this area used
> to
> say on the air, "tune in for the expected; stay tuned for the unexpected".
>

In the 1950s, as a kid, I used to listen to the LA Police just a little
above the AM broadcast band. They boomed into the San Francisco east bay.
Then, at my first commercial station in the early 1970s, I added a squelch
relay to a scanner to start a tape recorder whenever anything came on the
scanner. The news guy ("Peterson .... .... .... and the news") would
listen to the tape the next morning to find out what happened overnight.

Harold


--
FCC Rules Updated Daily at http://www.hallikainen.com - Advertising
opportunities available!

_______________________________________________
This is the BROADCAST mailing list
To send to the list, email: broadcast at radiolists.net
For sub changes, archives and info on this other lists:
http://www.radiolists.net/