RE: mistakes was how do you get a dirary

[Roger Kirk <rkirk@mail1.videoserver.com>]

Donna Halper Wrote:
>>I'm so fed up with radio lately that I mainly play tapes in my car...
>>sometimes I listen to WBZ and count the number of mistakes... <g>

Don Breda wrote:

>Regarding mistakes.
>I guess I have had this question rattling around in my mind for a long
>time and never asked.
>It seems to me that many many radio personalities constantly make
>mistakes when reading the time?
>What is it with those clocks?
>Are they hard to read? Do most radio stations use the same clok i.e.
>probably ment to meet certain specs?
>What is the deal here?
>It surprises me how many different radion stations I listen to and
>mistakes are made when giving the time.
>Weird!

When I worked for RKO General, the DJ had a mechanical Digital Clock with   
LARGE NUMBERS and hours & minutes only.  It advanced 30 seconds early so   
that the "average time announced" would be correct.  The DJ would   
announce the time as read from the clock and if it changed while   
announcing, they ignored it - well, most of them did - some made a big   
deal about it and only confused the listener.

I suspect that today with computers and well-intentioned (but not   
broadcasting-trained) programmers, some announcers may be trying to read   
a clock (with hh:mm:ss) on the CRT and if it represents "real" time,   
they're trying to round up/down in their head.  This is only a guess, but   
it could be an explanation.

Anybody out there have a better guess and/or direct knowledge?


Roger Kirk a.k.a. The Wizard Of Music
rkirk@videoserver.com  

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