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Cue the Engineer

Kemosabe

Kemosabe

Star Participant
Do any disc jockeys still work with an engineer? When they were music stations, WMCA and WABC employed separate board ops; WINS did not. WCBS-FM no longer does. Did any of the Drake-programmed stations (such as KHJ or WOR-FM) ever have such a dichotomy?

Also, when did cuing the engineer with the point of a finger become unacceptable?
 
Kemosabe said:
Also, when did cuing the engineer with the point of a finger become unacceptable?
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Depends on the format and the situation. There was a time when most major NY radio stations were union shops, and engineers had to be in the union. The union protected their jobs, and got them regular raises. The biggest broadcast union was NABET. At one time, only union engineers were allowed to touch the equipment. If anyone else did, they would get fined by the union. Many years ago, management whittled away at the union's power. Some engineers even got extra pay for something called a "needle drop," which was cuing up a record and playing it. Contract after contract, the union would negotiate for more money, but give up some of their exclusivity. About 35 years ago, computers began taking over engineering duties. So the next contract, certain engineering roles were taken over by computers. Once the music became computer files (about 25 years ago), even that role was eliminated. Today, a typical announcer uses his finger to hit the next event button. Everything else is done by the computer. There are some stations where there are board ops or producers who handle a lot of the operational duties. It depends on the format and the personality's contract.
 
TheBigA said:
Some engineers even got extra pay for something called a "needle drop," which was cuing up a record and playing it.
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Thank you, TheBigA (Aqueduct?). By the time WABC moved its operations to Sixth Avenue, er, Avenue of the Americas, all its records were on carts. Did "needle drop" apply to that medium as well?
 
Kemosabe said:
Did "needle drop" apply to that medium as well?
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Recording from record to a tape cart, was considered a 'needle drop'. Even with carts, some union houses still had an engineer running the board, loading cart machines, etc. Part of that was the talent not wanting to be responsible for anyone losing their job, and also not wanting to run their own board.

If you used any form of production music library off vinyl, you would have to get an engineer to literally, drop the needle.
 
Kelly A said:
Recording from record to a tape cart, was considered a 'needle drop'. Even with carts, some union houses still had an engineer running the board, loading cart machines, etc.
Click to expand...

Stop me if you've heard this before (I posted it long ago)...

When I was programming KWKW in Pasadena, CA, around 1973, I drove up to the station on a weekend. At the time, the union required a board op, so there should have been both the DJ and the engineer on duty.

I went in to the building, and noticed there was no engineer. Just the DJ. The song ended, the DJ did the backsell, and the carts of commercials fired on after another. Jingle. Song.

Huh?

I looked in the control room, and there was a big cable running out, down the hall and through the back door. It went into the parking lot and under a car. The engineer was fixing his customized ride, and had rigged up a complete remote so he could do his job without being in the studio.

The jock was rather scared, as he had been loading the carts and cuing the records. Technically, he was not playing them. Apparently the board op did free car maintenance for him in exchange for loading the carts while he played with his car.
 
Great story, David!

CKLW, for one, had board ops, and double-rolled every element. (2 copies of songs, jingles, commercials, etc). If something went wrong, the backup copy was already running. This went to about 1977 when there was a union strike against CKLW. which technically may still be going on, even with no engineers in the union.
Most smaller markets were "combo" from....forever it seems, at least in the music radio era.
 
Quite an amusing story, DavidEduardo! Just out of curiosity, did Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele et alia have board ops at KHJ?
 
DavidEduardo said:
The jock was rather scared, as he had been loading the carts and cuing the records. Technically, he was not playing them. Apparently the board op did free car maintenance for him in exchange for loading the carts while he played with his car.
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A number of well known DJs also had their First Phone license, that qualified them to run the station by themselves. One of the best known was Wolfman Jack. Of course, his was not a union shop.
 
TheBigA said:
A number of well known DJs also had their First Phone license, that qualified them to run the station by themselves. One of the best known was Wolfman Jack. Of course, his was not a union shop.
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Many stations that were directional only hired jocks with First Tickets. The largest market one I saw was Top 40 WEAM in DC (Arlington), the leading Top 40 station in the mid to late 60's.

In the case of KWKW, there were board ops due to the union contract.
 
Kemosabe said:
Quite an amusing story, DavidEduardo! Just out of curiosity, did Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele et alia have board ops at KHJ?
Click to expand...

I visited KHJ in 1973. The jock on the air, Bill Wade, had a board op. In fact, my friend and I watched Wade from the engineer's side of the window.
 
TheBigA said:
IIRC, there was no glass between engineer and DJ at WABC. I believe there was at WNBC.
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There was indeed glass at WNBC as well as at WMCA and, I believe, at WNEW-FM. Rick Sklar wanted more interaction between jock and engineer at WABC.
 
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