What you would see, if you were actually in the studio at Radio Station WBT during the broadcasting of a program?
Suppose you came into the studio and sat down fifteen minutes before the program—as that is time when preparations for a program are supposed to begin. You would see the announcer, the musicians, the singers, the speakers, or anyone else who was to be on the program, coming into the room and getting things arranged for the beginning of the program—that is, you would see them, if they were on time. Everyone is supposed to be on hand at least fifteen minutes ahead of time, so that leisurely and careful preparation can be made. A last minute rush is very likely apt to be disastrous. It is hard to produce a good program under the best of conditions.
The announcer has charge of what we call the studio set-up, so you would see him placing the microphones in the proper places, and making everyone familiar with what he or she should do at the proper time.
One microphone is used for the orchestra, perhaps another is placed beside the piano for a singer, and still another may be used to pick up something special as a xylophone. The program must be carefully figured out before hand all microphones placed and tested before the program is to begin.
WBT has two studios with what is known as the control room between. There is a horizontal glass panel in the partition wall between each studio and the control room, which enables the control man to see what is going on in order that he may know how to proceed in his work.
Control Box
Near this glass panel partition is placed the announcers table. On this table are two things—a microphone into which the announcer speaks and a small box measuring about eight inches each way. This is the control box. You will notice three things about this little box. First, it has two lights on it—a green and red one. Then it has a switch somewhat like a toggle switch used for turning lights on and off in a house.
The switch has three positions: A center position and one on each side of the center position. The first position off center cuts off all the microphones in the room, the second cuts in the announcers microphone on the table, and the third cuts off the announcers microphone and opens the program microphones.
The third thing on the little box is the plug wherein you met set up a set of headphones. The plug is a double one, and through one the announcer may listen in on the program being broadcast in the same studio and by plugging in at the other, he may hear the program that may be going on in the other studio of the station or what is going on over the chain.
No one knows the importance of time as does a radio announcer or any professional radio performer. The whole work from beginning to end is a matter of time. Seconds assume alarming propensity and importance. It is never a matter of minutes, but seconds—always seconds. An announcer, when a program is imminent, seldom has his eyes off his watch. When the time comes for a program to be broadcast, it must begin right there and then, and conversely, you can not begin until the second has arrived for you to begin. There is nearly always someone on the air before you, and he has until his last second to finish.
Just before the program is to start, you will see the announcer put on his headphones, plug into the appointed jack on the control box on the announcer's table and listen in on the program ahead of his. As the time approaches, he cautions everyone in the studio to remain quiet. If you watch the little control box, you will see a green light suddenly flare into life, indicating that the preceding program has been concluded, the power is on in your studio and all is ready for the performers to begin. That green light burns steadily all during the program.
Silence Like Death
When all is ready to begin the actual broadcasting the switch is moved front the off position, indicating that all microphones in the studio are closed, to the open position indicated by the red light. A death like silence must reign while this light burns, except for those sounds resulting from the prescribed program. The red light continues to burn as long as any broadcasting is being done, and is only extinguished when a mistake is made or when any unusual readjustment has to be made.
As the program is in progress, we may watch through the glass panel and see the control man as he unceasingly works over the program to make it go out on the air in as nearly flawless shape as is possible. No matter how hard the people in the studio work, the cooperation of the control man is indispensable to satisfactory results. In the control room you will see a loud speaker through which the program may be heard more truthfully than through headphones. No, that does not interfere with the program in the studio. These rooms are all absolutely sound proof. For this reason, at various times throughout the program we may see the control man phone into the announcer with some suggestion as to placement of artists or equipment that will improve the general affect. And so we sit looking from aide to side until all is over, for once inside you may neither speak, move, or leave.
As you sit inside the studio and hear the program, you do not get as reliable an impression as to how it sounds, as you would, !f outside. Often times a program sounds much better outside and often times just the reverse. The microphone is a much more sensitive instrument than most people realize, and does . respond in an entirely different way from the human ear, for certainly the effect is not always the same. This particularly true of the human voice. The effect through the loud speaker is often entirely different from that in the studio.