Re: "WBZ Boston, USA"

[Garrett Wollman <wollman>]

<<On Tue, 25 Sep 2001 22:35:52 -0400, Richard Chonak <rac@gabriel.cambridge.ma.us> said:

> I probably agree with all of the above, but as a layman I have to ask:
> what's a "sweeper"?

I'm not a pro but I think I've got this one right....

A sweeper is a production element that's used as a bridge between
dissimilar programming elements, usually including a promotional
message (gotta get those diary entries!), particularly when the clock
does not leave time for a mic set.  On 'BZ, they're the short (less
than :15) filler announcements that you often hear in between
commercials; 'BZ use them to pad spot breaks when running ahead of
schedule.  (If they had :15 available, the anchor would open the mic
for a teaser instead, as often happens before traffic.)  By scheduling
these elements in ahead of time, they also provide some flexibility
for running long without having to can valuable commercial avails.

-GAWollman