Re: Satellite sun outages

[Matthew Osborne <mattosborne1976@yahoo.com>]

On Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:00:45 -0800 pete lee wrote:

> My question is: if astronomers can predict eclipses.
> et al, can satellite outages be likewise predicted?

Yes, and they are predicted very accurately almost to
the minute.  I had the honor of being one of those
"sun outage" board ops at WEZO (now WROC) 950 AM in
Rochester NY.  There we had 2-3 casette tapes with 25
minutes of music/programming recorded on each side
(things were done "cheaply" while I worked there). 
You would cue up the tape, wait for the last natural
break in programming before the expected outage, cut
away from the satellite and start the tape.  At the
end of the music segment on the tape, you'd cut back
over to the satellite.  I remember one rather
embarassing instance while doing this.  Apparently
Westwood One's Adult Standards AM only format decided
to run a contest during one of these outages, while
WEZO was away from the satellite.  So when I cut back
over to the satellite after the tape ended, we came
back in halfway through a song, and then to Ed Brand
congradulating the winner of the contest that nobody
heard happen.  I believe the station got a couple of
phone calls about that cos it was mentioned by the
Operations Manager and Program Director to me the next
day.

                                Matt Osborne
                                Poughkeepsie, NY

P.S - I actually now own one of those WEZO sun outage
tapes, come to think of it.  

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