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Automated Station -> DJs - Why?

kfbkfb

kfbkfb

IIRC, KQCR FM (OTA in the mid-1970s) sort of qualified as an automated radio station.

I knew very little about radio station operation at the time, I think KQCR FM had someone at the station to switch tape cartridges - when a song was played - it was always the same voice announcing the song name and group/artist 24/7.

Their promotional slogan was "more music" - their coverage of Iowa City IA was fair on car radios, good on home radios.

In the late 1970s/early 1980s KQCR added DJs.

I listen to the radio to hear the songs (with interspersed weather reports and sometimes traffic reports), not the DJs (when I switch my car radio on, I try 94.9, then 102.1, then 102.5 [Jack FM which seems to qualify as an automated station]).

Why do radio stations switch from automation (no DJs) to DJs?


Kirk Bayne
 
A lot of FM stations in the 70s had small audiences. The big audiences were still on AM until the end of the 70s. Since audiences were small, and revenue was low, it made sense to automate. Once audiences discovered FM, then came the money, and the ability to hire local staff.

Contrary to popular opinion, there is a cost to running an automated station. Someone had to load all the tapes and run the automation. Sometimes it's cheaper to hire local staff at minimum wage than either pay cash or barter for automation. The other thing local staff gives you is the ability to monetize that staff for personal appearances and host sponsorships. You can't do that with automation.

But just as FM was becoming more popular, automation was becoming more efficient. In the early 80s, automation moved from tape distribution to satellite. It became easier to operate, and syndication companies offered ways to localize the automation. So that gave automation a second life. Now with VT and music scheduling software, its possible to do in-house automation that's even cheaper than using syndication.

For people who mainly want music without DJs, there are lots of stations that offer that now. It's a function of format & budget.
 
kfbkfb said:
Why do radio stations switch from automation (no DJs) to DJs?
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A PC to run automation now costs between $1,100 to $2,000 that lasts at least five years. Depending on talent level and market size; paying out of market talent to voice track a daypart costs around $10,000 per year. Hiring even part time board operators will cost $12,000-20,000 per year, and local talent (DJ's) will likely cost the station $50,000 per year, plus another 29% in benefits per talent (DJ).
 
From someone who has been there: You don't have to worry about finding reliable (ie: show up for work regularly and sober) staff, covering for vacations and sick days, firing the bad employees and finding good ones.
 
bigdonho said:
From someone who has been there: You don't have to worry about finding reliable (ie: show up for work regularly and sober) staff, covering for vacations and sick days, firing the bad employees and finding good ones.
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At a lot of AM/FM combos, the AM staff took care of the FM automation at the same time.
 
When "all the" other stations were automated, at least one station has tried to carve a niche for itself and have live DJs to keep you (as the listener) company. Quoting from a link in a thread in another section of Radiodiscussions:

"" We’re trying to maximize the potential of radio. ... If all you were going to do is reduce your commercial load so you could play more songs, that {c}ould leave the listener feeling very abandoned. We engage the listener. We have to be the companion that radio always wants to be. It’s a lot of work, but I’m really lucky to have a staff of X full-time and another X part-time that ... ""

Don't recall whether they went from automated to live versus being live and considering automation and deciding to stay live.
 
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gr8oldies said:
At a lot of AM/FM combos, the AM staff took care of the FM automation at the same time.
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That was back in the day when reel tapes had to be changed or rewound, synchronization of the time-check carts had to be checked, generic or custom weather carts had to be inserted and similar physical tasks. And, of course, the job of unjamming a stuck cart in a Carousel or Go-Cart.
 
kfbkfb said:
I knew very little about radio station operation at the time, I think KQCR FM had someone at the station to switch tape cartridges - when a song was played - it was always the same voice announcing the song name and group/artist 24/7.
Click to expand...

KQCR signed on in April 1975. It had the same Top-40 format for roughly 20 years before flipping to country as KXMX "102.9 The Max." It, of course, bailed on Top-40 right when it started becoming popular and flipped back to the format two or three years later as KZIA. Prior to 1995, all radio stations had to have a licensed operator on duty the entire time the station was on-air. Most likely, KQCR started as an automated station because it was operating on a shoestring budget and wanted to pay as little as possible to operate in its first few years. When you sign on a radio station, you can usually count on losing money for the first two years. When you don't have ratings and numbers, you don't have much you can sell. Top-40 used to be a little difficult to do on older automation systems. So, it probably added jocks as it gained traction and brought in more money. I was too young to know what was going on in radio, let alone at that particular station, but that would be a logical guess.

kfbkfb said:
Why do radio stations switch from automation (no DJs) to DJs?
Click to expand...

