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Keeping To Time

Keeping To Time

The standard way of working to time in a radio station is to carefully calculate out the minutes and seconds of each song and jingle etc – usually on a spreadsheet and then time your voice to the split second so that everything runs on time. There was a certain amount of fun to that method and there is still an element of that but luckily using WebVT it has been simplified.

We talked earlier about not touching commands such as Hitmarker and Run To Time and that is because they do exactly what they say, they give a time marker that must be hit and the software then counts backward from there adding up all the tracks to making sure that the station runs to time. That works great until us presenters come along and add voice tracks and change the songs.

Under

It is important for you to realise that each hour will add up to 60 minutes.   If your show falls under 60 minutes the software will be forced to randomly fill the shortfall.

Over

If you go over that time the Hitmarker will cut off whatever is playing. Imagine just being in the headbanging bit of Bohemian Rhapsody and then the news or jingles come on – no-one wants that!

Mind the Gap

In the top right hand corner of your screen you will see a gap time showing – this should be as close to 00:00:00. If not it will show a + or – and if it is minus it will be red.

As you add a voice track the gap time is going to increase.  Say you add a 1:30 of voice recording then the gap time will show +1:30. As you add more and more voice tracks that gap time is going to go over the hour more and more. You will see tracks at the end of the hour become greyed out and that is because they can no longer fit within the hour.

One method is to delete music tracks before you start recording to allow for your voice tracks to be added.  Be sure to keep the songs you absolutely want to include and will definitely be introducing. Once you have your core material into the hour you can look at the gap time and see if you need to add or delete more. Knowing how long you are going to talk for and what you are going to say makes planning easier.

More on Keeping To Time

Here’s Johnny Murph on how he manages running
to time on his shows

Inspiration

“As much emotion, reaction and a smile in as few words as
possible. Quick. Snappy. Tight”

Dan Morrisey – Presenter, Bauer Media
From the book:Radio Secrets by David Lloyd

Training Task 4

Training Task 4
In your training hour, complete a 1 hour show using everything you have learned so far.

Stage 2 Review

Ask your trainer to review your practice hour for any feedback, this is the final stage of your training before you have your regular radio slot and so be sure to ask any questions and take on board any tips.

At this stage we may ask you to do a few practice hours like this to make sure everything is okay before your launch.