Word: controlman
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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WHRB now has most of its recording on 20-30 minute LP's and changes them by hand. There is an announcer in one room, and in another room separated by a glass panel, the controlman who is responsible for whatever actually goes out on the air. The controlman changes the records, and switches the "air" for music to an announcement or ad when he gets a hand signal from the announcer. This method is slightly cumbersome, but it worked well when the changes from record to record to "spot" are few. It does not work well when...
...merely inserts the cartridge he wants, and pushes a button when he is ready for it. He also has a high speed record changer, to cut down the dead air time between records. With a tape cartridge system and high speed changers, there is no need for a separate controlman--the DJ does the whole show himself...
...WHRB likes it controlmen, and they like their job. The members have no desire to replace men with machines. There are many WHRBies, in fact, who know very little about music, (at least when they come, and before they have spent hundreds of hours in a controlman), but whose interest is purely technical. Bob Kalayan '67, this year's head controlman, does nothing but technical work, and, he says, "the more complicated it is, the more fun." It takes only five or six hours to train a controlman to minimal standards, but beyond that, there is all kinds of scope...
...idea is to make things as complicated as possible without committing a "feep"--a mistake that goes out over the air--a heinous crime for any good controlman. And the emphasis is always on "elegance"--such as determining the point at which a record should be started down to the exact groove...
...orgies, the controlman's devotion to complication and elegance, and the station camaraderie are all steps to remaining happy while esoteric. And if few members stay active throughout their college careers, there is a steady procession of candidates who want to work and who have real technical skill and who have real technical skill and musical interest. The station has both devoted members and devoted listeners, and if it does not have a large Harvard-Radcliffe audience, WHRB considers that one of its minor worries. The college is there, but it is incidental...