Broadcast Software

Well, yes, all stations are different, but I was just saying that I didn't think local radio's needs are all that different to some network stations.

Actually in some ways local radio is even more complicated than national; what network station has programmes that are all speech, some which are all music, some which are all news and some which are a mix of all of them?

I suspect one of the main reasons network hasn't got for Radioman is that it's just too easy to muck up with it. As far as I can see with Dira it's almost impossible to stop an item playing accidentally. I think there are at least 3 keys on the RM keyboard you can kill an item with.

Dira also needs a nice modern desk too I think , whereas RM has been bolted on the the good-old Mark IIIs (sad page alert).

Radioman hasn't been bolted onto Mk3 in all locations.

Bristol has Alicesound desks, Devon has Mk4, Cornwall has new stuff - although I don't know what exactly.

Part of the issue with Radioman surely is that the majority of operators are journalists and self-op presenters. The majority in network would be producers and engineers.

Not wishing to do down journos like myself, but there are some who don't have a grasp technically, and need something simple like RM.

That is only a problem if you use the UI method isn't it? There are ways of calling most ENPS commands (as well as specing folders etc.) directly from a macro - these would continue to work if the UI changed? (And mine did when extra options were added in the ENPS upgrades)

Also - AIUI Avid iNews is the souped-up version of BASYS isn't it ?

Also - ISTR that Radio Cambridgeshire moved to DALET when the TV sub-opt launched in 1997 (and the old Radio Newsroom was closed and merged with a new bimedia newsroom in a different building)

Yes, but there are many features with no direct macro command, such as setting a rundown to onair.

And you really don't want to see my alt-tab-to-another-program-send-copy-alt-tab-back-to- ENPS-open-a-dialog-and-paste macro - it went on for about 20 commands and still doesn't work right


I think so. From all the screenshots I've seen iNews looks rather poor with lots of toolbar icons and a standard Windows UI. I like the way they've dared to be totally different with ENPS (but I wish it had redo as well as undo )


Something like that I believed they swapped to Radioman within the last year or so.

What does ENPS look like?

And what are news wires that Sky sometimes refer to when they have breaking news. They sometimes have it displayed on the news wall when they have some breaking news...

"news wires" is a bit of a generic term - I guess it originally referred to telegrams with the latest updates being sent "over the wires" - but these days, it's more likely to refer to a computer screen with text updates from AP or Reuters. Just updates, no editorial.
These companies will also offer a feeds service, with the latest pictures to accompany stories, and send them to a specified satellite channel.
(And, in one radio newsroom I visited, their wires service was a dot matrix printer, hooked up to IRN. Because it was a Saturday afternoon, and the only person about was the sports monkey the paper came out of the printer, and went straight into a bin.)

The printer you are referring to is more commonly known as the rip-and-read ... Most BBC local stations had them up until the late 90s.

After that it was deemed the news wires on ENPS were stable enough to get rid of them. I personally ripped out the one in Swindon, and rejoyced! It made a hell of a noise ...

The news wires aren't solely updates. The Press Association especially send out plenty of 'editorial' content.

If I get chance, I'll post an ENPS screengrab for you all tomorrow.

Well first off there's the ENPS video with shots of it from AP.

As for wires, well, users can choose from one from a menu:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/enpswiresmenu.gif

...and have a list of all the latest stories from that selection appear as a list:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/enpslistwindow.gif

...and then double-clicking one of those will open it an edit window:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/enpseditwindow.gif

From an edit window, you can then just drag and drop the script (be it a wire story or a newly-created one) into a rundown:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/enpsrundown.gif

Also, all wire stories marked as "urgent" pop up along with personal messages at the top of the ENPS screen:

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/enpsmessagebox.gif


Edit: and here's a general desktop shot, with labels:


http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/enpsscreen.gif

(Images nicked from ENPS Help, sorry about poor quality)

Tell that to our IT chaps who are battling with IBM & Jutel to get a system that actually works!!

Well, I did say Radioman - I didn't mention the technology behind it...