THE BROADCAST LIST

1. What is BROADCAST?

BROADCAST is a mailing list primarily by and for broadcast professionals.

We discuss things as if we were in one another's living room. This is not a Debate Society. Points are not given for "destroying" someone else.

2. Who is the Moderator? What does that mean?

The Moderator is Barry Mishkind, Editor of Radio Guide Magazine, a broadcast industry trade magazine for engineers and managers. Barry guides the threads and helps keep them on topic.

3. How do I subscribe to BROADCAST?

The place to subscribe to the BROADCAST list, along with other lists of interest to broadcasters, is www.radiolists.net

4. I would subscribe, but I don't want the posts clogging my inbox.

There are three ways to handle this.

1. In your email program, use a "filter" to direct posts to a special inbox. The Subject line has a [BC] on it, to make it easy for you.

2. Subscribe, but select the Digest mode. You will get one or two messages a day with multiple posts.

3. Subscribe, but select the "no mail" option. You can read messages on-line from the archives.

One way to reduce the amount of posts is to set your preferences for "Digest."  This takes the posts in a block of 20 or 30, and sends you one email with an "Index." 

Normally, you will only get one or two of these a day (one is generated automatically in late evening). 

6. Can I read the posts on-line?

Yes. Go to http://lists.radiolists.net/mailman/listinfo/broadcast

You can read from the Archive, sorted by date, author or subject.

Please remember, that if you want to post, you need to be a subscriber, or your post will be "held."

At the bottom of every post is a link to a page where you can change your subscription or unsubscribe.  

8. I don't remember my password.

If you go to the subscription services URL, there is a button you can click on to have your password sent to you right away.

Crossposting is discouraged. 

Some people crosspost messages, thinking they will reach more people that way. However, this can create two problems: 

First, posting to similar lists will tend to reach the same people - just clogging their inboxes with duplicate posts. Secondly, crossposting to some lists, like Yahoo Groups or some Internet "newsgroups" can create real problems, as the spammers watch those lists and immediately "grab" any new lists.

POSTING TO THE LIST

10. How do I post to BC?

Posts to the list are directed to:

11. What is "on topic" on BC?

Proper content for posts is anything concerned with the operation of broadcast stations or broadcast history. Specifically NOT "on topic" are religious or political posts or flames. If something is really that important you have to make a personal or political comment, please take it to the Alternate Frequency.

Perhaps the easiest way to describe the list is to say we DISCUSS matters of concern for professional broadcasters, we are not going to DEBATE matters of preference.

For example, AM stereo is an emotional topic with some; DXing is with others. Debating whether they are good or bad adds nothing to the busy life of professional broadcasters, and more than debating whether stations that do not play lots of local artists are bad. Most of these threads will become a quick "tune-out." 

Other lists are provided where this sort of thread is acceptable. Try the Alternate Frequency or RTT at:
                         www.radiolists.net

There are two reasons for indentifying yourself: (1) The majority of readers are professional broadcasters. It is basic courtesy to include your name with your posts. And (2), if you are asking about help in a specific location, it helps to know where you are.

Most mailers let you enter a name along with the return address. This is good practice in these days of heavy spam.

The Subject line should be an indication of the content of the thread. However, sometimes this mutates, and people forget to change the Subject.  We encourage you to change the Subject line if you are moving in a different direction. For those who are tired of the old "Subject," you will alert them to the new thoughts.

Please remember that your fellow listers are as busy as you are. You can help them by reducing the "overhead" as they read the list.

Ideally, your post should contain at least 50% new content. Please do not quote 50 lines and add only one or two lines. If you want to say "I agree" or "I don't think that is true," send something like that privately.

Not only are posts overloaded with quotes a burden on inboxes, but in the Digest format (for those that want fewer posts) it means scrolling past long lines of quotes to get to short responses. The worst is when a person will quote an entire Digest ... and add just "I agree." 

If you trim the quotes, you make your thoughts more understandable.

The worst are the quotes where there are six or eight sets of .sigs at the bottom, quoted, requoted, requoted, until the .sigs are as long as the messages!  Please trim the bottom of these posts as well as the top (see item #16).

Now, if you do want to do a sort of "ditto" post ... then trim the previous quote to three or four lines.

It would much better, though, if you would add a thought or two to the discussion.

