Terry Thompson, Production Director, Waitt Radio, Omaha, Nebraska
By Jerry Vigil
If you’ve been in radio long enough, you’ve seen the transition from the analog days to the digital era. You’ve seen computers popping up in practically every room in the station. Cart machines are history. Typewriters and tape are a thing of the past for the most part. But are you really using today’s technology to its fullest? Terry Thompson recently took the job as Production Director at Waitt Radio’s 8-station cluster in Omaha, Nebraska (market rank #74). It didn’t take Terry long to discover that his 12-hour days were due in part to a lot of wasted time, time which he reclaimed by implementing a production system designed for efficiency. The results were dramatic. Terry outlines his system in this month’s RAP Interview and even offers to help you do the same. And check out his demo on the RAP CD for a sample of the caliber of work his department is able to produce given the much needed extra time and re-organization.
JV: How did you get into radio?
Terry: Ironically I got into radio through film. I went to school at the University of South Dakota because they were the only place in South Dakota that had a film school. I get there and in my first semester they closed the school down. So I figured I’d just move over to TV and have a little TV action. Well I found TV to be extremely boring, you know, directing the news and such. I did radio because it was required for my degree, and I found out radio allowed me a creative outlet that was virtually instant. You can run into a studio, create a bit or do a break, or create a commercial that would make somebody laugh or whatever, and it only took you an hour or so; whereas in TV or film, it could take days or months. So I caught the radio bug back in 1989.
JV: How did the gig at the Waitt Radio stations in Omaha come about?
Terry: I was working for a six-station group in Sioux Falls, South Dakota eight years ago as a Production Director, and I came down here to tour the famous Sweet 98. I asked the other production guy there, “Hey, how’s a guy get into this market?” And he goes, “Well you apply for the job over there at the Edge.” The Edge was the radio station that had just started. So I drove back to Sioux Falls that very moment and sent my demo using the old DCS system, if anybody remembers that. They called me the next day, and I got the job. I’ve been here since.
JV: Sounds like you’ve had the Production Director position for some time.
Terry: Actually, I have not. I was Production Director in Sioux Falls for about two years, and when I came down here I was strictly a producer and writer because I worked almost exclusively for the Edge – it was an alternative Rock format. That was my primary ship, and I just basically sat in the studios ten hours a day producing and writing. And then we moved into our new location and gathered ourselves eight stations. Ed Thompson was the Production Director at the time. Then I took over for him. We just basically switched positions, which happened about eight months ago.
JV: What are your responsibilities now?
Terry: Since I became the Production Director, I no longer do the imaging. I now produce the commercials for all eight stations. Ed is my main copywriter and producer. All of our imaging is outsourced.
JV: So there are two guys doing all the copywriting and production for eight stations, right?
Terry: That’s correct, and most of our business is direct, so there are lots of commercials to produce. We also have a part-timer who helps out every Wednesday through Friday from 2:00 to 7:00, and we have a great on-air staff that helps with dubbing, and they produce also.
JV: About how many commercials would you say you guys are producing on the average week?
Terry: I would say anywhere between fifteen and thirty, which is not too crazy. But we also write a ton of specs. As far as total production orders filled, last week we had 238 production orders come through the pipe, and I would say probably 150 or so were straight dubs.
JV: Let’s talk about those production orders. What have you done to streamline that process?
Terry: What I’ve done is I’ve created a form that can be emailed, an electronic production order if you will. It allows the salesperson to fill out the production order on their computer wherever they are — on the road, at home, at their desk — and then email that production order to traffic. Traffic then applies the cart number to that same form and forwards it on to production where I take it, tweak it, and assign it. Then it goes to production from there. I actually print it out at that point and jam it into their box.
The form is done in Microsoft Word. It includes drop down menus, check boxes and things like that. The problem has always been difficulty reading peoples’ handwriting, or they didn’t fill it out all the way or whatever. So a fair portion of the production order is just drop down menus, you know, choose from these selections. How can you get that wrong, people?
