A Life Built on Computers
Computers…can’t live with them, can’t throw them off the bridge into the Cedar River.
Back when I started in radio 46 years ago, we didn’t have computers. If you heard something coming out of the radio, it’s because a human was sitting there pushing the buttons, playing the records—yes, records, and talking into the microphone live.
When a new computer system was put in place here in the early part of 2015, it took care of much of that…it stored all manner of things, it played things automatically, just like the previous one…but this one was a real stickler for control. If it was not in a good mood, you could not simply turn on a microphone and be heard. Everything ran through the computer system.
Which is fine…until the computer system goes down. That’s essentially what has happened to our stations over the weekend. I am so appreciative to the KXEL listeners who contacted me over the weekend to make sure I knew we were off the air. Unfortunately, this particular issue affected the AM, the FM, and the webstream. And to top it all off, there was a power outage at the transmitter over the weekend, as well.
If you’ve ever had a computer crash, you know how much fun it is to get things back the way they were. That’s our task right now. So we’re pretty much back on the air, but limping along…so thanks again for sticking with us…and hope we don’t give you too many problems as we claw our way back…if the computer gods are willing.
