http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin..._virgin31.html

"Radio newscasts used to use as a background sound effect a clattering
wire machine. But news wires have been fed to newsrooms by computers for
more than two decades (no clanging bells to alert editors to a
bulletin). People might still hear that sound and associate it with a
newscast without really knowing why -- but for how much longer? "

I worked at Detroit's all-newser, WWJ/950, in the mid/late 80s, and they still
had the teletype sound running in the background. I believe it was on a
continuous loop mechanism, likely the same variety that was used at CKLW/800 in
its 20/20 News heyday.

WWJ remains all news, but the teletype sound was dumped years ago.

John Z
Detroit

"Radio newscasts used to use as a background sound effect a clattering
wire machine. But news wires have been fed to newsrooms by computers for
more than two decades (no clanging bells to alert editors to a
bulletin). People might still hear that sound and associate it with a
newscast without really knowing why -- but for how much longer? "

Until the last of the cart machines land in the same junk pile as the old
teletypes.

Lee


--
To e-mail, replace "bucketofspam" with "dleegordon"

On 1 Sep 2004 18:30:18 GMT, Charles Hobbs ("Charles") writes:

Charles http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin..._virgin31.html
Charles "Radio newscasts used to use as a background sound effect a clattering
Charles wire machine. But news wires have been fed to newsrooms by computers for
Charles more than two decades (no clanging bells to alert editors to a
Charles bulletin). People might still hear that sound and associate it with a
Charles newscast without really knowing why -- but for how much longer? "

Similar to the sound of dragging a needle across a phonograph record.
Younger people today associate a particular meaning for that popular
sound effect, but have no inkling as to what it's actually about!

Charles Hobbs had written:
| http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin..._virgin31.html
|
| "Radio newscasts used to use as a background sound effect a clattering
| wire machine. But news wires have been fed to newsrooms by computers for
| more than two decades (no clanging bells to alert editors to a
| bulletin). People might still hear that sound and associate it with a
| newscast without really knowing why -- but for how much longer? "

KTVU in Oakland -- yes, a television station -- actually *added*
that sound effect, very softly in the background but in stereo, a
little more than a year ago.

--
Mark Roberts |"The same sort of moral cowardice that led him to support the
Oakland, Cal.| Vietnam war but decide it wasn't for him, run companies into the
NO HTML MAIL | ground and let others pay the bill, play gutter politics but run
for the hills when someone asks him to say it to their face,
those are the same qualities that led the president to
lie the country into war, fail to prepare for the aftermath
and then refuse to take responsibility for any of it when
the bill started to come due." -- Josh Marshall

"ZMAN6754" wrote in message ...
I worked at Detroit's all-newser, WWJ/950, in the mid/late 80s, and they still
had the teletype sound running in the background. I believe it was on a
continuous loop mechanism, likely the same variety that was used at CKLW/800 in
its 20/20 News heyday.

WWJ remains all news, but the teletype sound was dumped years ago.

When I worked at WTAE, and Ted Atkins came to the station, I was the one assigned to
record the teletype machines for the loop he wanted on-air when the Drake-conceived
20/20 News format was to start, along with the launch of the legendary Bill Drake
oldies format (wow! That was 31 years ago this week!) on Labor Day weekend. (For
those not aware, Atkins was a disciple of Drake, having worked for RKO with CKLW and
KHJ before coming to WTAE.)

I never really liked the sound (KYW had been using it for years, since the start of
the Newsradio format that was spawned by Group W) so my recording was, shall we say,
less than spirited....the several machines were mic'ed from a distance, which in my
mind was appropriate since the noise was to, I thought, be similar in nature to what
one would hear if the machines were "in the newsroom" where the newsreader was
"stationed" so that the news might be assumed to be "the lastest word."

Well, that wasn't good enough for Atkins, and he took me back to the room and showed
me how he wanted it mic'ed....with the lid open, a broomhandle laid in back of the
paper, so as to lift it and make the keys go clack-clack-clack, and the mic stuffed
down the front of all of it, so as to be right there. In fairness to Ted, through
all of this he was respectful and instructive, so don't get any ideas that my
encounter, then or ever, was anything less than this...I learned a lot from Ted, and
my own career in radio was as good as it was, in no small way due to the time I spent
working under Ted Atkins at WTAE.

So it was all theatre. That I already knew. But I never really understood why it is
that we had to put our listeners' heads into the teletype.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there's nothing that offends you in your community, then you know you're not
living in a free society.
Kim Campbell - ex-Prime Minister of Canada - 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For direct replies, take out the contents between the hyphens. -Really!-

Recently 1010 WINS New York discontinued the teletype. Some consultant
probably told them it was old-fashioned. They received many complaints.
It's back. When using a non-digital tuner, hearing that sound lets
listeners know they're at 1010 without looking at the dial.

Mike Conway

wrote in message ...
Recently 1010 WINS New York discontinued the teletype. Some consultant
probably told them it was old-fashioned. They received many complaints.
It's back. When using a non-digital tuner, hearing that sound lets
listeners know they're at 1010 without looking at the dial.

In Chicago, when WBBM flipped to all-news, they had the teletype sound
in the background, which always went on when the news anchor opened
their mike, even during "CBS Mystery Theater." When Westinghouse took
over WMAQ and flipped to their "You Give Us 22 Minutes..." concept of
all-news, complete with the teletype, 'BBM dumped the teletype. In
the early 90s, when they decided to push their CNN affiliation during
the first Gulf War, 'MAQ dumped the teletype and all of the trappings
of the Group W all-news format and stayed that way until the station
met its demise a few years ago at the hands of The Score.

On 1 Sep 2004 18:30:18 GMT, Charles Hobbs
wrote:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin..._virgin31.html

"Radio newscasts used to use as a background sound effect a clattering
wire machine. But news wires have been fed to newsrooms by computers for
more than two decades (no clanging bells to alert editors to a
bulletin). People might still hear that sound and associate it with a
newscast without really knowing why -- but for how much longer? "

When a friend and I were 14, we built a little 100mw station for our
town. There was no station in the entire county, it was like
Mayberry. We went to a station in a neighboring town with his
brand-new cassette recorder ($100). We stuck it in the insulated
closet where they had the newswire and let the sucker run for around
20 or 30 minutes.

Then, when we went on the air of our 100mw station, reading the news
from the local paper, we played our "newswire" in the background.
Sounded pretty real if you ask me.

D*
www.beautifulradio.com
Easy Listening For the Internet Generation














"We ain't gone be po no mo."
- - Pastor Greg Powe, Atlanta