Is Smooth Radio Really Live ?

[Butts]

I was happily listening to Kate Garroway on Smooth Radio today when the 12 O'Clock News came on - only it didn't.

You could hear the news in the background but music continued playing over it and the following weather forecast drowning both out.

When Kate came back on there was no apology or mention of what had happened which seemed strange and aroused my suspicions.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Could be that the presenter has no idea what is being broadcast.

She reaches the news, presses the button for it to come down the wire from wherever, turns her microphone off so no-one hears her off-air chat, the news finishes, she turns her mike back on and the show continues. As long as the computer says 'news feed live' or whatever she assumes the news is actually being broadcast to the listener.

It seems to happen a lot, even on the BBC. Broadcasting silence until someone realises.

Technology. Progress. Life easier!

 

[Butts]

Forgive my ignorance, but do they not have sound engineers these days or producers or someone monitoring what is being broadcast ?

Failing that would someone not tweet or whatever they call it.

There was no silence only the news being read drowned out by the music playing over it.

 

[Puffing Devil]

No sound engineers listening to the live feed any more. Cost cutting and automated studios.

 

[Geezertronic]

Is Smooth Radio one of those where the presenter might be in London presenting across the Smooth network but the news is performed locally depending on the region? If that is the case, then the presenter would not have known about any local issue

 

[Butts]

Is Smooth Radio one of those where the presenter might be in London presenting across the Smooth network but the news is performed locally depending on the region? If that is the case, then the presenter would not have known about any local issue

I don't think so as it is "National News" with no local input. I think it is provided by "Global" of which smooth is an affiliate in all it's guises.

This was Noon and it might be different depending on the time of day ?

 

[whhistle]

Why don't you call and ask them?
If there's no much "Joan called in and said this" or much talking about immediate issues in the news, I'd suggest some, if not all the programmes are pre-recorded.

 

[Condor7]

A lot of stations use pre recorded programs. You can usually tell if the chat is very ‘general’ in its content, i.e. no reference to the weather outside the studio, or other comments that would be time specific. Also no ‘live’ phone ins, or emails from listeners etc.

 

[Butts]

A lot of stations use pre recorded programs. You can usually tell if the chat is very ‘general’ in its content, i.e. no reference to the weather outside the studio, or other comments that would be time specific. Also no ‘live’ phone ins, or emails from listeners etc.

I am aware pre-recorded programs are on at some times but a weekday 10am-1pm show with a "National Star" like Kate Garroway is not one I would expect to fall into that category.

Although I am in South Wales the adverts seem to have a "Bristol Slant" so I must be tuned into the "wrong" Smooth Radio for my Area. This leads me to believe some of the shows are networked with national news but local adverts and traffic bulletins.

Life was a lot easier with less choice

 

[Butts]

Why don't you call and ask them?
If there's no much "Joan called in and said this" or much talking about immediate issues in the news, I'd suggest some, if not all the programmes are pre-recorded.

I think Smooth must have a mixed output as in my comment above.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Although I am in South Wales the adverts seem to have a "Bristol Slant" so I must be tuned into the "wrong" Smooth Radio for my Area. This leads me to believe some of the shows are networked with national news but local adverts and traffic bulletins.

Happens a lot. BBC local radio stations become network wide in the evenings. Don't know what they do about the news/weather as I don't listen to them. Commercial radio does it all the time, hence the type of glitch you discovered yesterday. Here are some messages from our sponsors (silence follows), here is the news and weather (silence follows). Alice Cooper presented a show on, I think, Planet Rock, which was either live, or a recording, of his shows broadcast in America so there were gaps to be filled where the American advert breaks were longer than in the UK, also the show was truncated by an hour in the UK so you got references to parts of the programme you never got to hear in the UK. Cheap and nasty race to the bottom by commercial organisations screwing every last cost out of a business.

Life was a lot easier with less choice

Just like TV. Three/four/five channels (depending on your age) with a certain audience, or 999 channels with exactly the same audience. Spread the jam thinner and it gets less worth having.

 

[Jonfun]

Particularly with networked shows, even when a show is live it probably isn't - in a lot of cases, the talky bits are recorded whilst the songs are playing, and the voice tracks are loaded up in the computer playout system like any other song, jingle etc. Things like the news/traffic are handled by either a 60/30/etc second "silence" track or a bed, which is cued up in the playout systems to be played at a set time.

You can have the entire show set up well in advance if you use the time effectively.

Of course the flip side of this is that while you're using the studio to record, you're not listening to the output so if something skips or goes south you probably won't notice it.

 

[transmanche]

Particularly with networked shows, even when a show is live it probably isn't - in a lot of cases, the talky bits are recorded whilst the songs are playing, and the voice tracks are loaded up in the computer playout system like any other song, jingle etc. Things like the news/traffic are handled by either a 60/30/etc second "silence" track or a bed, which is cued up in the playout systems to be played at a set time.

Yes, this is quite common. Even BBC Radio 4 Extra do this with their continuity announcements (as do most satellite TV channels).

