Listening to last night's Malloy

[Doctor_J]

the break at the 1/2 hour mark lasted from 0:26 to 0:33 - 7 !@#$%^! minutes. What's up with that?

[benburch]

1. No idea.

Was this on the White Rose archive?

[Doctor_J]

3. Yes, there was about 4 min of commercials

followed by a 3-min instrumental jazz-type tune. It's a bit annoying, but at least I can fast-forward. I assume the breaks are that long live too, though.

[benburch]

4. I am considering cutting out the breaks entirely...

If I do it automatically, it will have to be a bit sloppy... Would people appreciate having most of the commercial breaks removed? I cannot cut too exactly automatically or the risk is losing part of the actual show.

[Doctor_J]

6. I would like it, but

I haven't sent you money recently and don't partake that often. ;-). I can certainly live with it the way it is - don't trouble yourself on my account.

Thanks for you service, BTW, Ben. How is Elgin, the home of my birth?

[pstans]

2. Malloy goes over his time a lot

so I think he misses some breaks and extends segments, which leaves some break short. They have longer breaks to catch on ad time. Just a thought.

The show is great. The end of hour 1 had me screaming and almost to tears.

[melissinha]

5. I don't know if its just Malloy

I have found that I spend about half a dog walk (20 minutes) in commercial limbo /crappy music loop on Rachel too.


Makes you wonder how much of a show is commercials/music loop. FYI, I prefer commercials over the music loop.

Ben, not sure if its worth your time, maybe cutting them out would be in the long run a little more cost effective for archive space??

[clbuck]

7. Let me explain about a program clock

A program clock specifies how long each segment is, and how long the commercials are.

Here's how Air America's program clock is like.

* Segment 1 is from :06 past the hour to (usually) :17 past the hour.
* 4 minute break
* Segment 2 is from :21 past the hour to :28 past the hour.
* 6 minute bottom-of-the hour break
* Segment 3 is from :34 past the hour to (usually) :46 past the hour
* 4 minute break
* Segment 4 is from :50 past the hour to :58 past the hour
* 8 minute top-of-the-hour break (with a 3-minute newsbreak)

Now, the tricky part is that Segments 1 and 3 have what's known as a "floating break", which means the host can stretch out a segment or shorten it, having the next segment being that much shorter or longer.

The :28 and :58 past the hour points are the "hard breaks", which means the segment has to end at those times.

Usually, Mike tries to not stetch out a segment unless absolutely necessary (like with his 1984 readings, which end at a dramatic point). Randi, on the other hand, takes more advantage of the floating breaks (which is why you hear her bumper music for about 2-3 minutes before she goes to break).

A graphical version of this clock is at http://www.thomhartmann.com/thomshow.pdf

Boy, that was geeky! :P

[Doctor_J]

9. Thanks, Casey

jeez, they work 38 min/hr? I didn't realize the union was that good :-)

[Johnny Noshoes]

8. I think Mike explained it once.

The satellite feed or the internet feed - I forget which - doesn't have the commercials but the time needs to be filled hence the annoying "music". Ben if you do auto edit it you just might clip some of the show but most likely just the bumper lead in music.

"There is only one blasphemy, and that is the refusal to experience joy." Paul Rudnick