Definitions of terminology
D: Derivative of original master tape not called copy to avoid confusion with C, cassette. Also derivative does not connote how many generations there are between master and copy. “Copy” could imply only one tape generation.
M: Master tape. The source analog aircheck recording. Not a copy. With digital aircheck originals, the term seems superfluous.
RH: Radio Home; the parent company I worked for as it was legally known. Seeing that call letter changes are very common in broadcast media the radio home in numerical sequence according to owner is a precise way of defining the specific station without ambiguity.
- RH1: Radio Home number one at 900 kilohertz Savannah, Georgia, owned by E.D. Rivers,Jr.(WEAS,inc aka Stars,inc.) known variously as WEAS-AM (c.1960 – 1983 & 1987-1998), WWJD-AM (c.1983-1987), WJIV-AM (c.1950-1960),WJLG-AM (c.1998), and WEAS-FM (c.1968) at 93.1 megahertz, currently owned by Cumulus.
- RH2: Radio Home number two at 1,520 kilohertz Douglasville, Georgia, owned by Water of Life Christian Center; Known variously as WDGL-AM (c.1963), WSPZ (c.1985 – 1990), ownership transferred to William C. Dunn.
- RH3: Radio Home number three at 1,520 kilohertz Douglasville, Georgia, owned by William C. Dunn (of Cartersville, Georgia) Known variously as WDGL-AM (c.1963), WSPZ-AM (c.1985-1990), WDCY-AM (c.1990), Mr. Dunn owned and operated the license from 1990 – 1993, ownership transferred to Word Christian Broadcasting.
- RH4: Radio Home number four at 1,440 kilohertz Bremen, Georgia, owned by Buddy Kimball, inc known as WWCC-AM (c.1960), WSLE-AM (c.1982), WBKI-AM (c.1989), WGMI-AM (c.1993), ownership transferred to Garner Ministries, inc. (1999 consent to transfer from presumed deceased Winfred Garner to Peggy & Christopher Todd Garner.)
- RH5: Radio Home number five at 92.1 megahertz Carrollton, Georgia owned by Carroll County Media known as WBTR-FM (c.1974), ownership transferred to WYAI,inc. (c.2001)1
- RH6: Radio Home number six at Internet address gospelrewind.listen2myradio.com, owned by Neal Rhoden known as the GRIN, Gospel Rewind Internet. (c.2009) 24 hour streaming digital audio upload from home computer via free Winamp software and www.shoutcast.com2
Numbering System
The alpha numeric sequence should be easy to decode and use. Information that is vital to me is: date, media type, master or derivative, aircheck source and location.
Date format is year first, then month and day. For example, 20060101 would be January 1, 2006. If we next add the location thus RH620090330 would represent the GRIN March 30,2009. Another example: RH119830620 representing WEAS-AM June 20, 1983. The number seems unnecessarily long. I could use letters equaling years but it seems counterintuitive. Now add media information and the serial number becomes much longer. RH219870607MCRF is WSPZ-AM June 7, 1987 master analog cassette of a Radio Frequency (RF) source. 15 characters seems too long. Date unknown variable is replaced by lower case x.
Types of Aircheck
Technically a pure aircheck is directly taken from a radio device: a component tuner, modulation monitor, portable or any number of RF receiving devices wired directly to an audio recording device without modification other than the necessary electronic circuitry within the recorder. A microphone placed in front of a radio speaker might also be used to record a radio broadcast placing extra circuitry between the transmission and the resulting recording.
My preferred method of aircheck is the most direct way (i.e. Board Mix). A simple circuit wired from the station's broadcasting audio console program monitor output to the recorder. Obviously, bypassing the stations processors and air signal yields the highest audio quality. I have also used an audio compressor between the program monitor and analog tape recorder. I have made attempts to record from the stations' audio processor trying to capture the sound signature prior to transmission to air. At the time I had no expertise in wiring from an Orban Optimod 9000a at WBKI-AM. I believe it would have produced incredible results.
So for the sake of simplicity, I have classified airchecks into two categories RF (radio frequency) and PM (program monitor). I propose describing the actual circuit on notes within the database. For example, Belar modulation monitor to Tascam 122B analog audio cassette deck. Or Radio Systems RS12 series board mono program out to Symetrix compressor to Optima analog cassette deck.
I once saw an individual record from a microphone, piggy-backed on the WEAS production studio's mic boom wired to a portable cassette recorder thus making simultaneous independent transcriptions of of his voice. I wish I had used this method. An independent voice only recording would have allowed me to make easy stereo reconstructions of my earlier monaural airchecks. I could have routed the microphone to audition output to recorder then back to the board for a similar result but I would have had some signal bleed through from program. The crosstalk would have been virtually eliminated, barring any RF interference, by hard-wiring the microphone to an XLR splitter (illustrated below.) As a matter of fact, the piggy back microphone (or split mic signal) would have picked up some of the main signal from headphones, depending on how loud they were. The chart below illustrates an independent studio quality recording circuit (utilizing then available equipment):
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1Airchecks of WBTR were not made (by me, at least) and I believe none exist from any other source.
2Digital recordings only. Propose the term “Webcheck” or "Netcheck" to denote a recording similar to an aircheck.
Note: see also Audio Alchemy Page on my Aircheck Blog
