[BC] Oh No another automation comparison question

[Rich Wood]

------ At 04:44 PM 9/13/2006, Glen Kippel wrote: -------

>Maybe you just want the system to handle stop sets, and the jocks play CD's
>direct-to-air.  Maybe you want everything on the system, and the jock just
>temporarily stops the playout to do the weather, a contest, etc., and
>restarts the system where it left off.

In Talk Radio we do the former, minus the CDs. For music, I don't 
hear many jocks with the passionate interest in or knowledge of the 
music that they can do segues better than a properly encoded cut on a 
hard drive. Why have a human doing nothing but pushing a button every 
3 minutes? Some highly-rated Talk Jocks say the same thing over and 
over they could have pull strings on their backs. I guess we could 
automate that. Many have been doing that for 20 years or more - on both sides.

For music, the latter makes more sense. Carefully program the music, 
code it well, and let the Jock pay attention to what he or she can 
contribute to the show. Having programmed what we called "matched 
flow" for syndication I don't hear that on contemporary radio. Train 
wrecks on radio make Amtrak look good. Automation does a good job of 
pushing buttons. People do good jobs (sometimes) at being creative. 
With songs properly coded and a system like Selector properly coded 
you can make some awfully good music segments. I have to admit to 
being a big Selector fan. I used it at WPIX-FM (now WQCD, New York). 
Other stations wanted to know how I avoided train wrecks. It's 
infinitely configurable and can reproduce a programmers intent as 
though it were specially composed for each segment.

At WJIB, Boston, I had to program each song individually, 24/7. It 
was torture. In syndication, "matched flow" segments were carefully 
done and, unfortunately, cast in stone. The same sequences came up 
every time a particular reel was scheduled. Still, it made many 
stations #1 in their markets.

The real appeal of an automation system is how well it integrates 
with your music scheduling software and your traffic system. For 
traffic, does it talk both ways so a log doesn't have to be manually 
reconciled to generate invoices and affidavits? No matter which 
system you choose, creating clocks is a one-time thing every time the 
station "blows up" a format.

Rich

Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-454-3258