What I’m talking about here is kind of controlling how we produce a commercial and how the salesperson fills out the production order — something you’ve not been able to do before. People have always just kind of slopped their way through it and turned it in. They say, “Well I turned it in on time.” Yeah, but it’s only half filled out. This way, being electronic, it forces you to fill it out all the way because I can set it up so that if you don’t fill out a certain column, it won’t let you save it or send it, which is nice. And the form also requires them to save it to their computer before they can send it to the traffic department. Basically, that means they have a copy of the last PO they sent for a client, so they don’t need to call me to ask what ad is currently running for them. You don’t need to call me to ask what you ran two months ago because you have a copy of it on your computer. You can simply go into Windows Explorer and do a little search for it, a search for all the production orders you have for Coca Cola, for example. That saves a ton of time because you’re not on the phone or busy tracking down something for them. They have that information right there on their computers, and it helps them do their jobs better also.
You know the old joke about copy points on the back of a matchbook or on a napkin. Well I’ve eliminated that. They have to type it out, and they have to put it on this production order form. So one, it’s typed so you can read it, and two, it makes them more aware of what they’re doing instead of taking the copy points from the client and then just giving them to me without even looking at the copy points. Perhaps when they are typing it out they might notice that the client didn’t include an address on the copy points, and so they’ll catch things like that.
Plus, when they put a partial script on the form, which is pretty frequent, you can copy and paste it into your script form and then alter it as you need to. There’s no transcription anymore, which saves you a little more time. You just cut and paste.
JV: What other streamlining techniques are you employing?
Terry: We master everything to CD-ROM, which isn’t too unusual in today’s production. I have a program that reads the titles of everything on that CD-ROM — the folders and everything included in the folders — and it remembers what’s on that CD so you don’t have to have the CD sitting around in your computer all the time. You just file it with all your masters, and when you need to find an old spot from a year ago, two years ago, five years, you simply type it in and do a search, and the program tells you what disk it’s located on. The program is called MaxLister. MaxLister is a freeware program and it works pretty well, but I’m developing a program that will do it better.
JV: I hope you’ll let us know when it’s done.
Terry: Oh I certainly will. There’s another program I work with as well. When all the production orders come down to you and end up in your inbox, you can save that production order into a folder either on a network or on your local computer — whatever your resources are at your station or your group. Then I use a program that indexes. This program is called X1 and it monitors a particular folder, like for example the folder where I put the electronic production orders. It monitors everything that goes into that folder and memorizes the title you give it AND the content of that form. So if somebody types in cart number C4246 on the production order, X1 will remember that C4246 is located on this file. And it does it as fast as you can type it. It’s instant. For example, a salesperson says, “Hey, remember that spot we did two weeks ago, I think you called it Temporary Sale?” I can just type in temporary sale, and as I’m typing, it’s narrowing down the options to where it finally is. And I can actually look at the production order that they gave me two weeks ago and say, “Yeah, you turned that production order in on the 29th and said, this and this and this, and the spot is located here.”
JV: Is this more freeware?
Terry: No, it’s not. This is something I resell actually, and it’s about $100. And it’s simply one of the most amazing programs I’ve ever seen for Windows-based computers. Simply amazing.
JV: Have any problems come up since you’ve installed this system?
Terry: Periodically email systems will crash as they do. We’ve been using this system since September of 2003, and our email crashed last week, as a matter of fact, for the first time. It was down for about two hours. But it doesn’t matter because when it comes back up, all the emails come through. So we didn’t lose a single PO.
Having all these emails really helps. For example, people sometimes, unintentionally I’m sure, will say they turned something in when they actually haven’t. I’d say, “Well, I don’t have it here in my emails.” And they go, “Well you better ask traffic,” and traffic will look and go, “No, I never got it.” And then they’ll say, “Oh, then I must not have sent it.” It’s nice not having that argument anymore. I mean, you have proof. You did not send it. Sorry.
