[BC] Oh No another automation comparison question

Thu Sep 14 10:06:10 CDT 2006

One thing to consider - some of the more expensive automation rigs let you
'take over'.  Take control on a sound-by-sound basis, and do 'real radio'.
Rather than just 'talk during the holes provided'.

If you grew up in radio with tapes and 45's and carts... you remember how
there is a bit of 'something' to the sound created by a real human starting
and stopping elements and spots and songs and that automation still doesn't
do without extraordinary amounts of pre-planning...  Being able to 'slip
cue' a song to a certain point, or time a pre-recorded element to an exact
spot, adds to the 'live' feeling, and, not all autmation systems will allow
it in real time, doubly so with the older one-in / one-out soundcards, or -
ugh - SoundBlasters.

  with a bit more 'horsepower' in your automation rig, though, you *can*
play everything from the format within the exact time frame, and the exact
manner needed by the consultants and PD and *still* not sound repetitive. It
is a lot more work than some are willing to put into it, it takes talent and
the passion to 'want to' be a real talent rather than 'an announcer'...
Being 'an announcer' is what works best with most automations systms,
though.   they are set up to play the stuff out while leaving you places to
talk.  Period.

  So, for my part.. when you are shopping for software/hardware... remember,
you generally get what you pay for.  A great freebie is 'Audacity'.

Don't expect 'Audacity', for example, to be a great on-air-live use program.
Sure it *can* edit sounds, but it's a bit - ah... - rudimentary. - for "real
radio".

  Yes,  I'm sure Audacity would handle all the stuff you need for a four
hour show with no problem... Make one big long soundfile... where you put
yourself a 10, 15, 30, 60 second blank space edited in at the appropriate
places to talk over... heck, you could even put in light fill music there
for your "live voiceover"... and that would be the same thing as many of the
'not for free' automation systems.

  Playing 4 or 6 different soundfiles out of three or 4 soundcards while
hold the song (or whatever) you backtimed into a network... really 'jazzing
up' what you've go on the air... is a bit beyond many of the less expensive
software - they still tend to choke.  Not enough inputs, or outputs, etc.
for 'real radio'.  Many softwares expect you to do your entire program out
of ONE POT.   Is that real radio??

  Be creative on the air.
   There will be folks who ask "why you would want to do this" when you
could/should have seen the PD and gotten permission and pre-edited all that
stuff...

   And I'll answer "because I can" or because that's the difference between
"real radio" and "liner card" radio... or the pre-recorded,
one-jock-serves-8 formats- satellite-radio.

   A good PD trains and finally trusts his talent.  They work together with
what each does well, and we get 'real radio.

Lesser PD's and consultants restrain their talent, all dayparts are made the
same, except morning drive, which is actually just prerecorded and played
back with metrics to follow...

   what job do you want your software to do??
  Buy the best that fits that need then.
Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Wood" <richwood at pobox.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 7:24 AM
Subject: Re: [BC] Oh No another automation comparison question

> ------ 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
>
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