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MAN AND MACHINE — KIAK operations manager Fete Van Nort stretches out in a chair beside Big Country Machine, the station’s electronic announcer. The station receives programmed tapes with aAngeles announcer’s voice and music, and BCM electronically inserts commercials and local announcers’ comments into the program. K1AK hopes to be fully automated with all local commentary by next year.Sm oot h-tal kingBig Country Radio s top disc jockey is a station manager’s dream come true.He never comes to work in a bad mood. He never mispronounces a name He neverforgets to note what commercials he ran, never plays a song with questionable lyrics and never, never, never gets the hiccups on the air They call him BCM “That's Big Country Machine, or Big Country Monster, depending,'' says KIAK operations manager Pete Van Nort, standing by the tall, broad machine that is the station's electronic announcer “Let the government know how you feel,” BCM urges listeners in a smooth, mellow voice, and then yelps jauntily, “And heeere’s Johnny Rodriguez and“Downon the RioCraaaaande “When we first went automated we had just two phone calls asking where the old disc jockeys went, Van Nort laughed I don’t think the average person tuning in realizes that we re computerized.ROM’s voice actually belongs to a Los Angeles disc jockey working for DrakeChenault. a music tape company whichsupplies radio stations across the country with pre-recorded programs of tunes andchit-chat“We get a current reel tof songs) each week, and a recurrent tape every two weeks. Van Nort explains, tugging at a bushy auburn mustache “Most of the time we use them, but more and more we make our own tapes tailored to Fairbanks Theway they do things in L A, isn’t always the way we do it here ”The station has been automated since October, 1975, and the electronic disc jockey worked around the clock until about six months ago Now, announcer Dale Horn does a show from 6 to 11 am. and Van Nort entertains the driving-home crowd from 3 to 6 p m “The ultimate would be to have a great relationship between man and machine where the computer assists the disc jockey, explained Van Nort, a big young man in jeans, flannel shirt and down vest.■ That means the disc jockey can come in and sit down, do his funny little bits like That was Merle Haggard, and Let’s hear from lairetta Lynn, with comments Fairbanks folks can relate to, in half anhour or 45 minutes, and then go home A few hours later the computer would play it,and it would sound live, very crisp, and if he made any mistakes he could just tapeover it **Such a system provide.*, a clean, professional radio sound. Van Nort said, and allows a station to use its best people in the most efficient way Van Nort expect* K1AK to be using the system by this time next year “By then, it’ll be just as easy, and probably cheaper, for us to roll our own music than to subscribe to the service, he explainedThe station also has plans to expand community services, taking on a news reporter in the near future BCM will continue to be the heart of the station thoughThree banks of machinery make upBCM’s bram Commercials, taped onshort, continuous tape cartridges are plugged into the left side, ready to tie played On the right side are reels of tape.two with current songs and two with oldertunes M^rA.The main memory is stored in the center bank. Each morning, a KIAK employee types in the numbers of the ads to tie played, in the proper order When one song or ad finishes, a subsonic * beep” heard only by BCM goes off. and he starts up the next He is programmed to run in cyclesFor example, he might be ordered to play two current songs, two commercials, acurrent song and an •‘oldie.* two com merciats. two current songs and news at the top of the hour The cycle repeatsconstantly, first the song tapes spinning,then the ad tapes clicking, and the tapespicking up again Immediately Weather and news are brought up to date everyhour. IIH; |§|f! !§§ llllillllDuring the daytime hours. BCM is programmed to plav mostly contemporarysongs, while in the evening more traditional music is played The machine can even take requests although it’s not station policy to do so“Sometimes a softhearted soul will program in the record,’ Van Nort grinnedIn addition to entertainment. BCM canalso handle figures On a printer similar toa teletype machine, Im records everycommercial, its length and sponsor irn mediately after it is played Even the identifying numbers for each song are recorded, and the lists are kept for twoyearsBut w hat happens when BMC has a bad day and refuses to cooperate“We have a loooong board shift, VanNort sighed I remember Dick Lobdell onthe air for hours trying to sound like thecomputer, just to maintain some consistency in the sound ’The tew initial bugs and a giant intialinvestment are worth it, though In Alaska alone, two Juneau stations, a GlanaUanstation and “maybe one third of the Anchorage stations are at least partially automated, Van Nort says“Around 20 per cent of ail the stations in the country are automated in one form or another ” Van Nort said seriously, nod ding at his electronic whiz kid “Automation is where everything's goingWe pride ourselves on being about 20 years ahead of everyone else in town ’*
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Sat, Apr 21, 1979
Page 36
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 10 May 2021
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