There are probably as many reasons for this as there are stations who have done it. One cluster where I worked added jocks to some previously automated dayparts because the owners were local and wanted to keep the stations connected to the community. They, of course, had no problem going back to automation a year or two later when they decided they should sell the company and that the margins should look a little fatter. Seemed like every day that there was a note on the company intranet that someone was gone after that decision was made! Keep in mind, also, that automation is easier now than it used to be. For almost three decades, the licensed operator on duty has no longer been required. When I go by that cluster where I worked 20 years ago, it's now owned by Cumulus, and the parking lot is empty after about 6:00 on weekdays and all weekend long. The average listener probably would never know every music station in the building is automated outside of morning and afternoon drive, though. I don't think any station in that building has had live midday and evening jocks since early 2009. All the music stations either have Rachel Marisay or a jock from another Cumulus cluster piped in during the midday shift. Only one doesn't have either a syndicated or automated jock in the evenings.
 
I did just that working overnight in the '70's I was on the AM Adult Contemporary station and changed tapes on the automated FM Beautiful Music station. In some cases when FM gained popularity the FM went live and the automation was moved to the AM.
 
DavidEduardo said:
That was back in the day when reel tapes had to be changed or rewound, synchronization of the time-check carts had to be checked, generic or custom weather carts had to be inserted and similar physical tasks. And, of course, the job of unjamming a stuck cart in a Carousel or Go-Cart.
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Never had a problem with the Carousels at two stations you are probably familiar with WAXY and WGLO. Never failed. Now I can tell you horror stories about the IGM Instacarts at WNGS West Palm Beach. A horrible mess!
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Never had a problem with the Carousels at two stations you are probably familiar with WAXY and WGLO. Never failed. Now I can tell you horror stories about the IGM Instacarts at WNGS West Palm Beach. A horrible mess!
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Funny... it is all about maintenance. I had a bunch of Carousels at WQII / WZNT that I sold off to get Instacarts... which worked infinitely better... particularly when we were getting over $100 for 30's on the FM in the late 70's. I figured that the Instacarts paid for themselves in just a few months (I was sold out, so spots the machine did not run could not be made good).
 
All of it ancient history, eh? In any case more fun back in those days. As much as I love computers watching a computer run just isn't as interesting. There is a guy on Facebook who fires up an old SMC automation and lets the reels & carts run.
 
Maybe the backup PC for an automated station could make a "personal" appearance at a Mall or Concert, the PC could printout an "autograph" on a laser printed picture of the PC + radio station logo with a personalized message:

Thanks for listening _Joe Smith_ to more music on station KWKW-A/FM due to PC automation.


Kirk Bayne
 
Unless it’s a high profile personality (which you rarely see outside of morning drive) nobody cares about a jock appearance at the local Ford dealership. So at least after 10am fire up the computer and load the voice tracks. Heck many stations don’t even cut VT’s for evenings and overnights. Those time slots used to be the training ground for up and coming talent. Many stations have a 6am to Noon guy and someone else who does Noon till 6. Voice tracked at least part of that time. Ho Hum radio.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Funny... it is all about maintenance. I had a bunch of Carousels at WQII / WZNT that I sold off to get Instacarts... which worked infinitely better... particularly when we were getting over $100 for 30's on the FM in the late 70's. I figured that the Instacarts paid for themselves in just a few months (I was sold out, so spots the machine did not run could not be made good).
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Worked at NBC/MBS for 10 years. Spots, open/close, etc were played from 8 IGM Instacarts. After a while listening to the tick, tick, tick of the capstans got to be a pain. Some times a glitch would cause all 48 carts in an Instacart to all play in at once for a brief time before it blew fuses. There was a single audio output for all of the trays. If a cart wouldn't stop on the cue tone, you would have double audio when another cart was called on.

Surprised no one has mentioned the Gates 55's. They could really do some damage to a cart.
 
bigdonho said:
Worked at NBC/MBS for 10 years. Spots, open/close, etc were played from 8 IGM Instacarts. After a while listening to the tick, tick, tick of the capstans got to be a pain. Some times a glitch would cause all 48 carts in an Instacart to all play in at once for a brief time before it blew fuses. There was a single audio output for all of the trays. If a cart wouldn't stop on the cue tone, you would have double audio when another cart was called on.
Click to expand...
That's because the tone filters on Instacarts were garbage. They couldn't consistently determine a stop, from a secondary or tertiary tone(s).
bigdonho said:
Surprised no one has mentioned the Gates 55's. They could really do some damage to a cart.
Click to expand...
No more than Tapecaster machines.
 
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