[rfu-automation] Re: PSA length

Andrew Ó Baoill andrew at funferal.org
Thu Oct 23 13:26:14 CDT 2008 

The problem with the cut off is that no dead air has been included at  
the end of the audio file - the current setting for the automation is  
to have some cross-fade, so that the music sounds better, but it means  
that the last 0.5 seconds, or so, of PSAs and IDs gets lost - which is  
fine if we end with music, or have dead air at the end, but not when  
we have a tightly-edited file.

In terms of length, I'd suggest that we try to keep them under a  
minute, and if possible around 30 seconds. The way Zara works, it will  
run the PSA through to the end (except for the cross fade) and then go  
to music - the only reason it should be interrupted is if we have a  
high-priority 'immediate' event coming up. The only things in that  
category are the Community Shares PSA and legal ID at the top of the  
hour, and the podcasts between 4 and 6pm. I don't think we currently  
have PSAs in the 4-6pm period, so length shouldn't matter - though as  
I say, keeping them under a minute would be good. Indeed, my thought  
is that a PSA shouldn't be longer than is needed to convey the  
information, so we could usefully have 15 second PSAs.

A related point: I'm not sure how Zara operates when asked to play a  
random track from a directory that contains sub-directories. I raise  
the point because it might be useful to divide PSAs into directories  
by length, allowing us at certain points to schedule *any* random PSA,  
and at others to restrict the choice to shorter (or longer) PSAs.

Andrew


On Oct 23, 2008, at 12:00 PM, rfu-automation- 
request at lists.chambana.net wrote:

> Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:45:20 -0500
> From: "Noel L. Vivar" <nlvivar at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [rfu-automation] PSA length
> To: "Stephen Fonzo" <fonzo.stephen at gmail.com>
> Cc: rfu-automation at lists.chambana.net, RFU List
> 	<rfu at lists.chambana.net>
> Message-ID:
> 	<c3649b070810221145q4a78f0efkeb918dba2248ed41 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> To be brief, I'm not sure.
>
> I think PSAs usually come in 30 seconds to 1 minute. Actually, I think
> that there are a stack of CDs in the station studio that have recorded
> PSAs on there from organizations like the Ad Council, FDA, etc.
>
> Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember that some PSAs on the
> automation do get cut off. I'm not sure why. I would hypothesize that
> it may be due to over-zealous overlap of the track playing and the
> next track to minimize dead air. I would also think that it's not a
> function of PSA length, but a function of ZaraRadio's settings, but
> I'm not sure. I'm not sure how ZaraRadio queues the next track.
>
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 1:18 PM, Stephen Fonzo <fonzo.stephen at gmail.com 
> > wrote:
>> There has been more interest in written and recorded PSAs lately,  
>> and I have
>> two simple questions so I know how to answer these request on  
>> behalf of
>> WRFU/IMC Production:
>>
>> What is the ideal length for recorded PSAs?
>> If I need to record a PSA that is longer than 30 seconds, is it  
>> alright to
>> set it in automation to play at full length?
>>
>> When listening to the station, I have heard PSAs and station IDs
>> (especially) get cut off by songs running in the automation, and I  
>> would
>> like to avoid that.
>>
>> Stephen Fonzo
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> rfu-automation mailing list
>> rfu-automation at lists.chambana.net
>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu-automation
>>
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Noel L. Vivar
> 505 E. Clark St., Apt. 24
> Champaign, IL 61820-4420
> 630.740.5775
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:39:52 -0500
> From: "Marti Wilkinson" <martiwilki at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [RFU] Re: [rfu-automation] PSA length
> To: "Noel L. Vivar" <nlvivar at gmail.com>
> Cc: rfu-automation at lists.chambana.net, RFU List
> 	<rfu at lists.chambana.net>
> Message-ID:
> 	<32bb8df60810221539l26e59dbbo54b0d872e593962e at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> When I did ad insertion for Cable Televsion the commercials needed  
> to come
> in at a precise time. Otherwise the system was set up to cut off the  
> spots.
> One of the biggest challenges I faced was dealing with commercials  
> where the
> audio came from radio ads. For whatever reason it seemed like Radio  
> Stations
> never considered keeping spots to a specific time length. The standard
> defaults for spot lengths in many software insertion programs are : 
> 15 :30 or
> :60 and the default length for commercial breaks can range from :60  
> to 1:20.
> I'm not familiar with the programming software for WRFU but I would  
> check
> it's settings and make absolutely sure that PSA announcements stick  
> to time
> limits.
>
> My suggestion for a :30 spot would be to default to 29.5 seconds of  
> audio
> and that may help with cut off.
>
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Noel L. Vivar <nlvivar at gmail.com>  
> wrote:
>
>> To be brief, I'm not sure.
>>
>> I think PSAs usually come in 30 seconds to 1 minute. Actually, I  
>> think
>> that there are a stack of CDs in the station studio that have  
>> recorded
>> PSAs on there from organizations like the Ad Council, FDA, etc.
>>
>> Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember that some PSAs on  
>> the
>> automation do get cut off. I'm not sure why. I would hypothesize that
>> it may be due to over-zealous overlap of the track playing and the
>> next track to minimize dead air. I would also think that it's not a
>> function of PSA length, but a function of ZaraRadio's settings, but
>> I'm not sure. I'm not sure how ZaraRadio queues the next track.
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 1:18 PM, Stephen Fonzo <fonzo.stephen at gmail.com 
>> >
>> wrote:
>>> There has been more interest in written and recorded PSAs lately,  
>>> and I
>> have
>>> two simple questions so I know how to answer these request on  
>>> behalf of
>>> WRFU/IMC Production:
>>>
>>> What is the ideal length for recorded PSAs?
>>> If I need to record a PSA that is longer than 30 seconds, is it  
>>> alright
>> to
>>> set it in automation to play at full length?
>>>
>>> When listening to the station, I have heard PSAs and station IDs
>>> (especially) get cut off by songs running in the automation, and I  
>>> would
>>> like to avoid that.
>>>
>>> Stephen Fonzo
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> rfu-automation mailing list
>>> rfu-automation at lists.chambana.net
>>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu-automation
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Noel L. Vivar
>> 505 E. Clark St., Apt. 24
>> Champaign, IL 61820-4420
>> 630.740.5775
>> _______________________________________________
>> RFU mailing list
>> RFU at lists.chambana.net
>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu
>>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:43:05 -0500
> From: "Stephen Fonzo" <fonzo.stephen at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [rfu-automation] PSA length
> To: "Noel L. Vivar" <nlvivar at gmail.com>
> Cc: rfu-automation at lists.chambana.net, RFU List
> 	<rfu at lists.chambana.net>
> Message-ID:
> 	<887c6a420810221543i10be39e9p770d44f4bf62a9c7 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> It seems like a ZaraRadio configuration, and it is probably more  
> urgent to
> let PSAs and IDs run their course, whatever their length, than to  
> let the
> automation music supersede them.  In general it will be good to have
> standard lengths, but there are always messages that must be longer  
> due to
> the content.
>
> -Stephen
>
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Noel L. Vivar <nlvivar at gmail.com>  
> wrote:
>
>> To be brief, I'm not sure.
>>
>> I think PSAs usually come in 30 seconds to 1 minute. Actually, I  
>> think
>> that there are a stack of CDs in the station studio that have  
>> recorded
>> PSAs on there from organizations like the Ad Council, FDA, etc.
>>
>> Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember that some PSAs on  
>> the
>> automation do get cut off. I'm not sure why. I would hypothesize that
>> it may be due to over-zealous overlap of the track playing and the
>> next track to minimize dead air. I would also think that it's not a
>> function of PSA length, but a function of ZaraRadio's settings, but
>> I'm not sure. I'm not sure how ZaraRadio queues the next track.
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 1:18 PM, Stephen Fonzo <fonzo.stephen at gmail.com 
>> >
>> wrote:
>>> There has been more interest in written and recorded PSAs lately,  
>>> and I
>> have
>>> two simple questions so I know how to answer these request on  
>>> behalf of
>>> WRFU/IMC Production:
>>>
>>> What is the ideal length for recorded PSAs?
>>> If I need to record a PSA that is longer than 30 seconds, is it  
>>> alright
>> to
>>> set it in automation to play at full length?
>>>
>>> When listening to the station, I have heard PSAs and station IDs
>>> (especially) get cut off by songs running in the automation, and I  
>>> would
>>> like to avoid that.
>>>
>>> Stephen Fonzo
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> rfu-automation mailing list
>>> rfu-automation at lists.chambana.net
>>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu-automation
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Noel L. Vivar
>> 505 E. Clark St., Apt. 24
>> Champaign, IL 61820-4420
>> 630.740.5775
>>
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> rfu-automation mailing list
> rfu-automation at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu-automation
>
>
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