Automation for college stations.... (was Re: WMWM taking a week off...)

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie3@yahoo.com>]

     This has obviously been a very interesting
subject based upon the amount of replies that have
been received here.  Thank you everyone!  And to Bob
Nelson, more power to you in being at WMWM since 1981.
 I engineer your sister station WBIM-FM at Bridgewater
State College.  Like our other sister station, WDJM-FM
(Framingham State College) we too participate with the
Talking Information Center during the breaks (on
Sundays).  The rest of the time we automate during the
breaks with music, hand-picked by the Music and
Program Directors. They program it to their
specifications and as a result, it still has the same
"flavor" as our regular live format.
     We chose the WINAMP system for automation for
simplicity in operation.  It's FREE and everybody uses
it.  It's not high-tech by any stretch of the
imagination. We were going to try the "Digilink Free"
automation system, but programming "that thing" was
next to impossible. But, lowly WINAMP does it's job
and if done right (with the proper plug-ins), it can
sound like someone's "riding the board".  The SQR Soft
Crossfader plug-in does the job nicely.  If you load
up the MP3's, then put an quick ID and a PSA every 10
songs (a 1 to 10 ratio), and run it randomly it will
sound respectable.  It will not sound repetitive. Make
sure to put a quick "tag" at the end of the PSA's like
"a reminder from (insert your station here)". You can
get a logging program for WINAMP using yet another
plug-in.
    Our legal ID is automatically blended in at the
top of every hour with a cart deck connected to our
Sine-Systems remote control. I just leave the music
audio a little lower than the cart machine's level on
the board.  I let the processor "do its' job" in
ramping the audio down for the ID to be blended in
properly.
    Like all State Colleges, we too, have to "make do"
with what little we have.  But, you CAN be creative on
what little you DO have.  As a result, I give you....
"BAMM-BAMM", the WBIM rudimentary automation system. 
As a 20+ year alum of BSC, and as the station's CE for
6 years, I know how hard it is to get an FM frequency.
 To be silent during breaks, to me, was unacceptable. 
Now we are 24/7, year round.  I run the station like a
mother hen during the breaks.  It's fun.
    If you're in the area (on 91.5 FM, in Stereo) or
listen on line http://www.bridgew.edu/wbim, try it
out.  Sure, WINAMP is not perfect but it does a good
job for our use.

73,

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts     
      
  
--- Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> --- "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyross.com>
> wrote:
> 
> >  WMUA always was off 
> > the air during school vacations. 
> 
> I've been at WMWM non-stop since March of '81
> (though
> lately I only do one show a month) and can tell you
> that some years, we were off during the summer
> and/or
> the Christmas break, but in other years we'd be on
> all
> the time, even Christmas Day. (That would include
> last
> year, as I was on for about an hour just before I
> went
> to my family get-together. No voice tracking
> at WMWM!)
> 
> One year, we were told that during the summer we
> could
> only be on during the hours that the College
> Union was open. That meant a schedule of Monday
> through Friday, 7 am to 5 pm. Weekend shows like
> mine (a Sunday blues show) wound up in the 7 am
> slot.
> 
> Sometimes we went off during a break because most
> people wouldn't want to do shows, anyway. Other
> times, it was due to an order from the college.
> 
> As far as "why don't they do automation", we have a
> very small budget...We have two computers, one for
> the general manager's office and a Mac in the
> production studio. Maybe someday we'll get one for
> the on-air studio and do automated stuff (I think
> WRPS 88.3 in Rockland does automated programming
> overnights.)
> 
> > As for why small things get eliminated, it's
> because
> > big things have powerful advocates.  
> > They cut the things they can most easily cut.
> 
> We're just a 130 watt station at a state college.
> By the way, most of the funding comes from student
> activity fees, not from the college budget (though
> the college does own the license.)
> 
> 


=====
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
                           "Scanning the bands since 1967"
radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
***********************************************************

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