Re: WBZ-AM Living In The Past

["Aaron 'Bishop' Read" <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 08:40 PM 11/10/2002, Sean Smyth wrote:
>Paul Anderson writes:
> > A week ago Friday, WBZ ran the afternoon stock report.  The whole thing
> > ran, and I didn't think it sounded right, because the market was up
> > that day but the report told of a down market.  The announcer
> > apologized a few minutes later, as the report was from the day before.
> >
> > It seems to me WBZ makes too many of such goofs for "America's most
> > powerful news organization".
>
>Is it the chicken (increased technology breeding screw-ups) or the egg (the
>person programming the computer messing up)? Is the industry relying too
>much on computers nowadays at the expense of a tight-sounding product?

The short answer is: "Yes"

Even on their best day, computers still have not reached (and probably 
won't for a long time) the level where they sound as good as a well-trained 
person does on a good day.  Problem is, management sees a HUGE cost savings 
by eliminating all those well-trained staff members who occasionally screw 
up, for a computer that (in theory) never screws up.

The problem is, management never seems to get that computers are only as 
good as the people running them...if you take away the talented people the 
computer-driven sound WILL reflect that and you'll get bad breaks, sloppy 
audio cuts, missed cues, and spots playing at the wrong time.   And 
management always sees that as the fault of the computer, or worse, they 
look at the remaining staff and yell at them like it's their fault that 
they're not all computer experts.

Like I often tell people who want me to "just show them real quick how to 
work this editing software" on some huge audio project at some stations - 
there's a reason people get paid for that work.  It takes time, dedication, 
and knowledge to do it right.  Any idiot can do acts-n-tracks with 15 
minutes of practice on Cool Edit...I'd like to see that same idiot take 
muddled tape, a off-mic interviewee, and cassette-based theme music, and 
turn it into a quality product.  As Homey the Clown says..."I don't think 
so!"  Actually...I know a lot of idiots that can't even do acts-n-tracks 
for that matter...



_________________________________________________________
Aaron "Bishop" Read       aread@speakeasy.net
Fried Bagels Consulting   www.friedbagels.com
AOL-IM: ReadAaron         Brighton, MA 02135