1 of 1- RadioActive
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Failed Remote Leaves 640’s Mid-Morning Show Scrambling
There was an interesting “behind the curtain” moment on 640 Wednesday morning, after the line being used by fill-in host Peter Shurman went down temporarily. One moment he was on mic, the next he was barely audible on a cell phone, as in studio exec. producer Jason Chapman had to jump in to maintain any semblance of audio quality.
It took about 10 minutes to fix, with Shurman confessing where he really was (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and blaming an engineering error for the outage.
Most of the time, radio stations get away with these kinds of things during remote broadcasts. But when it goes awry, it can really sound awful.
I can certainly see why doing it that way is more efficient. And most times, you can’t tell. The Motts were nowhere near CFRB’s studios in all the years they were doing weekends there and they made no secret of it. Jerry Agar has admitted doing some of his shows in the early days from his old stomping grounds, Chicago. I believe I’ve heard John Moore talk about very occasionally being in Montreal for a few of his shifts. Andrew Lawton was at CFPL in London during his fill-in days on 640.
The technology is great when it works, and it’s seamless. But when it doesn’t, it sounds awful. Reluctantly admitting you've been fooling your listeners doesn’t do much for your credibility. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen very often. But on Wednesday, it did. Does it matter in the end? Probably not, But it sure was fun to listen to this time around.
- cGrant
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Re: Failed Remote Leaves 640’s Mid-Morning Show Scrambling
RadioActive wrote:
Shurman confessing where he really was (Niagara-on-the-Lake)
Most of the time, radio stations get away with these kinds of things during remote broadcasts.
Reluctantly admitting you've been fooling your listeners doesn’t do much for your credibility. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen very often. But on Wednesday, it did. Does it matter in the end?
I don't see this as some nefarious clandestine attempt at "fooling" the audience whatsoever. Does the AVERAGE listener care where the host is physically broadcasting from? Nah. To label this as anything other than using today's technology as opposed to the old-school (popular here) notion is, with respect, overreaching.
And, this speaking to his "credibility"? P-l-e-a-s-e. Unless he specifically said, "I'm Peter and I am broadcasting from Queen's Quay", again, overreaching.
***That said, Peter has a very irritating habit of not saying the correct brand of the station. He says, "this is Global News Radio 640 IN Toronto". No, Peter, the "IN" is redundant and, frankly, wrong.
- g121
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Re: Failed Remote Leaves 640’s Mid-Morning Show Scrambling
... Does the AVERAGE listener care where the host is physically broadcasting from? Nah. ...
Disagree.
I found Bill Carroll's broadcasting from L.A. for years yet pontificating on the nuances, challenges & irritations of day-to-day Toronto life disingenuous.
- cGrant
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Re: Failed Remote Leaves 640’s Mid-Morning Show Scrambling
I found Bill Carroll's broadcasting from L.A. for years yet pontificating on the nuances, challenges & irritations of day-to-day Toronto life disingenuous.
How so? Can one only "pontificating on the nuances, challenges & irritations of day-to-day Toronto life" if one is physically IN Toronto?
If so, that rather limits talk radio, doesn't it?! No more can Toronto stations "pontificate" about Ottawa, Canada and the rest of the world, unless we send the host TO Ottawa, Canada and the rest of the world. The budget for that would be astronomical.
Extended to its full absurd conclusion, THIS board would then be limited to have posters physically sitting in their basements in Toronto and scribing exclusively about Toronto. 
- zed
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Re: Failed Remote Leaves 640’s Mid-Morning Show Scrambling
The late Neil Rogers had the top rated talk show in Miami-Fort Lauderdale on 560 WQAM and for the last several years of it's run he originated the program from Toronto. I know this because I recognized him (from billboards in Florida) walking down Yonge street one day. We had a brief conversation and he told me about the unique (at that time) arrangement.
On my next visit to the sunshine state I listened in. He talked about local Miami issues of course, but made no secret of his Toronto broadcast location. He always mentioned going out to Woodbine to gamble and talked about other Toronto venues and issues on every show I heard while listening on the beach. I admit it seemed odd but his listeners didn't seem to mind that he wasn't 'physically' in their city... his show was consistently number 1 in the 10am-2pm time slot and his employer recognized that fact with a 6 figure plus (US dollar) contract until his retirement in 2009.
I guess if your audience likes you enough, it doesn't matter where your physical broadcast location is.