Hmm. No hotlink. Sorry. The interview was on this week’s edition of ‘Feedback’.

That’s a very interesting, if short (and slightly patronising) interview. The most telling phrase is “radio doesn’t always have to be done the way it’s been done in the past”. This is something that Sue Carter knows well: and something that I sometimes wonder whether some others – particularly the BBC – understand.

We’ve added automatic hotlinks to these pages now. Thanks for spotting that.

On a similar note is the interesting move by Quidem to drop networking and move to local shows on the Touch network from 6am-7pm but have the daytime and drivetime shows voicetracked. Lincs have also been doing this with a few of their stations for a while now, just keeping a live breakfast show and going on-tape from 10am.

Loads of stations automate midmornings these days. Automated evenings have been commonplace ever since the playout system came into being.

But is voicetracking drivetime – a peak time show – a step too far?

Voicetracking is always going to sound vastly inferior to a live show… or is it?

Some people say you can voicetrack a peaktime show – or indeed any show – convincingly. I’m not convinced that you can – in my history of voicetracking I’ve found it near-impossible to make a voicetrack show sound live. Many disagree with me though.

As Sue says in the interview Jack FM Oxfordshire are automated outside breakfast (0600-0900) but provide locally-produced news bulletins and traffic info throughout the day. The lack of a live drivetime presenter doesn’t seem to be hurting them audience-wise.

True. Jack though is sold heavily on how it’s presenter-free out of breakfast, as are many of the Stateside versions of the station. For more general smaller stations though – the UKRDs, Quidems and Lincs’ of this world – which is the lesser evil… smart networking or local automation?

Smart networking kind of is local automation, to a point.

I did the Sunday breakfast show on Hallam FM for a while, voicetracking it 15-minutes ahead of time. It meant my links were spot on, I jocked the vocals, and did other things that were seemingly magic. You’re going to tell me that’s “evil” now, and I won’t agree with you…

Quite. 15 minutes is a big difference to how many voicetracked shows are done now – in some cases recorded days ahead of TX.

Yes. Sue puts it all quite succinctly. Advances in technology have afforded ways to work smarter and more efficiently but in some places, the thinking has not caught up yet. For some, the notion of the presenter, sat in a room with a stack of records is all there is. Stations like Jack, Radio Scilly and Radio Pembrokeshire show how small teams can deliver a quality, content heavy product, by making the best use of technology and embracing the concept of multi-tasking. Nobody’s expecting BBC Radio Oxford to run on a staff of 5 – but it’d be so positive if stations like that took on board just a little of what stations like Jack have used to great success.

Paul, it was a brief but interesting interview. It was also interesting to not that aferwards, Roger spoke to the Managing Editor of BBC Cumbria. He indicated that with the cuts to local radio budgets, BBC stations should make more use of technology. He even went as far as to say that he thought there might be a case for moving out of their current building, into something smaller and having material, piped in as it were and just have the bare bones to get programmes out to air.

Am I the only one who finds it a bit sad that a format that is almost entirely presenter-less passes for local these days?

It’s a question of knowing what the listener actually wants isn’t? I’m sure if you ask a real person what they want they’ll tell you they want music, travel and to be entertained. Jack does that, even in automation. The trick is, of course, to invest in good production and maintain the live elements that are important. Lazy automation is just VT’ing links. Good automation uses live inserts, tight/flowing music and great production elements to glue it all together and Jack do that really well.

@James M – I don’t think “passes for local” is hardly fair – 106 JACK fm Oxfordshire sounds far more local than some other stations I’ve heard that have live and local presenters. Outside the breakfast show Jack still has (good) locally-produced news bulletins, traffic updates and ‘Jack-tivities’ ‘What’s Ons?’ and community info – incidentally,‘Jack-tivities’ seems to have become a popular local euphemism for sexual activity!

It’s a station that punches well above its weight – and has a lot of fun while doing it – while picking up plenty of awards and nominations in the process.

As others have pointed out “radio doesn’t always have to be done the way it’s been done in the past” and smaller stations can produce quality content on minimum resources by using available techno…logy smartly. In the end if people like it they will listen.

More comments about the Jack format here – http://pauleaston.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-jack.html.

I totally agree that we should embrace technology in our industry, and I was the first presenter at Radio Aire to use Dalet for voicetracking to the amazement of everyone else in the building. I was on the air in the studio but still on the air when in the kitchen making a quick cup of tea! I have voicetracked for many stations and did a daily show for Spain with voicetracks recorded in my home studio in Leeds when I operated Radio Atlanta in Spain. However just because we have technology it does not mean that we should always use it. For me in this multi media world we live in, I believe that the future of radio is still in live broadcasting being done as much as possible. To sum it up for me if its just continuous music all day you are not a radio station you are an Ipod! Embrace technology in our industr, y use it to make our lives easier, but we should never forget that radio is a communication medium and what we say touches our listeners. Unlike many presenters I like voicetracking however I would much rather be live….............................

(Is this your first post on Media UK? You’re very welcome). I think voicetracking while in the studio is a good plan on occasion: particularly, on one memorable occasion, when Magic AM’s programming wasn’t playing out, so I managed to be on-air on both Hallam and Magic at the same time… !

I agree and we are alike, I was doing breakfast on Magic 828 live one Saturday morning when the FM jock did not turn up for Radio Aire so after an hour at 7a.m. I was live and voicetracked on Magic 828 and Radio Aire at the same time! I did that for over two hours. Yes its my first post as well thanks! See you in Zurich next week.