[BC] Silence sense? - was Clear Channel Wants More?

[Gary Peterson]

Silence sensors are nice but they don't catch a whole plethora of problems.
A few years ago, a relay locked up on a satellite receiver at a competitor's
station.  For over four hours, it played continuous liners over program
audio.  I was unable to contact anyone having anything to do with that
station (it was a weekend).  Last weekend, a local station (not one of mine)
had time announcements that were way off (at 3 PM, their time announcement
said "it's twelve midnight").  It was that way all weekend.  Another station
had a nasty "whistle" on program audio for a dozen hours.  (again, not one
of mine)  Recently, Jones network inadvertently switched their oldies format
receivers to country.  If that had occurred on an overnight or weekend, it
could have gone on for hours before being detected.  I don't believe this is
unique to this market, as I have heard plenty of aural trainwrecks
elsewhere.

Many people who hold the "program director" title do not listen to their
stations except, maybe, during their board shift.  The remainder of the
time, many of them go into hiding.  Whether cell or landline, any attempt to
contact them will involve leaving a voice mail message.  Any prompt reply is
highly unlikely.  IMHO, management should hold them accountable for problems
that drag on for hours/days or find someone else to monitor periodically.
Maybe shut-ins or answering services could be paid to keep an ear on each
station and notify someone in the event of a *content* problem.  That still
doesn't solve the problem of the monitoring person being able to get in
touch with someone who is avoiding phone calls.  You'd even think that a
jock (not the PD) who voice tracks a shift would listen to themselves once
in a while to see what their VTs sound like.  I see little evidence of even
that.  More than once, I have heard "Oh, I don't listen to the station when
I'm not on the air."  If it were up to me, I would throw that back in their
face when they asked for a raise.

As the person responsible for seven transmitters, two studio sites and three
translators, I don't feel it is my responsibility to monitor for content
(and I am not expected to).  I just find it sad that, more often than not, I
am the first person to be aware of a *content* problem (even at my
competitor's stations).

Gary Peterson, K?CX
Rapid City/Sturgis, SD

" That's something that can be fixed with corporate policy. For example,
Nashville has silince sensors that alarm in the central control point, with
a tuner that can be used for monitoring. It isn't constant human monitoring,
but catches the problems.
Mike Gideon "