1 of 1- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline 
Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
Before reading the linked article below, I thought I was the only one who ever had an actual nightmare about a radio disaster so vivid it actually woke me up.
Mine was sitting in a studio all alone, with absolutely nothing working. There was dead air, and I couldn’t get anything to work – not the turntables (this was a long time ago) the cart machines or the mic. There was simply no way to stop the sounds of silence and the terrible hum of carrier current with nothing to fill it. And in a business where a three second pause seems like a lifetime, you can only imagine what five or ten minutes of it felt like when the place was entirely in your hands.
I’m not sure what led to that bad dream, which I’ve had a few times over the years, but thankfully, it never happened in real life. But my subconscious was definitely trying to tell me something.
The article also contains a great little bit about getting on and off air on time when you’re on a network feed. The author reveals that he developed a strategy for stretching when it was vital to finish at the exact second.
“I became proficient at editing, backtiming and ad libbing on the fly to stretch and fill time.
“Uttering the words, “Bryan Thompson reports...” takes two seconds. “Bryan Thompson has more on the story.” Three seconds. “Bryan Thompson has more on the story from Salina.” Four seconds. “Bryan Thompson has more on the story and its impact on the community of Salina.” Five seconds. “In Salina, Bryan Thompson has been following this story from the start and this morning filed this report.” Six seconds, seven, if you enunciated with passion and carefully placed dramatic pauses.”
I’ve always told people that radio is a very unique business. You’re not likely to ever run into a scenario like that in any other profession.
Old radio job still has me obsessing over time, minute by minute
- Jody Thornton
- Member
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
Yes. I can relate to bad dreams about radio. First a lead up story to put this all in context.
Before, I started college, I was participating in an overnight internship for a couple weeks with Rick Walters at 820 CHAM in August 1989. At the time, the station was using an EGA touch screen instead of a board console, and the current hit songs were transferred to DAT cartridges. Silly really because DAT tapes thread the tape out of the cartridge and around a rotary head drum the same way that a VHS, Beata, or U-Matic video cassette does. DATs are hard to cue up and take a moment to start, so if you have a song fading or ending, you needed to prejudge how long it would take to press PLAY on the DAT machine, load the tape (imaging the clicking noise going on for a few seconds), and then for the audio to start - so that there'd be no dead air.
Rick left me in the control room and "Streets of Bakersfield" By Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens was nearing it's end on an analog cart machine. I started the DAT machine on the screen once the last sustained note on "Streets ... " began, and the DAT tape, which had "Sunday in the South" by Shenendoah took too long to start. So the ten-second dead air alarm went off and Rick came back in to the control room. You could tell he wasn't pleased, but he was nice enough about it.
The following weekend, I was dreaming that I was in the CHAM studios and "Streets Of Bakerfield was again coming to an end. My alarm clock went off and I woke up pointing and yelling at my old Ken-Tech alarm clock, "The cart machine - it's over with - it's over with!" My parents ran into my room to see what was the matter. They repeated to me what I said, and didn't know what sense to make of it.
Whenever I hear "Streets of Bakersfield", which isn't often, I still feel a bit of inadequacy about operating a board.
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
I had a real life nightmare on my own internship. It was at CHIN Radio in the early 1970s and I was so young, I still couldn't drive. I wangled my way into the place and arranged to come down at 6 AM on Saturday and Sunday to learn about radio and operating the board.
On my very first morning of achieving a lifelong dream of being in radio, I was as nervous as you can imagine. But I was determined I wasn't going to show it. The security guard let me in and showed me to the main control room, where the morning announcer and his own board op were playing a record on air and huddled over it discussing something. Their backs were to me.
I walked in with a confident air, slapped the DJ on the back and yelled, "Hi Mark!"
What I didn't know because I couldn't see it was that Mark was standing there with a full cup of coffee, which promptly spilled all over the record that was playing. It didn't really stop the song, but it muddled it a bit and of course, there was liquid threatening to get into the equipment. And we all know how bad that can be.
