RE: [HCDX] WRTH 2004

["Andy Sennitt" <andys@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> You say that the broadcasters all want to hold their information back
> until the last possible moment.  Then this is not just an accident of
> poor planning or last minute decisionmaking?
> Why would a station want to do such a thing?  It seems so illogical.
> Can you explain further?

No, it's not illogical at all. Many broadcasters, including Radio
Netherlands, want their published information to be accurate. In the old
days, everyone did their own thing, picked frequencies seemingly at random,
and hoped nobody else had chosen the same ones. Some broadcasters picked the
same frequencies year after year and eventually gained squatters rights. So
they could send a schedule in June and it would probably still be accurate.
Now we have HFCC, and believe it or not everybody tries hard to make it
work. So there's a good chance that stations will surrender their first
choice of frequency to help out another station, expecting that in due
course the favour will be returned. Much of this shuffling takes place in
the weeks between the coordination meeting and the start of the new
schedule.

All this means there's less certainty about the schedule right up to the
last minute. A single phone call, fax or E-mail can send a frequency manager
running back to the drawing board. So stations tended to say "we haven't
quite finalised it, it'll be with you shortly" - and then, like London
buses, everything arrived at once.

Last minute decision making, yes. But with the best of intentions.

Of course, it would be nice if life were simpler than that. But we have to
deal with reality :-(

Andy


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