Finally, remember that there are some who are on dial-up, either due to lack of wide band at some location, a bad connection at a motel, in a foreign lands where access is by the minute, or because there is some other issue. By trimming quotes, we reduce the burden on others. 

Because so much of spam and viruses are contained in email with "formatted" or html coding, most mailing lists prefer plain text in posts. Mailman is set to convert most emails to plain text when they arrive, but some, especially from AOL do not convert well, and get "stuck" in the Admin basket. Using plain text will prevent delays and bounce messages.

Most folks set their .sig lines in a separate file and rarely see them. Amazingly, sometimes people will post a one line response with a .sig of 10 or even 15 lines. (Often after quoting several dozen lines.)

If you stop and remember that it will appear on every post (and when people quote your post), as well as in the Digest, you will see why it is a kindness to restrict the .sig to three or four lines max. Use a URL to point to a page with all the info and other URLs.

There really is no reason to post every phone number, address, business and promotional reference in each email, especially if you post more than once in a day. Most email readers allow the setting of separate .sigs for "regular" email and list posting, so we encourage that.. 

Posts with excessively long .sigs may have their posts delayed, trimmed, or both.

These are just silly. There is no confidentiality in sending to a mailing list. Furthermore, there is no legal standing to such "disclaimers" and it merely shows your company is more  concerned with playing bully than being "user friendly." "Strictly prohibited" is a common but ultimately useless phrase. Ask whoever originated it to explain! 

If this is a problem with some crazy IT manager or make-work lawyer, perhaps you need a gmail account. Let us know, we'll try to help.

Posts with "Confidentiality" or "disclaimer" .sigs may have their posts delayed and the silliness excised.

It might seem "cool" to send out a response when you are out of the office, or on vacation. However, when you are subscribed to a mailing list, you must take care that your 'bot does not respond to every post. Some even create "loops," replying to themselves.

It would be good to use 'bots VERY sparingly, and to prevent 'bots from sending to lists, and

Sometimes, you see a post and want to respond to a personal issue. Feel free to do it privately. There is no need to conduct every debate in public. All that does in load up others inboxes and cause them to see BC as less valuable to their lives. 

HELP ISSUES

21. I tried posting, but my post never came back.

        In order to stop spam, posts to the list from addresses not subscribed are "trapped," along with those containing formatted or html code. If your post does not come back in short order, it is likely held for administrative action. It might be a few minutes or a few days before the post is approved, depending upon how busy the admin is.

In the meantime, you are welcome to subscribe at www.radiolists.net

Worried about excessive email or perhaps you just would rather read the list online?  Please  click here and see #4 above

Probably not. What may have happened is your ISP may have decided to put the list on a filter, in an attempt to prevent spam. If you suddenly stop getting posts, check with your ISP first.

Sometimes, lazy people who don't want to receive the list any longer will mark it as "spam" to their ISP, and BC or radiolists.net gets put on a spam list. Your help to identify and stop this from happening helps everyone.

If you think about it, the first question is "why would you do that?" Just because you think something might be wrong, why add another message to thousands of inboxes. 

If you think there is an issue, send a message directly to me and we will not annoy others, nor start a series of "I got it here" posts.

This may be because YOUR ISP is on a spam list somewhere. These lists, which try to reduce the amount of spam (now over 90% of all email) sometimes catch you because someone on the same ISP is a spammer. If your bounce message includes the word "{Spam?}" it is likely this has happened.   

Another major reason for a bounce or reject message is that your post contained more html formatting, or other graphics, than plain text. (AOL is especially a problem with this.) If this is the case, try sending the message in plain text.    

Attachments are not permitted on the list. This is to prevent viruses and trojans from getting through.  If it is important, let me know, and it is possible I might be able to post it on a web page so others can see it.

I'm sure Xxxxx Xxxxxxx likes you, too! Seriously, some posters do seem to outlive their welcome. Generally, it is not best to conduct a debate about people on the list. For your information, I usually try to have a private email conversation with such ones. Occasionally, I will restrict someone's posting privileges, but I would hope they would respond to my private requests and modify their approach. Fortunately, I can count on one hand the number of people that have had to be "banned."

Humor is welcome on the list. However, a long series of puns, which inevitably drift slightly "off color" really don't add to the list, and are a turn off for many.

If you sent me an email and I did not answer, the most likely answer is I did not get your email. This could be due to ISP filtering - at either end - or you might be running a whitelist.

One solution might be to use this alternate address