Automation Poll

[PaulBWalkerJr]

The Phantom from Radio Data Systems.

[BroadcastDoc]

Wow! There's one I've never heard of before.

"The Phantom"...nice!

[PaulBWalkerJr]

Wow! There's one I've never heard of before.

"The Phantom"...nice!

here's a picture of it, kinda



That screen is the automation and the black thing with the handle on the left is the hard drive.

[Sam Buca]

The Phantom from Radio Data Systems.

I've worked with that before.....smaller station and a religious station. Totally dos based.

[K9EZ]

Chris is correct. Aurora went first in Nov. 04 and Joliet followed in Jan. 05. Since then, most every Next Media site has made the transition to NexGen. The north Chicago locations finished their switch last year and most of the Carolina stations have flipped as well. The oddball is going to be Saginaw, MI. They are getting a new Google system.

Michael Dinger
CE, Next Media Chicago South

NextMedia New Bern. NC was still running Audio Vault.

[ChuckG]

The Phantom from Radio Data Systems.

A-Ha! Its closest competitor was Rodman Brown's "Desk Jockey". You don't need another headache...you need a desk jockey. That is until you attempted to load a log while the system was doing an on air transition and blew the OS out. At that point you were getting the headache anyway.

Old automation is fun, the new stuff just doesnt' match up in terms of adventure. What could compare with an ATC 55 with a broken lower limit switch, an instacart firing 12 trays at once during morning drive or doing the "carousel dance" with your fingers stuck between the tray and the center plate?

[PaulBWalkerJr]

The Phantom from Radio Data Systems.

A-Ha! Its closest competitor was Rodman Brown's "Desk Jockey". You don't need another headache...you need a desk jockey. That is until you attempted to load a log while the system was doing an on air transition and blew the OS out. At that point you were getting the headache anyway.

Old automation is fun, the new stuff just doesnt' match up in terms of adventure. What could compare with an ATC 55 with a broken lower limit switch, an instacart firing 12 trays at once during morning drive or doing the "carousel dance" with your fingers stuck between the tray and the center plate?

At one station I worked at, the 2 old Schafer cart carousel automation things are still sitting, mounted below and to the right of the console.

[tmesser]

I see there are a couple fans of StationPlaylist Creator/Studio in here. I was considering RCS PLAYER101 for reviving an Internet stream, but it seems like StationPlaylist would give me more bang for the buck. Do I need a beefy machine to run it? I'll have mostly voicetracked content but intend to do an occasional live show. Is using an external console going to complicate matters significantly?

[Radiolane]

Hey...you all forgot DCS (I know Chris and Mike are glad it's gone!) I still have about 8 systems running on used parts from the Joliet stations. The message "non system disc error...please insert boot disc" still gives me chills.
Now an SMC DP-1, 4 Carousels, 4 Scully's, and a time annoucer...well thats an automation....err nightmare.

Lane
(proud owner of the formentioned DP-1 and it still works...just not on the air)

[Deep Thought]

Now an SMC DP-1, 4 Carousels, 4 Scully's, and a time annoucer...well thats an automation....err nightmare.

Aaaarrrgh!!! FLASHBACKS! FLASHBACKS!!!

My nemesis at my last chief engineer job before I started with the consultant racket was a SMC DP-1C & AS-20 switcher with 4 SMC 250RS (mono) and 4 SMC 350RS (woo..Stereo!) carousels, eight Metrotech reel to reels in a 4 source a/b arrangement which (usually) switched decks at the end of a reel using foil on the tape to trip latching relays, a SMC time announcer (dual carts) and three ITC single cart machines, one of which was a recorder with the heads "backwards" so it could catch the network newscast and play it back about five minutes later. Oh, and a cart machine in the news studio so they could update the weather without walking a cart down the hall. The switcher was full.

Did I mention two live studios connected too?

Now THAT is an automation system. It hated me.

[Shane]

<<What could compare with an ATC 55 with a broken lower limit switch...?>>

An ATC 55 with slippery cart insertion belts. The carts would insert all right but after playing they would be left part way out, not being put back completely in their shelves, just waiting for the deck to come back up from the bottom to the top and busting the front off all the carts. I was told about this, fortunately didn't experience it myself. They say the noise of the breaking carts could be heard all over the second floor, even in the studios.

That would be a production director's nightmare, I suppose.

[jodyritchie]

Am I the only one on here that likes the digital jukebox? It is so very easy to install and use.Jim barkus gives great support as well.I will use it at every station i own in the future

[radiosound88]

How do you think is VCS's Dira! Radio and Jutel's Radioman? I've heard that they both are used by in BBC stations. These 2 are usually not seen in any discussion forum. Even I have not worked on those so I dont know about the quality of both. I have just worked on Audio Vault. It has a wonderful interface, but as someone said , in the GUI age why do we edit an .ini file to change something? I like the AVRPS and the way the vault can be maintained. How do you guys think about RCS's latest software Zetta?

[RGORJANCE]

Somehow I missed the earlier post on the ATC-55.

The story I heard was that the machine was at an NAB "doing it's thing" with a customer standing in front of it watching and listening. The story goes on to say that a cart finished playing, partially ejected as the 1/2" thick aluminum deck, propelled by a huge electric motor driving twin lead screws starts down and shears the cart. It then stops at the next position, injects the cart and plays it.

The customer turns to the ATC Rep and says - "I'll take one"!

Fossil

[PaulBWalkerJr]

Using Audio Vault here at 97.5 WDDH Saint Marys, PA.