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How Did We Miss Airing That Commercial?
July 30, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Filling out a discrepancy sheet or e-mailing is never enough. Contact a human being before, and not after when it comes to missing a commercial scheduled to air. A little extra attention to detail can prevent an emergency staff meeting during the week. There is no such thing as too much communication
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Even with scheduling systems, smartphones, intercoms, tablets, landline phones and our legs, commercials still get missed. Too many air personalities don't understand the urgency to help prevent these problems. Here's an e-mail exchange with an air talent.
Air Talent: The PD is on me about spots (commercials) missed on my show the other day.
Coach: What time are you on?
Air Talent: Middays.
Coach: Tell me, what happened?
Air Talent: The same car spot missed in both my 10a and 2p hours. I put it on the discrepancy sheet both times, so I don't understand why he got so mad.
Coach: What kind of automation system do you guys use?
Air Talent: NexGen. The spot was listed in the break, but I guess there was no audio and NexGen skipped right to the next spot in the sequence. So how is that my fault? We do make-goods all the time.
Coach: You can do the right thing and still be wrong. In your case, the PD is wondering why you didn't immediately contact someone prior to the first commercial stopset that the commercial was missing -- and then you let it happen again. I know with the NexGen digital automation system, in advance if there is no audio for a commercial scheduled it's indicated on the screen log. This happened during business hours and your PD probably thinks this is inexcusable. If nothing else, you could have walked down the hallway to production or traffic and said something. This has happened on your show before, hasn't it?
Air Talent: I assumed traffic already knew it was missed and yes, it's happened before. The PD is always passing the buck and it is his job to handle problems like this.
Coach: My friend, how was traffic supposed to know the commercial missed? When it comes to missing commercials, the air personalities are the last line of defense. Missed scheduled commercials can cause a chain reaction of issues at a station. Seriously, there's traffic, production, programming, salespersons, billing, the VP/GM, Ad agencies, and ownership in the line of fire.
Air Talent: But shouldn't this be the PD's problem and not mine or any of the other personalities? I have a show to do every day. There are people around here who get paid to get spots on the air.
Coach: I'm not disputing any of what you are saying, but you are being shortsighted. This is about teamwork and not dropping the ball. All those people can do their jobs and put a commercial in place to air and things can happen that could cause it to miss. You are the last man standing; you're supposed to catch it in the studio when you see a commercial scheduled on the screen and that the audio is not there. By not letting anyone know, all sorts of issues could happen; a difficult client could yank their advertising, maybe the commercial was already a make-good, it's possible the commercial was time-sensitive and could only air in midday, or the salesperson has been trying to get the client to renew a contract.
There are a lot of other possible scenarios, too. Somehow the missing commercial never gets to billing before invoices go out, no room for make-goods, maybe missing commercials have happened too often, and the VP/GM has been on the PD's butt about it, etc. You need to understand, just by doing the simple thing of letting people know, all sorts of woes can be avoided.
Air Talent: You're saying the same thing my PD is saying; it's all on me. Shouldn't those other departments and the PD stay on top of these things so the personalities can concentrate on their shows and not have to deal with stuff like missing commercials?
Coach: In a perfect world, I would agree with you, but none of us are perfect; it's called being human. You need to realize that you are a part of a system that is only as good as what everyone puts into it. What you do as a personality on-air and off-air are both important. Remember, commercials pay the bills, including your salary, so it is important to increase the probability for all scheduled spots to be aired. Take the effort to look ahead and let someone know when something is about to be missed.
Air Talent: Hey, this has happened to our night guy and some of the guys here on weekends, too. There's no one to walk down the hallway to.
Coach: Look, I think you and all the air personalities should take the time to doublecheck the procedures for avoiding missing commercials at all hours. By the way, you did a good job of shifting away from the original problem of missing commercials during your show. Just admit you made a mistake, learn from it, and don't do it again.
Air Talent: I like to concentrate on doing my show; I didn't sign up to babysit commercial scheduling.
Coach: Sorry, that age-old argument doesn't cut it with me. At one time or another, every air talent (myself included) has made an excuse of not wanting to do something because it might distract them from their show. And it's always something the talent doesn't like doing. For example, writing down song requests, interacting on social media, or allowing someone to briefly bring a guest in to see the studio. What amazes me is that the same air personality complaining about distractions is never too distracted to grab a slice of birthday cake or eat some free pizza during their show. Do what your PD asks and let someone know before, and not after, a commercial is missed on your show.
Air Talent: I still disagree but alright.
Coach: One other thing, NexGen updates are mandatory and the system has the capability of sending automatic e-mails to traffic if there is missing audio for a spot. As for your PD, it's customary for many OMs/PDs to merge daily scheduled music and commercial logs once traffic has sent theirs to file. Anything without audio would appear if the merged was being reviewed page by page. But still, the talent or board-op in the studio is the last line of defense.
Conclusion ...
Filling out a discrepancy sheet or e-mailing is never enough. Contact a human being before, and not after when it comes to missing a commercial scheduled to air. A little extra attention to detail can prevent an emergency staff meeting during the week. There is no such thing as too much communication.
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