Many young broadcasters today have never heard the exciting days of radio that existed in the 60s. Here's a great documentary on one of the most exciting news operations of the day.

It's a documentary, not an air check so it's very informative. Be prepared to hear some great voices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDCdbmwy9l8

Can you imagine trying to create this kind of radio excitement with voice tracking and a computer (Sorry Chris).

"Many young broadcasters today have never heard the exciting days of radio that existed in the 60s."

.........at least, those young broadcasters today who didn't have grandparents with reel-to-reel tape decks, of course! ;o)

(I am on the dialup system right now, so I will have to check the Youtube link a bit later when I have access to the DSL terminal......)

Ya, you screwed up a segue cart it was erase it and do another whole show hour OVER AGAIN. I did a lot of that ! Audiophiles on the Schaeffer/Cetec ! Good thing we had spotliner carts stop down generics , weather carts and so forth. I used to do tailored stop down spotliner carts on the automated middays for more 'reality' so that I could have , 'coming up next'and maybe do a contest phoner call in handled by live staff, and so forth. The Gen Mgr. told the PD that the company was not going to pay for extra time for me to do that and the extra time for somebody during the day to "load' those carts..but I managed to 'average out' my time card...ha ha ha ...

>>Can you imagine trying to create this kind of radio excitement with voice tracking and a computer<<

Actually, the late Jackson Armstrong DID create that kind of radio excitement when he was voice tracking for WWKB/Buffalo three years ago. Try and find an aircheck and you'll hear what I mean.

Also, Tom Benner created that kind of magic at KNEW/SF in 1997 - back when voice tracking was in its infancy. Benner was the morning guy but tracked nights as well, and did fully produced bits with character voices he created. I remember he kept crashing the software because the voice tracker wasn't designed to handle tracks longer than five minutes!

Voice tracking is only a tool - and it's the ability of the user that determines how well the tool works.

Jack Armstrong was an incredible talent. He used to work for me in Cleveland at WKYC. Totally focused at all times on doing a great job.

Kennewcikman, I don't even know what the terminology in your post means. That's how much things have changed. Did you listen to the documentary?

Thanks Deane. That was awesome!

The documentary is blocked here at work our network is set tight as a drum , so I will have to listen at home, sorry.

Most old automations used carts, audio cartridges the 7 inch ones...ya..and they got loaded into these weird playback machines that looked like robbie the robot and all that jazz.

Oh I guess i misread this..I thought it was about the 'Older Automations'...the ones before digital.

No we're talking about the good old days, the real good old days when radio was actually people with great talent and they were allowed to use it.

I saw Lyle Dean. What a voice he had. He was heard locally on ABC Radio.

By the way, the late-great Jerry Kay of KJR fame worked over nights at LS for a while.

Being and sounding spontaneous is what I always had the biggest problem with when automating. I got pretty good at being consistent with it but some days were easier than others. It also depended upon how good the show prep was on any given day. Too much reliance on show prep when automating, I think. It starts to sound contrived.

Live is much easier, really, and sounds 250% better right out of the shoot. The only thing is if you 'fluff' you cant take it back and so that means you have to be the best you can be, period. You can go with the flow of the day, local events, weather , traffic, the newspaper makes a great free resource and some show prep of course. The PHONES are really useful. Find whats on the minds of the locals. You can use them in a myriad of ways. And the creative promotions always go over best when done live all the time ! Instant feedback makes for 'Reality Radio' which was invented far before 'Reality Television" .

One thing I found out by accident once was that it is useful to 'man the phone's" before your airshift for say a half hour before you go on. Sometimes I could get the 'mood for the day' responses out some of the listeners. Just ask a few questions , small talk, what are you doing today and so forth. I used this when automating in later years, answering the phones whilst sittin on my 'arse' in the studio VTing the next days show.

Yes, that was certainly a great piece. Those were the days that made radio great to listen to.

Equally fascinating/interesting are many of the "similar" video links from that one and following links from others. There are a lot of good clips relating to the "good old days".

Radiohead said: By the way, the late-great Jerry Kay of KJR fame worked over nights at LS for a while.
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Larry Lujack got Jerry Kay the 'LS gig. When Larry left 'JR for Boston, then Chicago and 'LS, Pat O'Day tried to hire one of KOL's biggest jocks, Rhett Hamilton Walker, to take Larry's shift. Jerry, who was still on the air at KJR, heard about it and one night on his show said some demeaning things about the guy. RHW called Pat and said someting to the effect that "if this is the way you guys are gonna treat me before I even get there then I ain't comin'" Pat then told Jerry that if RHW did not come to KJR Jerry would be fired. RHW passed on KJR, Pat fired Jerry, and Larry got Jerry the all-nighter on 'LS.

"Can you imagine trying to create this kind of radio excitement with voice tracking and a computer (Sorry Chris)."

No need to apologize to me Deane I loved watching the piece. I have fond memories of KCYX and putting listeners or local celeb's on the air to get their take on a local news story.

I've had some great runs in my life. 5 years at Z100 was a blast. Phoners every shift. Some you would save for another day. Even as much as we made "live" radio live, because of the medium everything was not always live. The booth announcer yes was live but the theatre of radio was very different.

I have been waiting to use this quote from Mike Sakellarides. Mike spent 25 years at KOST doing midday’s but voice tracked his Saturday show. I have stayed in touch with Mike all these years and found this to be some valuable insight.

