Original Narrative:

The past few weeks have been a technical challenge at the radio station where I work. Since we are in a technical writing course, it’s only appropriate to write about some of the technical issues we are dealing with at WIBQ. While I’m not the station’s official engineer, I am awfully close to fulfilling the duties of that particular job title at times.
Several of our programs come to us through satellite downlink. Shows like Dr. Laura and Bruce Williams which are broadcast nationwide to affiliates around the country are sent up to satellites in space by their network distributors. Stations are able to download the signal using satellite dishes positioned on the highest point of the roof on the outside of their buildings.
On September 1st, we added a new program, “The Neil Boortz Show” to our lineup. In addition, we are the affiliate for Florida State football and the NFL game of the week radio broadcasts. All of these programs are fed by satellite. For the past two seasons, we have carried NFL games sent to us by a syndicator called SportsUSA Radio. Since our station is run primarily by computer program for these syndicated shows, all we needed to do was to schedule the automated log used previously and the games would air as before. Unfortunately it wasn’t as easy as that. What we discovered was that the network had changed their tone signaling system which our receiver wasn’t recognizing. We could get the program, but our receiver wouldn’t fire the automation program to put it on the air.
After a lot of head scratching, pushing of many buttons and a few words you can’t actually say on the air, we discovered that the issue came down to simple programming. Our satellite receiver system being more than ten years old was using a program written in DOS format which is considered ancient by today’s standards. The signal was being transmitted in what is called a “wave signal” format. To our DOS programmed system, it was a futuristic foreign language, not yet invented. The immediate solution until we can re-program the system or upgrade to a newer receiver, is to run the games manually with someone on the board. Ah technology! It can be wonderful and frustrating. This week it was wonderfully frustrating!
As I write this tonight, I am also monitoring and rewriting logs via GoToMyPC.com on our station’s computer. We use an automated system called Simian which runs our overnight and syndicated programs on the radio station. This particular task requires piecing together program logs using preset commands using a drop and drag with the mouse.
What a change in radio since I started working in broadcasting back in college at Adelphi University’s campus station. Back then (it wasn’t that long ago) we used reel to reel tape and carts. Typewriters were used to write copy and the only thing resembling a computer was our United Press teletype machine. It probably is better nowadays as far as efficiency is concerned, but there is a part of me that longs for the days of spinning actual records and editing using razor blade and tape. I’ll keep you posted on the saga of technology over frustration.

Remix of narrative:

Recent weeks have been a technical challenge at WIBQ, the radio station where I work. As we are in a technical writing course, it’s appropros to write about a few of the technical issues we are dealing with at the station. While not the station’s official engineer, I often fulfill the duties of that particular job title.

Several of our programs are downlinked to the station via satellite. Programs like Dr. Laura and Bruce Williams, which are broadcast nationwide to affiliates around the country are sent up to satellites by their network distributors. Stations are able to download the signal using satellite dishes positioned on the highest point on the outside of their studios.

On September 1st, we added a new program, “The Neil Boortz Show” to our lineup. In addition, we are an affiliate for Florida State football and NFL game of the week radio broadcasts. All of these programs are fed by satellite. For the past two seasons, we have carried NFL games sent to us by a syndicator called SportsUSA Radio. Our station is run primarily by a computer program for these syndicated shows. All we needed to do was to reschedule the automated log we used last season and the games would air as before. Unfortunately it wasn’t as simple as that. We discovered that the network had changed their signaling system to a tone which our receiver did not recognize. We could download the program, but our receiver wouldn’t fire the automation program to put it on the air.

After much head scratching, pushing of many buttons and a few words you can’t actually say on the air, we discovered the issue came down to simple programming. Our satellite receiver system is more than ten years old and uses a program written in DOS format which is considered ancient by today’s standards. The signal was being transmitted in what is termed a “wave signal” format. To our DOS programmed system, it was like being spoked to in a futuristic foreign language not yet invented. The immediate solution was to either re-program the system or upgrade to a newer receiver and to run the games manually with someone on the board. Ah technology! It can be wonderful and frustrating. This week it was wonderfully frustrating!
As I write this, I am monitoring and rewriting logs using GoToMyPC.com on our station’s computer. We use an automated system called Simian which runs our overnight and syndicated programs on the radio station. This particular task requires piecing together program logs using preset commands using a drop and drag with the mouse.
What a change in radio since I started in broadcasting in college at Adelphi University’s campus station. Back then (it wasn’t that long ago) we used reel to reel tape and carts. Typewriters were used to write copy. The only thing resembling a computer was our United Press teletype machine. Technology arguably has made us more efficient, but there is a part of me that longs for the days of spinning actual records and using razor blade and tape to edit. I’ll keep you posted on the saga of technology over frustration.

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