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This Was My All-Time Broadcast Nightmare. What Was Yours?
An article from an otherwise obscure Kentucky newspaper made me wonder: what was your broadcasting nightmare, something that happened to you in a radio station that you've never forgotten?
The author is a former DJ who started in the days when we still used turntables and cart machines. He lists a few things that kept him up nights (and given the shifts in radio, that may not be just a figure of speech!)
• Your worst nightmare is introducing a song and the turntable is on 33 1/3 not on 45.
• Your 2nd worst nightmare is when the Spotmaster 101 would be playing a recorded commercial begins flapping like a window blind.
• What do you do when the transmitter goes off the air and there is no engineer and you are it.
Can't say I've ever experienced those scenarios, but I do recall a federal election night when I was in charge of op-ing the coverage for the updates of the races live on air. The newsman and I went into a separate studio to coordinate everything and they brought us up in the main control room remotely.
The problem started when the folks in the newsroom were busy carting up clips of reaction actualities as each race took a turn, and would then rush them into my studio. But in their haste and in all that craziness, they either forgot or didn't have time to label anything. So I'd get a fresh delivery of eight carts with nothing to indicate who was on them or what the outcue was.
My news guy would call for a clip and, with zero time to audition anything, I was forced to simply pick one and cross my fingers that when he was introducing the Prime Minister, it wasn't actually someone else. As you can imagine, with a one-in-eight chance, I was often wrong.
After this happened for the third or fourth time, I began phoning the newsroom, begging them for at least a label - something, anything, that would tell me who was on what. But it didn't happen.
Finally, in an incident that many who were there that night still recall, my frustration boiled over. Despite the fact my announcer was behind sound-proof glass, when he called for the next clip amongst another pile of blank carts, I shouted in frustration "WHERE!!!!!!??????"
I'm told it was so loud, that was actually heard on air!
Probably one of my worst nights in broadcasting and it was a tag team event. But I've never forgotten it.
- Peter the K
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Re: This Was My All-Time Broadcast Nightmare. What Was Yours?
RadioActive wrote:
• Your worst nightmare is introducing a song and the turntable is on 33 1/3 not on 45.
Sometimes, it works out well. I remember years ago back on CFNY hearing Dave Marsden playing The Stranglers' "Skin Deep" at 33 instead of 45. Just as the vocals started, he ramped it up to 45. It was about as smooth as one would expect. I don't know if it was a mistake or on purpose. Well, I really liked it and to this day I have an instrumental version of that song on my "cartunes" memory stick slowed down to 33.
As for me, it was I accidentally started playing Rough Trade's "What's the furor about the fuhrer" despite "DO NOT PLAY" being written in thick marker all over the label. (it was the flip side I was supposed to play) Needless to say, I faded that puppy down quick and jumped to a carted song as fast as I could hoping no one would notice or call. Nobody did. Whew!
- RadioActive
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Re: This Was My All-Time Broadcast Nightmare. What Was Yours?
One more thing from the article that I can sightly relate to:
• There is nothing like being on the air and the owner would come into the control room to vacuum the transmitter which is 8 feet from the console. I didn’t dare open the mic for 15 minutes until he was finished.
I didn't know you needed to vacuum the TX, but OK.
Back when I was at CFTR, owner Ted Rogers walked into the station, something that never happened before or since that day while I was there.
He decided he wanted to talk to the jock who was in the booth, so he boldly headed straight towards it. Everyone was standing around, knowing he was about to walk in on the guy on air, just as a record was ending. But because he was the owner, a lot of them were afraid to say something. You try telling the guy who controls your paycheque that he can't do whatever he wants!
Finally, just as the "On Air" light came on outside the booth, someone gently touched him on the shoulder and said "Ted, maybe you want to wait for a second." He seemed startled at first, then realized what he almost did, looked a bit grumpy, and waited. But it was certainly a weird moment that could have turned out a lot worse!
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Thread Starter- Marsden
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Re: This Was My All-Time Broadcast Nightmare. What Was Yours?
