Re: New Hampshire Business Review Article About WFEA News

[<mlaurence@mindspring.com>]

On 25 Apr 2002 at 8:21, Dibmaine@aol.com wrote:

> In my earlier post, I was trying to point on that those things do not happen 
> only as a result of news being prerecorded and run by automation, stations 
> have been doing that for decades.  The problem is really a result of human 
> error -- not using the features of the technology as it was designed to be 
> used.  

One of the biggest problems with automation is what kinds of errors it causes, whether human error is involved or not.

When a live human makes an error on the air, it sounds like a forgiveable and human mistake: coughing, mispronouncing a word, pushing a wrong button.  A listener can easily understand that we all make mistakes, and move on.

Part of the alleged charm of automation systems is that they eliminate nearly all of these mistakes, and that's true.  Management people are especially impressed by the "flawless" on-air sound.

But when the machine screws up, it's often a Twilight Zone situation that lasts for hours.  Listeners can hear hours of dead air, the wrong songs backsold for hours, two talk shows running at once, on-air automation tones and filler music, shows intended for different cities, a completely different format, the list goes on.  Instead of forgiving an announcer for a very human mistake, the listener feels cheated, as if nobody is paying any attention to what's going on at all.

Mark Laurence
mlaurence@mindspring.com