Mike Sakellarides on voice tracking

In Los Angeles, Mike Sakellarides has been the midday host at AC KOST-FM 103.5 for twenty-one years! Mike recently shared a very poignant bit of advice with LARadio.com's Don Barrett:

[On voice tracking his Saturday show]...it’s either come in and do it live or produce it automated by doing the tracks. I have told co-workers and students alike: ‘A live radio show is like performing on the stage in real time before a live audience with all its potential for brilliance or disaster. An automated or ‘Prophetized’ show is like acting in the movies. It is produced out of sequence, but hopefully, with the very best takes and editing...when they are done well, *both* should satisfy the audience.’

Chris, I was wondering when you would show up in this thread. I knew it would be too interesting for you to pass up.

As a major movie fan (I've ordered 9 Blu-rays in the past two days), I appreciate what Mike Sakellarides said about voice tracking. Good analogy.

As you know I'm a major critic of today's radio and there's no need to go through all the negatives in this post. We all know what they are.

What we need is for radio to be back in the hands of radio operators. These were people that in large part started at the bottom, learned the business and ended up running it. The MBAs think these people are too uneducated to run a major business and that what they (the MBAs) learned at Harvard provides far better management skill. I think the state of the industry is proving them to be wrong. Surprise, surprise.

The other problem is a foggy thinking FCC. Why they thought it was their job to turn broadcasting over to Wall Street and the mega-operator MBAs defies all understanding. I have heard rumblings the FCC is playing around with new rule making trying to undo some of the damage. It's a little late to try and put the toothpaste back in the tube.

I just heard something that I thought I would never hear again... I tuned in KMUN (91.9 Astoria) in time to hear an "antique" goof on their Crossroads program (Folk, Bluegrass & Country). They started a 45 of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by mistake at 33.3 then switched to 45! Gotta love live radio!
(Especially if they play a little Vinyl)

Deane I am in total agreement with you on the state of radio. It's been hard watching this happen to an industry that we both love so much. Deregulation from Reagan to Clinton really took the heart and soul out of this industry.

What I am thankful for in my current situation is the radio group I voice track for IS locally owned and has allowed my wife and I some creative input when it comes to programing our morning show. We've been doing it for 7 years now in the Coos Bay market. My longest stint in radio.

Jr_tech. I'll contact my sister who volunteers for KMUN and let her know about what you heard the other day. I have been in those studios on several occasions. Pretty nice for a community run station.

Chris_taylor:

Great! This just occured a few minutes before I posted... I thought that it was a good illustration of the kind of thing that happened before "computer radio".

Is she on the air or a "worker-bee" behind the scenes?

You are right, it IS a nice little station! I have stopped by several times, been treated well each time.

Jr. Tech-

She volunteers on the air a couple of times a month.

I too thought I would check in on this thread.......

I'm not going to comment, just checking in.

That is a really great little documentary! I especially like their use of the Bam-Bam-Bam CKLW news sounder!

I am surprised and impressed by the talent that these broadcasters and reporters had for getting the audience excited about the news. Until I saw this, I had never before considered that news tip lines can serve to generate excitement about the news by making listeners feel as if they can be part of the news. I could also see how some cynics might criticize CKLW's "punchy" approach to news as tasteless sensationalization.

Getting back to the main topic of whether a CKLW style newscast could be pre-recorded, I don't see why not.

Roger when you get around to commenting, and I hope you do, I will look forward to it.

"Bulletin, Bulletin...Stay Tuned For More Total Information!" Looking back on it, I don't think I ever heard one of those that was important enough to interrupt regular programming!

I did....They did the KISN ...BULLETIN BULLETIN....and sounder ...when Bobby Kennedy got shot in 68'. I was up in bed with the radio on falling to sleep on a school night when KISN hit the panic cart.

Made me go downstairs and turn the TV on, to the annoyance of my Parents wondering what all the fuss was about. We had just been up watching the returns from California and all went to bed before the shooting.

I think it was about 2 in the morning. I was still watching when it happened. All I could think was "no, not again"! I don't remember going back to school. Maybe it was already out for me. It would be early on June 5th. I remember the next day, they were selling pins that said, "Pray for Bobby". Did they go back to the song after the bulletin?

Yes KISN did go back to music and I think they did more breaks after that because I heard some thru the night , waking up from time to time. I dont remember exactly as it was 40 years ago now and memory fades. Seems to me I heard this bulletin around midnight, when I went downstairs to look at the TV. And then back upstairs listening to KISN again and turned it over to KGW or KEX for awhile and back to KISN and to sleep. I was sleeping on and off most of the night.

We werent out of school yet, still had a day or two left in Vancouver Schools. One thing this brings to mind, kind of a funny aside. When I was a kid and young adult I could listen to the radio and go to sleep to it. However, after I started 'on the air ' I no more could go to sleep with the radio on than I could go to sleep at a NASCAR race. I discovered that no matter what station I tried to listen to and go to sleep my brain would wake me up at segue time or cart/liner time or some other program element which in those days were all manually performed by the Jock ! NO SLEEP FOR THE WICKED after you been in the 'cockpit' a few times. Thereafter if I wanted music to go to sleep I had to put on an LP record or tape , NOT RADIO...