[BC] Making format choices

[WBRadiolists at aol.com]

In a message dated 02/06/2009 4:59:52 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
jBowen at rejoice.org writes:

> Thought I would throw a quote I found that applies here
>  
>  Let choirs sing well or not at all. (SNIP)
>  C.S Lewis
>  
>  Thought that went well with this discussion. 

How so? Seriously!

Ok, on a tangent, here... I only kept that one line, because it ties in to a 
real life situation I dealt with in my former employ... local churches with 
choirs that simply couldn't sing. (Shudder!!) Many of them were totally off-key, 
and recorded with grossly unbalanced "mixes". (If you could even call them 
that.) Screechy vocals totally overpowering the instruments, a very loud drum 
set, etc. Horrible productions!

The worst-ever submission sounded like a $19.95 K-Mart special cassette deck, 
placed on the *back pew*. Shudder!!

Worst case of shoddy/lazy programming went to a chuch that provided the 
station with 5 or 6 cassettes... which were simply rotated weekly for nearly a 
*year* before it was discovered! (They were paying their bills, and the former 
part-time weekend guy never said a word. The new guy did!)

Because of so many programs being submitted like this in the past, one of my 
new Managers began enforcing strict quality standards on all programs 
submitted for broadcast. It didn't take them long to realize that shoddy production 
was no longer going to be aired. A number of formerly terrible programs improved 
significantly. :) A few just "went away" and were replaced by others of much 
better quality. The ones with the terrible choirs began airing only the 
sermons... which was a MUCH better use of their airtime! :) 

All *new* programmers got a course in "Radio Production 101" with 
constructive feedback and suggestions, as they "fine-tuned" their presentations before 
their debut broadcast. It worked! No more shoddy programming! I was so happy to 
be a part of that "clean-up" process! :)

When a station airs poor quality programming, it not only reflects badly upon 
the station, but causes listeners to tune-out, adversely affectiong the 
programs that followed. (This was one of the explanations we gave to the 
programmers who questioned our new proceedures and standards.)

Then there were the locals who submitted music for airplay... some of which 
barely could be called "music". Like the terrible choirs mentioned above, they 
sang off-key, off-mic, you name it! The worst one was the woman who apparently 
sat at her kitchen table, in front of a $19.95 K-Mart special, and sang. You 
could hear the drone of the motor inside the machine... she was using the 
built-in mic. You could hear cars driving by, the fridge running, the neighbor's 
dog barking, people walking in another room... and she was "offended" that we 
wouldn't consider it for airplay! An offer to this lady by a friend to use her 
recording studio was never even acknowledged!

Our best effort is *always* needed to make our on-air product the best it can 
be. The hardest part for me was trying to tell people who submitted TERRIBLE 
"music" that we just could not and would not play it. Then an idea hit me... I 
started telling anyone who contacted the station about submitting music, that 
it had to be store-bought quality, or very close to it. That stopped the 
majority of the bad quality stuff in its tracks. :) Eventually, I ended up getting 
a few VERY GOOD songs which were added to the on-air library.

Willie...
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