On-air glitches on WBZ

Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be quite a few on-air glitches during WBZ’s newscasts? viz, dead air, announcements one on top of another, intros to reports which never materialize or are delayed, etc. I recall Scott Fybush in NERW mentioned something about a NextGen automation system from the new owner/operators.

nowradioguy said:

Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be quite a few on-air glitches during WBZ’s newscasts? viz, dead air, announcements one on top of another, intros to reports which never materialize or are delayed, etc. I recall Scott Fybush in NERW mentioned something about a NextGen automation system from the new owner/operators.

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Yes, Rea's first show after the switch stated with a "dead mike".
Shape of things to come........?

JoePyne said:

Yes, Rea's first show after the switch stated with a "dead mike".
Shape of things to come........?

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I wish I could be more specific, but I'm listening while engaged in my daily routine:

- the Traffic-on-the-Threes sounder running on top of an ad for Traffic and Weather together;

- unexpected audio while someone is reading the news;

- audio for a news report not there after being intro'd by the newscaster;

Even Mary Blake made a comment about "gremlins" running wild this morning.

Glitches have also occurred while Josh Binswanger, Mike Macklin, and others have been on the air.

These things have to be unnerving to the WBZ folks, since I imagine they're all feeling the pressure from their new owner/operator.

But I am under the impression that the latter's NextGen automation system was put in place shortly said new owner/operator took over. Whether this system is the culprit I have no way of knowing, nor can I know just which on-air functions, if any, are under NextGen's control.

But if WBZ-AM is still operating out of the same facilities, with the same personnel who are experienced with those facilities, then why the glitches? Of course, with the Thanksgiving holiday this week, maybe newer, inexperienced people are covering for the regular staff.

Frankly, I don't ever recall these many glitches occurring with such frequency before Saturday 18 Nov 2017.

Howie Carr would have told us, "Entercom happens!", except Entercom is not in the picture here.

DavidEduardo said:

NextGen is the system built by RCS, which is owned by iHeart. It's, in the opinion of many, the best and most versatile system available. But when changing from any other system, there are always glitches and little things that have to be taken care of. Since iHeart had no chance to do a prior set-up of the system in parallel with the old one, there are naturally going to be some mistakes.

I'd guess that most problems will be ironed out within a few more days. Changing hardware is not a reflection on the new operator; most larger companies have a standard hardware platform as well as standard systems for music scheduling, traffic, accounting, etc. In the case of NextGen, they are definitely using one of the best, if not the absolute best, systems available.

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David,

You ain't gonna believe this, but i was tapping out my post while you posted your comments. I had NOT seen this when I posted below.

JoePyne said:

Yes, Rea's first show after the switch stated with a "dead mike".
Shape of things to come........?

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Citorick first I heart happens show,......dead air.

Maybe I shouldn't complain! ;/

DavidEduardo said:

NextGen is the system built by RCS, which is owned by iHeart. It's, in the opinion of many, the best and most versatile system available. But when changing from any other system, there are always glitches and little things that have to be taken care of. Since iHeart had no chance to do a prior set-up of the system in parallel with the old one, there are naturally going to be some mistakes.

I'd guess that most problems will be ironed out within a few more days. Changing hardware is not a reflection on the new operator; most larger companies have a standard hardware platform as well as standard systems for music scheduling, traffic, accounting, etc. In the case of NextGen, they are definitely using one of the best, if not the absolute best, systems available.

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Add to this, WBZ's format is uber-reliant upon automation; from sounders, to actualities, to rapid-fire stopsets, etc. At least in a music format, you get 3 - 4 minutes or so once a song is playing to regroup. That's not the case (a majority of the time) with WBZ.

nowradioguy said:

Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be quite a few on-air glitches during WBZ’s newscasts? viz, dead air, announcements one on top of another, intros to reports which never materialize or are delayed, etc. I recall Scott Fybush in NERW mentioned something about a NextGen automation system from the new owner/operators.

Click to expand...

There are a couple 'operator'-related things that could be causing this:

1. Depending on the show, WBZ used to have Board Operators. When you change over to talent running their own board, glitches happen.
2. As David already mentioned; learning to run a new live-assist/automation or news system takes some time. NexGen (and now Zetta) are excellent systems used around the world. I suspect most of the glitches are either incorrect script entries, or getting used to a new system.

The biggest glitch I've noticed a few times is 1-2 day old wx4casts!

IMHO old weather forecasts from such a former reliable weather source when they were partnering with WBZ-TV is inexcusable. Next thing they’ll have is repeated traffic reports like other iHeart radio stations do quite often.