Back in the CFNY days I played a Nash The Slash song at the wrong speed. Not noticing that, I let it go while I searched for my next song.
It seems Nash was listening. A few days later he re-released the song in that wrong speed and he called it The Marsden Mix.
Yes I'm still giggling about that one. :-)
- Dial Twister
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Re: This Was My All-Time Broadcast Nightmare. What Was Yours?
Back in the CFNY days I played a Nash The Slash song at the wrong speed. Not noticing that, I let it go while I searched for my next song.
It seems Nash was listening. A few days later he re-released the song in that wrong speed and he called it The Marsden Mix.
Yes I'm still giggling about that one. :-)
David, David, David. 
- turkeytop
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I remember once, years ago astation played 45 RPM ofMemphis, by Lonnie Mack, all the way throuugh on 33.3 speed. No one there .noticed
Another time CFRB played Let Me Be There by Olivia Newton John all the way through on the wrong speed.
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
- Paul Jeffries
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One time when I was board opping at CKDS, one of the newscasters handed me the reel to reel tape for the upcoming newscast. (I believe he was the only newscaster in the building at the time and had to do a live cast on CHML). He said to me, "It's the second take." There was a little piece of paper stuck between the wound-up tape, which was common in our newsroom to indicate where the op should cue up. So, the top of the hour comes, I hit the news ID stinger and start the tape. Everything is going along fine...for about a minute or so. In the midst of the newscast, he stops to clear his throat and says "Excuse me," and then stops dead.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU CALL THIS???" I literally yelled out loud for anybody to hear (which was just myself, as I was the only one in the studio at the time).
Turns out, it wasn't the second take on the tape, but rather, the second take after the little flap of paper!
Several seconds of dead air ensued as I feverishly grabbed something to try and fill it (I think I may have played a "Hinterland Who's Who" PSA or something like that). I managed to quickly cue up the tape to the correct spot and started the newscast over again. This time, thankfully, without any more surprises!
Then, one time on CHML, I created my own dead air. I was doing my own announce shows by that time and I was getting ready for the top of the hour newscaster to come in. Anne Murray's "Snowbird" was playing, partially because it was CanCon and there was about 2 minutes to kill before the newscast. I was starting to cue up the songs for after the newscast. Many of you probably worked with the Denon CD cart machines back in the 1990s, where you flip up the drawer to make the CD and cartridge pop out. Annie had got through about the first verse of the song before the sound in the studio went dead. Turns out, I had flipped out the CD that was currently playing! The newscaster wasn't in the booth yet, so I couldn't throw to him or her, so I quickly popped the CD back in, hit play several times and said "Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!" (The CD obviously took a few seconds to cue up, and hitting the play button several times was like hitting an elevator button multiple times in hopes that it would get you to your floor faster).
Maybe not the most catastrophic things to happen to an op/announcer, but definitely the type of situations to get your heart beating a little faster! 
PJ
ClassicHitsOnline.com...The place where all the cool tunes hang out!
- newsguy1
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Re: This Was My All-Time Broadcast Nightmare. What Was Yours?
Years ago I was scheduled to do an evening newscasting shift...from 6pm until midnight.
I had been feeling really weird all day, sort of queezy and nausiated.
After I got to work I realized the feeling was building but so was my deadline to go on the air -- live.
About five minutes before air time I realized I was going to puke and there was nothing I could do about it.
This was not at a live radio station so I could not ask a jock to just play a tune and stall for time.
I went into the booth and my newscast tones went off.
I didn't get more than a few words in before I was overwhelmed with dry heaving.
I shut off my mic and tried to gather myself but to no avail.
I gave it another try but again I was overtaken with puking.
When I tried to go on I was gasping for breath and sweating profusely.
I had to stop and leave all our radio stations to themselves.
I thought, this is it, I'll be fired tomorrow.
To my relief my boss at the time listened to the disastrous newscast and looked at me and said, " I feel for you, man."
It taught me a valuable lesson though.
If you feel that sick, call in sick.