Thirty second (0:30) spots were recorded to 0:40 second cartridge tapes and labeled in red. Labeling was done with a typewriter and one of the never-ending packets of labels that always seemed to come out of nowhere. Running out of labels one week? By the start of the next another packet surfaced – usually with a few sheets already missing. I’ve no idea how they were kept in stock unless they got passed along with Son of Funkenstein CDs (see I Can Feel It In My Heart Something's Wrong).
The labels contained a tracking number, title of spot, length, an out-cue, and end date, or kill date. For example, the Selective Service PSA (see You know I’d like to believe this nervousness will pass) was thirty seconds, ended with the phrase “...what a man’s gotta do”, and should have last been used in May 1998. The tracking numbers were a hold-over from the manual program logs that were phased out in favor of computerized logs during my stint at the station. The general rule of thumb was to keep 30-40 of these in rotation. As kill dates came and went, the Production Director would pull old spots out and add new ones into the mix.
Sixty second (0:60) spots were recorded to 0:70 second cartridge tapes and labeled in yellow. These minute-long spots usually came in two varieties: national Ad Council spots dubbed from CDs or student-produced assignments from one of the broadcasting classes. Spots of this length could be trickier to keep in rotation because the spots created by students were not created until a few weeks into the semester and then only lasted a semester. To help assist in the upkeep I devised a system based around the tracking number: numbers 200-219 were national spots with no kill date; 220-240 were national spots that expired throughout the semester; and everything else in the 200-series from 241 on up were the student projects. I don’t know how perfect the system was but it worked for me.
The obvious reason for the color of the label was to easily identify the length of the spot. The faster-paced rock and urban shows ran through stopsets quickly and therefore only played one 0:30 spot each half hour. The 0:60 spots usually only aired during classical and jazz shifts. Unless the label noted otherwise.
A non-profit outfit called Recording Artists Against Drunk Driving sent out a disc of PSAs one year and we were a bit bummed because all the spots that featured artists we played were all 0:60 seconds. We couldn’t see (or hear) spots voiced by rock musicians – Red Hot Chili Peppers, ZZ Top, or Matthew Sweet – airing during the classical shifts. Still, we added a few spots into the mix with the stipulation they air only in the afternoon hours – hence “PM Only”. Part of the reason for this was that we mixed the spot with the chorus of “Where You Get Love” – essentially the spot was half message and half (rock) music. I dunno - we thought it sounded cool. It beat having the same old voice over closet music or somethin'.
This labeling worked and was seemingly understood by all for a number of weeks until Ian “Jazzman” Liden decided to air the thing amidst some Liszt and Haydn. Liden seemed oblivious to understanding why he needed to read the label in this situation, which turned out to be the first of many issues he had with cartridge tapes and their labels.
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Where You Get Love
(Sweet)
Matthew Sweet
From the album Blue Sky on Mars
1997
Instead of running
Stay and keep it coming
You’re getting your kicks right at the source
You’re taking your guidance from the force
But where do you get love
Down below or from somewhere above
Got a scary feeling I know
Where you get love
Am I the whore
You’re working for
I’m here if you want to keep me near
Much further away than I appear
Where do you get love
Down below or from somewhere above
Got a scary feeling I know
Where you get love
Instead of running
Stay and keep it coming
Stay and keep it coming
Stay and keep it coming
Where do you get love
Down below or from somewhere above
Got a scary feeling I know
Where do you get love
Where do you get love
Down below or from somewhere above
Got a scary feeling I know
Where do you get love
Where do you get love