[BC] Formatics

[Bob Tarsio]

Bob:

I worked at WHUD up in Peekskill, NY in the 70s. WHUD was actually a direct
competitor to WPAT by then and they ran the FM 100 format on open reel. As I
recall, by then a lot of what you refer to that was done by hand at WPAT was
built into the FM 100 format. There were different reels that were to be
placed on the automation system on certain machines. The music format
programming file played each machine in a sequence based upon some of the
same parameters that you mentioned about WPAT. We had pretty good ratings in
those days too. 

I remember then general manager Ed Creem telling us that automation and the
FM 100 format was not about eliminating staff which in fact is was not. We
had as many people on staff as the live stations in the area did, about 35
fulltime employees for a stand alone AM/FM combo like WPAT. He said and I
think he was probably right that it was more about format consistency and
reliability. It worked for a lot of years. Ed was a real broadcaster. He
took advantage of what was available at the time, a taped format that needed
little manpower to implement, an automation system which actually kept two
full time engineers very busy! Oh well, one out of two isn't bad! Actually
the staff saved on format allowed for additional staff for a full time news
operation. Sadly, that is a historical concept at suburban radio stations
these days. Ed is now retired but still interested in what is happening in
the business I suspect.

Bob, do you remember how many people staffed WPAT in those days? Also, was
Ken Lamb working there then? He was involved with WHUD in the waning days of
the beautiful music format in the mid eighties. Since then I have lost track
of him. 

Bob Tarsio

ww.Broadcast-Devices.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Robert Orban
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 02:23
To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [BC] Formatics

At 08:33 AM 3/31/2008, you wrote:

When I worked at WPAT (serving the New York metro area from beautiful 
Paterson, NJ) in the summer of '68, I found it fascinating that their 
music was played out from single tapes that had a half-hour worth of 
programming (less time for commercial breaks). They had a 
professional musician in-house who sequenced the reels in their 
production studio, matching cuts by key, mood and flow, very much 
like Muzak. As I recall, they had excellent ratings. (This may have 
been pre-Schulke; I don't recall when he first started syndicating.)




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