[BC] Certain Spots Blocked From The Internet

[Allen Sherrill]

Rich has described the situation exactly.  We just started streaming our news-talk AM, with the mandate that NO "terrestrial" commercial matter (other than embedded live reads) goes on the stream.  Some of this is stipulated by syndication contracts, but mostly it is just plain old fear of AFTRA fees.

Some of the syndicated talk shows, as Rich notes, provide contact closures or other method of signaling when a network spot is about to run.  Some shows don't offer any such signal.  We record some shows for later playback, and in many cases that makes it difficult or impossible to keep the included net spots off the stream.

I had to install several hundred bucks worth of gear just to detect and distribute the various tones and contact closures, just to keep network spots off the stream.  Setting up the various bits and pieces in the streaming encoder and our digital playout system, to make it all work, took weeks (and is still a work in progress, quite frankly).  For those shows that don't offer any tones or closures for net spots, we simply don't stream those programs.

Doing it right ain't easy.  Trust me.

Allen Sherrill



> The most difficult would be other networks that might not have as 
> many cues as the WOR Radio Network. WOR carries shows from Westwood 
> One and TRN. I don't know how elaborate their current cuing systems are.
> 
> At the time the AFTRA royalty issue surfaced there were several 
> networks (Premiere and ABC, for example) that prohibited any of their 
> affiliates from streaming their shows. That often left a gaping hole 
> in the day on the web or the time was filled with music or repeats of 
> station-owned shows.
> 
> The fact that most Talk stations carry shows from many different 
> networks can make the whole process a nightmare.
> 
> Rich 


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