Comments on: KXLT’s new “better” brighter jockless format

By: RDS

RDS — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:24:07 +0000

“Did you ever dream that computers would arrive at their current saturation point? ”

At the time I wrote it, probably not. That realization came a few years later as computers grew from being “hard wired” for specific tasks to be able to be “programmed”. The key to this was effective memory, something that only in the last decade or so has become a practical reality, allowing computers to do more and store more information than could have been imagined 42 years ago. The average watch today has a more sofisiticated computer and more memory than the computer aboard the first moon lander. I think for me the realization of the potential was when you could actually store audio on a hard drive, and play it back in real time. So again, as stated in my essay, I tend to think in the area I am most familiar — broadcasting.

By: elchupacabras

elchupacabras — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:54:02 +0000

RDS: Very insightful essay that is nearly as valid today as when it was written! I liked the passages: “One should avoid becoming highly specialized in areas that are destined for automation,” and “We should work with the machine and not against it.” (Paraphrased of course!) Did you ever dream that computers would arrive at their current saturation point? Fascinating job. Thanks for posting it.

By: RDS

RDS — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:05:21 +0000

Another interesting post-script to all this .. I was reading in a Handbook to Broadcasting published in 1941 that the radio “actors” were fearful of losing jobs and contracts to “transcriptions”. The transcription meant they only had to do a show once, and it could be replayed later on the network in the western time zones. And, it meant smaller stations didn’t need as many “live” actors, because they could get quality “transcribed” programs to fill the air time. And so, the evolution of job elimination continues….The machines are still taking over………

By: RDS

RDS — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:04:50 +0000

New comment on an old topic .. I promised if I found the article I was talking about I would post it. I did finally find it, and you can read it here: http://www.engineer-exchange.com/images/stories/rockyDocs/automation.pdf

It is posted on my website, but not yet “published” there. It will be soon, but you can still link to it from here now. This is a 2mb pdf, and may take a minute or two to load if you click on it.

A couple facts — I stated I wrote it in 1964 while a senior in High School. It was actually Jan 1966, and I was a freshman in college at the time. Sorry about that.. memories do fade over that many years. It is presented in its entirity — complete with comments from the person who graded it. I find the information about radio on page 5 of particular interest today….

By: ken bass

ken bass — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:56:39 +0000

Rocky, you should’ve foreseen that someone would want to read it!

By: RDS

RDS — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:36:42 +0000

I read it just a couple weeks ago, and put it back in the file cabinet. Now I can’t seem to find it. I’ll try to track it down this weekend, and either post it here or on my site. I’ll let you know when it’s out there. I hope I didn’t send it to storage !

By: Buster Bronco

Buster Bronco — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:45:23 +0000

I agree. I think it would be interesting to read a paper written by a forward thinking high school student who foresaw the industrialization and automation of broadcasting almost a half decade ago. Please post it or make it available on your website.

By: elchupacabras

elchupacabras — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:39:11 +0000

Hey, RDS, how about posting it? Sure it might have been written in ‘64, but it would be interesting to read. Post it! I’d be curious to read it.

By: RDS

RDS — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:54:51 +0000

It was either for an English or a Current Events class when I was a senior in High School. I got an A- on the piece. Knowing what I know now, it does not have the depth it could have, but as time has gone on, it’s points remain as valid or even more so as we have continued down the automated road. This was the time when many smaller stations were moving toward fully automated programming to free them from the problems so often cited of having a full-time live staff. I made the decesion I had to learn to use automation as a tool to make me more effecient and sound better, or I, too, would not have a job. I had to embrace it as a friend, not an enemy. Coming from the era I do, I am very comfortable using automation to assist me by handing me my spots and music, but I still like to be “live” otherwise, not voice-tracked. Having said that, I pretty much moved out from behind the mic several years ago, and went fully into the engineering aspect of radio instead. I never pretended to be great on the air, but I think I was at least fun to listen to. If you go to the air-check portion of my website, all of stuff from KBMY was done with the help of automation. It was a mixture of live and live assist, I guess you would say. Some stuff from tape (automation), some from records, and access to the the spots via the automation. It was still up to the “jock” to build the show, however. Yes, you could push the button and walk away for awhile, but we kept the “live” aspect going otherwise.

By: Buster Bronco

Buster Bronco — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:21:48 +0000

RDS,
History tells us how Charlie Chaplin was viewed for his commentary on industrial modernization in the late 1930’s. For whom or what did you pen your essay and how was it viewed by your professors and/or audience?