I was mortified, of course, and the words "I'm sorry" have never ever been repeated so often. And that was my very first day ever in radio!
Despite that, they let me stay and I was there for a good 6 months or so, learning how to operate the board and everything else. But what a way to start a career!
- •
Thread Starter- Muffaraw Joe
- Member
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
OMG! RA! Yes, I had my own radio show for 7 years...on the first ever show, the producer came in with 3 minutes to air, he smelled of booze, there were technical errors throughout the show. I was not happy, I had put a lot of work into getting the show off the ground, selling it, (air-time) arranging guests, planning it etc.
On the Thursday before the 2nd show (which then aired Saturday morning from 9-10 am), I had a dream that I slept in and was late for the show, I just had a melt down in the dream and didn't end up going into the studio, I quit, I just quit in the dream.
Needless to say, the reality was I did go in, we did week 2 and 7 years later we did week 370...
But, boy that dream was vivid and real...
Thanks RA and Jody for your making this chat board awesome!
The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
- potentiometer
- Member
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
My recurring nightmare has varying scenes but the main theme is always the same: It's about 15 minutes before my newscast and I'm dawdling or otherwise poking the pooch as the clock inevitably ticks toward deadline. When the sounder hits, I frantically reach for copy (yes, it's old school) and it's comprised of either days-old news or stuff from a foreign country with words I can't pronounce, and so I start to ad lib a 10-minute (and it's always.10.minutes) newscast. Of course it's a total disaster. I wake up sweating with my heart ready to explode. At my age, one day it will, explode that is because the dream is sooooo vivid.
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
Most of my career was spent in TV, but just a few nights ago, I had one of those vivid dreams - unlike any I've had in many years. And I rarely remember any nightmares at all, but this one was unforgettable. It was the middle of winter and I was supposed to start my shift at 4 PM in CKEY's newsroom.
Despite the fact the station was located on the 25th floor of #1 Yonge St., so not hard to find, I got hopelessly lost. In the dream, I'm walking outside, seeing the building in the distance but I just can't seem to get there and it remains far away. It's the middle of winter and the snowbanks are so high that I can barely see over them. And I don't recognize the neighbourhood.
To make matters worse, I have a cell phone (which weren't even invented in those days, but a dream knows no timeframes) but for some reason I can't remember the number to call the guy who just finished his shift to tell him I'm going to be late.
And that's when I woke up.
What's weird is it's been over 40 years since I was there and yet I had that dream for the very first time last week.
I hope no psychiatrists are reading this page. I'd be afraid to hear what they'd have to say about all these flop-filled dreams! (If I could find my way to their offices through the snowbanks, of course...)
- •
Thread Starter- Peter the K
- Member
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
I've had two:
First one while I was still an on-air jock in the 80s. I called in to the station because I was horribly sick and I couldn't do my shift the next day. "No problem, we'll bring it to you" came the reply. Next thing I knew I woke up and this lovely U-shaped console, complete with turntables and cart machines was completely surrounding my bed. Basically, I couldn't escape.
The other dream has happened a number of times over the years since I've been on the air. Now to understand the full background of what's going on, I should point out that I always used to sleep for a while after my alarm clock went off but I would leave the radio running.
The dream itself involved me being on the air in the present day, the audio from the alarm clock is what I was hearing. At the appropriate cue I would open my mouth but it wasn't my voice talking. None of the controls worked, either.
I now try not to listen to the radio when in bed upon waking.
- Broodcaster
- Member
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
I know some former news announcers who have had dreams about going on air with now news.
- betaylored
- Member
Offline
Re: Have You Ever Had A Nightmare About Radio?
Two basic recurring nightmares.
The first is I'm sitting in a booth that looks faintly familiar, and I only have two albums to do a whole show with. Am I subconsciously saying I hated the high rotation for the hits I had to play when I was on-air in real life perhaps?
The second is I'm voicing a spot, standing in a production booth, script in hand, earphones on, mic in front of me, but I have bubblegum in my mouth, and I keep pulling more and more of it out of my mouth, but I still have a mouth full of gum no matter what I do.