One of the druthers for any TV or radio stations is when automation fires a show at a prescribed time while the network is still in programming. Having worked in both mediums, this can be a problem especially when the network has sports that runs over its allotted window and the local station has programmed automation to fire a program at the top of the hour. Sometimes, a quick-thinking employee at the station can correct the potential conflict before that program airs. In other instances, the station doesn’t have have someone near the computer and the program fires as scheduled leaving viewers in the lurch.
This is exactly what happened Saturday to viewers of the Kentucky at Texas A&M game on CBS which went into double overtime. Several CBS affiliates across the country had local programming ready to go as scheduled if the game had ended on time, but it did not. However, that did not stop automation from firing the program anyway and it led to a mini-revolt online.
Stations in Indiana, Nebraska, North Carolina and Puerto Rico went to other programming. In Indianapolis and North Carolina, viewers go to see the Andy Griffith Show. Nothing like heading to Mayberry during a tight college basketball game.
In the case of Puerto Rico, it was an infomercial.
In some cases, the mistake was quickly corrected and viewers missed just a little of the action. But in others, the stations kept running the prescribed program and never went back. It was as if Kentucky-Texas A&M went into the television black hole never to return.
So the dreaded automation computer came up to rear its ugly head. It’s not the first time and certainly won’t be the last.
[[USA Today]
Comments are closed.