Comments From the Ring: Banked On It

ENTRY 328

SPARRING REPORT

On Wednesday, Richard threw me in the ring with this really big guy. He must have had at least 50 pounds on me.

I mean he was built like a wrestler. Although, he was a beginner boxer, he gave me quite the work out.

He was leaning on me in the corner, and I was being instructed to swing him around.

Yeah. That wasn't going to be happening. Although, I tried, but he just didn't budge.

I also did not get to work on offense, but as I mentioned before, it was a great work out.

MY RADIO RANT

Last weekend I visited Zoomer Radio AM740 and Classical 96.3.

I have to say that I was disappointed with how the broadcasting industry has changed.

For those who have not seen my Facebook post, here it is:

As I look back, I think I made a mistake by going to the radio station yesterday. Until now, i remember radio from the days I worked radio. It was real work. I was the announcer, operator, music director, and producer all at the same time. I had to calculate the CANCON percentage on my own. I had to calculate how much music I needed. I would go over, so I would have to remove something and add something. Then I'd be under by a few seconds and have to find a filler. I had to check the log for any ads, promos, and PSAs that needed to be played. I had a stack of carts as high as the CN Tower. It took about three hours to put together a three-hour program. That is how I remember radio production.

We didn't have files. We used records. Each song had to be cued manually. From the first note, give the record a half-turn back. That was your cue point. None of that now!

I am now very disappointed to find out that it is now all totally automated. One software. You enter your ad/PSA/promo log, and your station IDs. Tell it how much talk time you want. Then the software will automatically fill the rest of the time slot for you, and automatically add the right amount of CANCON.

That particular station has a backup system. An iPod! If there is more than 15 seconds of dead-air, a dead-air detector will automatically activate the iPod with enough music for someone to fix the problem, and the audience will hardly notice. An iPod will run the station!

When I worked in radio, the dead-air detector was me. We didn't have dead-air, because there was always a PERON on site to make sure it didn't happen.

Now, there doesn't really even need to be anybody involved. Someone can create a whole program in five minutes by pressing a few keys. Plus, a lot of the programs are pre-recorded, so there isn't even a live announcer.

That is not broadcasting, people. That is lazy. Three years in college to study broadcasting just to enter a few things into a computer?

You know, now that I know how it works, it has kind of tuned me off of listening to the radio. Really.

Somebody needs to bring back real radio.

There. My rant.

For those not familar with Canadian law, CANCON means Canadian Content.

Radio stations are required to play 40% of music that is performed, produced, or written by a Canadian, or a combination of any.

Yes, we used to calculate that manually.

BANKED ON IT

On Friday I went downtown to visit with the wife at her store.
During lunch, we walked over to the TD Center to see about me opening an account there.
Since I have been so pissed off with Scotiabank, I have been looking at the other banks.
She has been with TD for a while, and likes it very much.
Also, right now they are giving away a TV if you open an account with them. You may have seen the ads.

There is a catch, of course.
What the ad does not tell you is that you need to apply and be approved for a TD Visa in order to get the TV.
The ad conveniently forgets to mention that.
Since I do not want, nor qualify for a Visa, I will not be getting the TV.
However, I did not join TD for the TV. I joined for the better service.

I am now a proud customer of TD Canada Trust, and next week I will be saying goodbye to Scotiabank.

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