Many times we’ve all been called into the General Manager’s office because of an argument between sales and production, an argument that there is no proof for anymore, and it’s all my opinion versus your opinion. Now everything is documented, and if you have an issue with a particular individual who’s been filling out production orders incorrectly or poorly or anything like that, you simply take that production order that was sent to you and forward it on to your General Manager and say, “Look, this is what they sent me.” And you can even set up your emails to automatically reply when they’ve read it, and it tells you what time they read it and everything. So if you have copy deadlines of 2:00 the day before, and they send it at 2:30, the email is going to tell you… it was sent at 2:30. You really didn’t meet the deadline. I’m sorry. Right there, you don’t have that argument anymore, so it saves you a lot of time.
And we’re not talking about using anything you don’t already have for the most part. I mean, you can implement this system simply using an electronic production order and email, which I believe most radio groups have. If you don’t have email, you’re not receiving spots from national agencies.
JV: But the form you created is a special form. Not everybody is going to know how to create those in MS Word or be willing to read the manual or help screens to learn how to build forms.
Terry: Well that’s true, and if anybody wants to email me, I’ll give them a customized form for 10 bucks. They can use it in their group. I’ll change all the call letters and stuff like that. Email me at
JV: That’s generous! I’m sure you’ll get some takers.
Terry: Well, I kind of have a personal goal. I’m doing it within my group of 35 stations, but I also have a personal goal of spreading this as far as I can because as production people, our main joy is creating a great radio spot and helping a client. Our main pain is not getting the right stuff from the salesperson in a timely fashion, so we end up under deadline all the time. I get this production order. It’s filled out wrong. I can’t read it. So you then have to call the salesperson whom you can’t get a hold of ever, and you don’t know what to do, so you wait. And crunch time is coming. Well with the electronic production order, it narrows down what you have to do and how long you have to do it. If somebody calls and asks about a spot, I can actually tell them what spot they ran. I can play them the spot, and they are on their merry way. And I didn’t spend more than five minutes with them. Whereas in the past, or if you still use a paper system and you don’t master in a fashion similar to the way I master, you’re going to spend an hour or more looking for something. And wouldn’t you rather be making a commercial, or helping the morning show with a bit, doing something that we really enjoy, instead of arguing with a salesperson about one thing or another? A weird little aside has happened since I started this; when I tell a salesperson something, they don’t argue anymore. They know I have written proof somewhere, and argumentation just doesn’t occur anymore. If I call them back and say I do not have this spot, they don’t argue because they’ve seen the system work. They’ve seen the mastering work because they use that same mastering program for all the email spots we receive.
But you asked about problems. The only other problem – and this is something Ed and I fight each and everyday — is the way things are labeled. Obviously, with a computer system, when you search for something, it is very important that it is labeled properly. You’ll get a lot of email spots that are labeled as — and everybody knows this one – “Track 1.” And since I only save the attachment, if you label it “Track 1,” when that agency sends instructions, it better be referencing “Track 1” on those instructions. You’d better label it, name-of-the-client dash name-of-the-sale perhaps, or name of the particular ad or something like that. Or a straight ISCI code is great too. Most agencies send the attachment labeled with an ISCI code, which is great. But you also get smaller agencies that will label it, “This Sale Now,” and the instructions will come in, “Please run spot BR-210.” Actually, that problem isn’t any different than what we used to have. “I sent you a CD.” “Well, no you didn’t. I have a CD but it’s labeled like this and you’re asking for this other thing.” So it’s nothing new, but the resolution is a lot quicker now.
JV: Do you keep the production orders and the finished spots on the same computer, a central server of some kind?
Terry: Yes, we have a server that’s for production. After someone finishes producing a spot, they save it in a folder on that server called Completed Production, and it’s labeled as “my name-name of spot,” and then the date they produced it. We also keep our scripts, our production orders, our agency instructions, and our Adobe Audition sessions on that server. Now, salespeople have limited access to the Completed Production folder, and in that are all the mixdowns of everything we do. The salesperson can go into that folder, find the spot, listen to the spot, play it for the client from their desk if they wish, and email the spot all out of that folder, which once again saves us time. I don’t need to call the client and play it for them. I don’t need to email it out. None of that stuff happens because the salespeople do it themselves right then and there when the client calls them on the phone. It gives us incredible response time.
