Word: static
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Inside BETA's one-story control room, a workstation displays patterns of green and red spikes; lights blink on a bank of small computers; and needles flutter on glowing dials. From a stereo amplifier comes a static-filled hiss, the audio version of radio waves piped directly from the antenna above. The display amuses graduate student Darren Leigh, hard at work debugging a BETA computer program. "We do a few things here for the tourists," he explains. "Camera crews love this stuff...
Some of the sound effects are inspired. The opening scene, which meshes the sound of rain and television static, is incredible; the industrial music that booms over the Lobe's sound system as Bradley shoves his finger into Shelly's mouth at the end of the first act is perfect...
This has helped foster an important change from TV's early days, when series characters were largely static from episode to episode, season to season. There was little shading or evolution in Darrin Stephens' nincompoopcy. And Joe Friday--not counting the occasional expression of disgust with punks and hippies--was a tragically repressed emotional cipher (which isn't to say audiences would have wanted to see Jack Webb really air it out as an actor). In essence, TV's early characters were subjected to the same drama every week, as if they were stuck in a time warp. Would Darrin...
...result: a brand-new look, complete with photos and graphics, that invites readers to dig even deeper into the week's news, exchange opinions with editors and other readers, search through the archives or rub virtual shoulders with newsmakers. "Stories that are static on a printed page are active--and interactive--on a computer," says online manager Waits May, who conceived of the new approach and oversaw its execution. "There are so many paths to follow, we needed a new navigation system that was as clear and intuitive as possible...
...this static rent control policy for so long that was keeping us from having to cope with the question," he added. "We'll figure out a way to make it fair. We've got help for the poorest and the elderly, but two people making 45 to 50 [thousand dollars per year] should still be able to rent a decent apartment...