It's called voice-tracking and it means that a presenter can record a three-hour programme in as little as 30 minutes. A 'celebrity' presenter such as Kate Garraway might potentially record a whole week's worth of shows in one go. It's likely that at least some of her programmes are 'voice-tracked' and pre-recorded due to her commitments working on the ITV breakfast programme.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Ah, I know Kate Garraway personally from doing work experience at GMB, she’s lovely.

 

[BestWestern]

Ah, I know Kate Garraway personally from doing work experience at GMB, she’s lovely.

Lovely, but not live...

 

[Bedpan]

Kenny Everett used to sometimes pre record his shows back in the 70's - although he did say when he had done so.

 

[richw]

Jason manfords breakfast show on Absolute Sunday mornings I’ve worked out is (sometimes?) recorded on a Friday from things they’ve discussed, like “last night” “tonight”, for example gig performances mentioned by guests. “Played in Bristol last night” was a recent discussion, but the artist had only played Bristol on the Thursday night.

 

[Butts]

If a program is not live they should make an announcement to that effect before it starts.

What I mean is if the presenter is not actually "there" for the duration of the show.

 

[GusB]

If a program is not live they should make an announcement to that effect before it starts.

What I mean is if the presenter is not actually "there" for the duration of the show.

I tend to listen to Radio Scotland during the day, and I'll veer towards BBC 6 Music at other times. I've noticed that some presenters on the latter station will make it clear that their show has been pre-recorded. Guy Garvey and the now-departed Jarvis Cocker (from the station, not from his mortal coil) are two that spring to mind.

I find it quite sad the way radio has gone. My own "local" independent station is MFR. It used to broadcast its own content throughout the day, and in the evening there was generally space for more specialist programming. I remember when it went 24-hour, broadcasting after-hours content from the "Super Station", which then became "Super Gold". I'm fairly certain that Bob Harris was one of the voices I used to hear in the early hours. I don't listen to the station any more - it lost a bit of its independence when it became wholly owned by the then SRH - Scottish Radio Holdings - which also owned most of the other former "independent" stations in this part of the world. I think it became part of Emap for a while, and these days I just don't care.

 

[bussnapperwm]

This is from the Smooth Public File on their website (taken from the Birmingham Smooth version)


1. News Bulletin Schedule
Between 6am and 7pm Mon-Fri and 6am- 12noon Saturday and Sunday bulletins contain a mix of local, national and world stories, along with appropriate local and national sport, weather and entertainment news.
 National bulletins are broadcast at other times of the day.
 Smooth Radio provides local travel bulletins at morning and evening peak times and during weekends when the need arises




5. The average number of hours of automated programming within weekday daytimes and within daytimes on Saturdays and Sundays.

Saturday and Sunday 1000-1400 and 1800-2200.

6. The amount of local programming per day produced by the station
Between the hours 0600 – 1000 and 1600 - 1900 Monday to Friday and 1400 – 1800 Saturday and Sunday, programming is local. The remainder of Smooth Radio’s output is produced and presented from the studios in London.

http://www.smoothradio.com/public-file/westmids/

 

[NorthernSpirit]

I'd say that most stations these days, whether its community or commercial, are more often than not are broadcasting voice tracked or pre-recorded shows. Breakfast is the one show that has to be live, yet Drivetime can be pre recorded a few hours beforehand but with live traffic inserts. Sometimes when the news is playing over music, its because its likley that someone hasn't back timed it properly and the playout system that could be Myriad, Winamp or RCS hasn't kicked in in time which has them leaded to an on air mess.

As far as I know the presenters at Global don't drive the desk themselves, it'll be someone in the back office - the presenters job is to read from a predifined and pretimed script which is why the likes of Capital, Heart and Smooth sounds in your face. The same will be also be done at Bauer, UKRD and the other commercial stations.

The specialist shows that I've done for community radio were done in a similar fashion but with more personality but still read from a self written pre timed script which meant any links that I performed has to last for no longer than 120 seconds and were more often than not pre recorded and hosted generically (since the shows were syndicated) so that stations that took them could plaster their own branding to it without me having to mention it vocally. Specialist shows have more flexibility since its highly likely that they'll be pre-recorded and not live.

 

[Butts]

I'd say that most stations these days, whether its community or commercial, are more often than not are broadcasting voice tracked or pre-recorded shows. Breakfast is the one show that has to be live, yet Drivetime can be pre recorded a few hours beforehand but with live traffic inserts. Sometimes when the news is playing over music, its because its likley that someone hasn't back timed it properly and the playout system that could be Myriad, Winamp or RCS hasn't kicked in in time which has them leaded to an on air mess.

As far as I know the presenters at Global don't drive the desk themselves, it'll be someone in the back office - the presenters job is to read from a predifined and pretimed script which is why the likes of Capital, Heart and Smooth sounds in your face. The same will be also be done at Bauer, UKRD and the other commercial stations.

The specialist shows that I've done for community radio were done in a similar fashion but with more personality but still read from a self written pre timed script which meant any links that I performed has to last for no longer than 120 seconds and were more often than not pre recorded and hosted generically (since the shows were syndicated) so that stations that took them could plaster their own branding to it without me having to mention it vocally. Specialist shows have more flexibility since its highly likely that they'll be pre-recorded and not live.

Interesting, I'm guessing an old hand like Tony Blackburn could teach these "auto-cue" jockeys a thing or two !!