that horrible BEEP

[Doug Drown]

During the '70s (and, I think, before,), the CBS AM O&Os --- which by then
had all-news formats --- led into the hourly network newscasts with a series
of second-to-second "bongs" that were softer than the one at TOH.  They were
accompanied by voiceover segues and station IDs.  I can't remember if they
started at -:10 or -:05.
-Doug


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cohasset / Hippisley" <cohasset@frontiernet.net>
To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 11:10 AM
Subject: RE: that horrible BEEP


> There are two different kinds of "beeps" that I recall.
>
> I was a control room engineer for the CBS radio affiliate in Syracuse
during
> the summer of 1960 ("WHEN in Syracuse, dial 620....").  At that time the
> only beeps I ever heard were what I think Mr. Strassberg is referring to
as
> the NetAlert beeps.  An "Alert" consisted of a series of equally spaced
> beeps that were intended to alert station personnel that something
important
> was about to come across the network feed.  My recollection (which could
> very well be faulty on this point) is that the number of beeps helped
define
> the urgency of the upcoming feed.  Sometimes the beeps referred to
(breaking
> news) content in a standard top-of-the-hour newscast, but sometimes the
> beeps meant a special news feed was coming during a normally-inactive
period
> on the network link.
>
> Later, long after I had left WHEN, CBS Radio added another kind of beep,
> which I prefer to think of as a "cricket click"; it was a 2-piece sound
that
> was used to cue stations to break away from the network, such as at 58:55
> past the hour, when we inserted local ads.  I think CBS radio still uses
> such a system.  I hated it when they introduced it, and I still don't much
> care for it.
>
> Bud Hippisley
>