when I started in radio in a small regional market we had 4 guys in the
programmes department who spent all day working through the library to
construct programmes for two stations. One really, because the second
one was a relay we dropped out of locally for an hour or so for what Les
Nesman would call the Hog Report.
Over time we have replaced that combined musical knowledge [ those guys
had degrees in music, taught music, played in orchestras brass bands
gregorian chant choirs and Saturday night dance bands] with computer
programs, eliminating the final filter, the DJ who also had a knowledge
of music and could pick the clashes or laugh at the musical puns. Read
the song titles for an hours programme to reveal a deep dark tale or
some eyebrow raising juxtaposition. This was when Radio was FUN.
No matter which system you use, and they all have 'if this; then don't
do that', you have to sit down and plug in all the options, and yes it
will be a lot of work.
And if it seems like it's the work of half a dozen people, it is.
It's taken me a lifetime to appreciate just how talented those guys
were, and how a classically trained musician could sort a Top 40
schedule so that every track segued perfectly into the next, tempo, key
and all of that.
Getting a machine to do the same thing requires a lot of instructions,
and there is no easy way. Does the end of this match the start of that?
No? Then play the Fast To Slow Jingle between the two. Stuff the Jock
does instinctively [or gets let go] we have to TELL a machine to be
ready for.
Setting the intro, outro, segue, scheduler codes, and groups for 40,000
songs is going to take time, and needs someone with the knowledge to
foresee the clashes.
The scheduler programs all do the same things but music is beyond machine.
Thats my thought for the day!
Robert Jeffares
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