ENGINEERING THE SOUND OF SUCCESS
TUCKED AWAY INSIDE Euston
Tower is the nerve centre of Capital. Five different studios
surround the shaded room that houses master control, with its
desk of dials and switches, from where Capital is broadcast
across London.
Master control is manned 24 hours a day by a team of operators
working in pairs. They balance and synchronise the djs and presenters
output from the studios, play commercials, pre- record programmes
and record live groups and musicians. Chief engineer is Gerry
O'Reilly, with Steve Turner supervising the sound.
There's a team of maintenance engineers too, whose job is to
keep the equipment running smoothly and design new equipment
for the station.
The high level of concentration required by the operators is
something that you get accustomed to, as operator Stuart Lee
explained during a session.
"It's difficult at first, but you get used to being able to
keep your concentration for long stretches at a time," he said,
carefully timing one of the 400 taped commercials that are arranged
in stands around the console and cueing Tony Myatt for his next
record at the same time!
"But you never work master control for more than three hours,
which acts as a safeguard against you becoming too tired. The
nice thing about working the shifts is that you get days off
during the week, although you do have to work the night shift
of course. This makes a pleasant change, though, because the
pace is more leisurely, al- though you have to stay alert."
The djs play their own records and jingles, and there's good
rapport between them and the operators on the other side of
the glass partition. Jokes are cracked and comments exchanged
while records are playing - but that air of professionalism
is always present, allowing the operator to snap his attention
back to the buttons and switches in a second.
Everything that is heard on your radio passes through master
control, including outside broad- casts from the Capital Bus
and reports from Scotland Yard. Commercial transmission times
are logged on sheets and giant spools of tape record everything
that goes out from Capital.
Each of the studios has a special function. Studio 1 is the
djs on-air studio; Studio 2 is the stand-by on-air studio; Studio
3 handles chat programmes like "London Today"; Studio 4 is the
music studio where live music is recorded; Studio 5 is the commercial
production studio. Each studio has its own control room, and
control 3 is also a stand-by for master control should anything
go wrong.
"Our job is to make everything as easy as possible for the djs,"
said Stuart. "We try to deal with any problems our- selves,
without involving them so that they can concentrate on their
shows."
They're all for women's lib in the engineers department, too,
as engineers Sue and Louise will tell you. They pull their weight
along with the men, even though they're outnumbered!
So the next time you listen to Capital, think of the engineer,
flicking those switches and cueing the dj. He, or she, is a
real V.I.P. ... a Very Important Person!
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