AFRTS “CANNED” Shows
The bulk of your radio programming is made up of
syndicated shows furnished by AFRTS-BC. Refer to the
quarterly AFRTS radio program ratings form for a list
of available material. These materials are categorized
according to the AFRTS distribution scheme (See DoD
5120.20-R for the procedures to manage AFRTS radio
program materials).
This material should be programmed according to
the needs of your audience and the capability of your
station to provide locally produced shows. It should not
be used in prime-time if a local show can substitute. This
programming is primarily blocked horizontally, but a
few shows are vertically blocked because of their length
and frequency (see figure 8-15; The Countdown,
110-220 minutes once a week).
Each program shipment contains many types of
programming to meet specific audience needs and to
provide a variety of program sources. Some of these are
as follows:
. DJ shows of various music formats. These are
meant to afford listeners who like one particular
type of music the opportunity to listen to a solid
hour of top-40, album rock, country, urban or
some other type of music. On the average, about
75 percent of the programs in the AFRTS-BC
package are 55 minutes in length.
. Special programming from the package that
does not fit music or drama categories. There
are five-minute information shows that can be
used to round out a half-hour or hour segment.
Documentary material may occasionally appear
in the weekly shipment.
This mixture of formats and show types allows us
to successfully please the majority of our listeners at
those times we have access to them.
The AFRTS-BC canned shows also solve a
manpower problem by furnishing the majority of
material for the programming day.
News and Sports
The AFRTS-BC audio line is the cornerstone of all
field news and sports activities in AFRTS. It operates
24-hours a day, providing news and sportscasts and live
coverage of events, as well as commentaries and
analysis. This is supplemented by local live news and
sportscasts when manpower and news sources allow it.
The most common news vehicles are as follows:
The five-minute newscast scheduled on the hour
which is designed to provide “headline” news to
the audience
Expanded radio newscasts scheduled in
prime-time which are an in-depth treatment of
news topics covered in a five-minute newscast
The short newscast is a scheduling constant at NBS
detachments which provides information in a palatable
form. However, depending on your survey results, the
expanded news block may be more desirable. Expanded
news might include a lengthened newscast, a sportscast,
weather and in some cases, news commentary.
MASTER PROGRAM SCHEDULE LAYOUT
To lay out the master program schedule, the
programmer should make up a schedule form to serve
as a work sheet that can be duplicated for future use.
Doing this will save the programmer time and effort
when the schedule is changed. (This assumes that the
programmer does not have access to a computer
program set up for programming, such as ONET.)
The program schedule work sheet lists
programming time blocks vertically, as in figure 8-16.
Then, days of the week should then be listed
horizontally. This layout enables you to horizontally and
vertically block your program material in a manner that
will be readily understood.
In filling in the work sheet, you need only to write
the program name in the appropriate day/time block and
then draw an arrow to the end of the program block. As
figure 8-16 shows, this graphically indicates horizontal
and vertical program blocks.
Before you schedule program material, you must
know the length of the program and how many times a
week it is to air. This will ensure that the schedule on
paper works out in real-time programming.
Once you have completed the work sheet and
checked to make sure the program times are correct,
transfer the information to a more formal master
program schedule sheet (see figure 8-17). Each master
program schedule must contain the following:
l
l
l
Day and time of broadcast
Name and type of program
Length of each broadcast
8-21
