Subj : Turntables and LPs
To : Brian Rogers
From : Ogg
Date : Mon Aug 30 2021 08:59 pm
Hello Brian Rogers!
** On Saturday 21.08.21 - 10:06, Brian Rogers wrote to Ogg:
Og>> I had a brief stint as tech operator (queing up the music
Og>> and commercials) at the my university radio station. That
Og>> was so much fun. I never had the guts to host my own
Og>> show, but there were a handful of hosts that just wanted
Og>> someone to do the technical part for them. The turntables
Og>> were awesome and solid performers.
BR> Today they call that function a "producer".
I always thought a producer was someone who backed a show with
finances - much like how that term is used in the film
industry. But the term that was on the schedule-board was
"technician".
BR> That's not that easy of a job IF you also have to control
BR> when things start because if someone else is doing the
BR> talking you sometimes aren't quite sure just when to start
BR> the next element. I hated doing that. I prefer to run
BR> everything myself so I know how the flow will be. One
BR> thing I was known for was having a tight board and being
BR> well produced.
It went alright. The university radio station had three
studios all "connected" and visible to each other by large
glass windows. I would be in one studio and the host would be
in another. The host of the show would either give me a hand
signal or they give me the key words to listen to before
starting a song or breaking to commercial.
I really enjoyed cueing the tunes on LPs so that the music or
the voice over is just enough before the actual lyrics start.
Then, sometimes it required prepping a taped announcement (I
think they were on 8-track cartridges!)
To qualify being part of the radio club, we were put through a
test that consisted of a mock solo radio show. I did quite
alright by "producing" a music-themed trivia show, but I really
just prefered to manage the equipment and switches and let
someone else do the talking.
I volunteered to power up the transmitters on Sunday mornings
and queue the national anthem. That was a cool job with lots of
switches to flip and dials to turn.
