Week-old weather forecasts - is this what radio has become?

[Dale H. Cook]

At 07:53 PM 5/19/2010, Roger Kirk wrote:

>I suspect that the Automation Software could share a small 
>percentage of blame.
>
>If a programming template/schedule calls for a killdated file and 
>the file isn't, the automation
>software should reject it.

That's not how it works. In a music-based format, the music files are 
not killdated (and there are anywhere from several hundred to a few 
thousand of them), and in any format many other files, such as IDs, 
liners and jingles, are not killdated. Only time-sensitive files are 
killdated, such as spots, pre-recorded programs, PSAs (which 
typically have a limited run) and topical promos (generic promos are 
not time-sensitive).

At least in a PC-based automation system you can killdate files. In 
olden days, when we used tape- and cart-based automation systems, 
controlled by a minicomputer or custom controller (or later by an 
early PC), carts could not be killdated by the system. Only a human 
could kill a cart by noting the killdate on the cart label (or 
hearing an outdated cart play) and yanking it.

Dale H. Cook, Contract Engineer, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA
http://plymouthcolony.net/starcityeng/index.html