JV: Waitt Radio has stations in other markets. Are you networked with them to some degree?
Terry: Yes, we do spots for some of our stations in Nebraska. We do spots for a Fremont station we have, and we’re starting to do some stuff for a station in North Platt. We just spread the love around as best we can. Not that that’s my intention, but I have greater goals. We’re testing the electronic PO and some other things at one of our smaller market stations, and if it works there — which it has been working very well so far — we’ll spread it to the other stations and then everybody will be on a similar system. And theoretically, we could all exchange production orders and do each other’s work. For example, you’re always limited by your female voice talent. You always have a ton of guys but only two women it seems. So theoretically, if everybody else got in the same production system, we could email that production order to one of our other stations that has a great female voice talent. She could finish the production and email it back to us with the production order. You’re done. Same system, simple setup. That’s a far-reaching goal of mine, but actually it’s already started, and upper management is very excited by it. Your small market stations always suffer from a lack of resources, and we want everybody to sound great if we can, and this would be one step towards that.
JV: I assume the producers and talent at the other stations forego talent fees as long as there’s reciprocation, right?
Terry: Yeah exactly. We’re very generous here I guess. For example, we might create a spot that has a great intro and a great outro; it has a story or characters or something like that. We just take out the client-specific stuff and send the skeleton to them, and then it becomes a tangible spot that’s original and creative.
JV: How many production studios in your facility? And are all 8 stations there?
Terry: Yes, all 8 stations are here, and we have four production studios and a fifth one that’s kind of part-time. They are all operating with Adobe Audition. I would have it no other way. We use the Audioarts R60 consoles, which nowadays are used pretty much just to turn on the mic and record into Adobe Audition. Adobe Audition rips the CDs, so there’s not much need for a CD player; and I have all of our sound effects stored on the production server, so you simply just have to go into Windows Explorer and do a search in that folder for whatever and just drag and drop it into Adobe Audition. I guess in one sense it’s sad that the hardware is disappearing, but it probably saves a bunch of money.
JV: Which on-air delivery system are you using?
Terry: We use Audio Vault and a system we actually created called STORK. It will eventually replace Audio Vault. We also run a network here called Waitt Radio Network, and they use STORK as well. I can’t wait until all of our stations are on it.
JV: STORK belongs to Waitt Radio?
Terry: Not fully. I believe we have a deal where we’re allowed to distribute. We distribute and sell it, and we use it on all of our affiliates for our network. We have hundreds of affiliates that are networked. We have six or seven different formats that we run out of here. They all use STORK as their playback system. STORK, as far as the network goes, is advantageous because the guys up in the network can go into your system and alter things, plus STORK is virtually real time. The network jock records the breaks and sends it to you, and STORK loads it all up in the format, and it sounds like that jock is in that studio in that town. They don’t need their information more than like an hour before the show – local information like whatever festivals are going or whatever.
JV: Sounds like a well-planned system. Any parting thoughts for our readers?
Terry: I just want to spread the knowledge to everybody I can because I’ve seen people, even in this town, that still do it, what I call, the old way. That’s not being insulting or anything, but I see the problems they have and I frankly just want to help them. I wish I could show a video of how it all works and stuff like that, but since you’re a magazine it’s not really possible. So people can email me with questions. I don’t care where you’re from, just give me an email and we’ll start a discussion. We can make the world a better place for us Production Directors.
The system has allowed me to never miss a birthday party anymore. It allows me to get out by 5:30 or 6:00 on Friday. Not bad. And you don’t get calls at home with missing spots anymore. It’s helped a lot.
When they gave me the Production Director’s gig I said, “Look, I’ll take this gig, and I believe I have ways to fix your system. But you have to understand that you have to implement what I’m requesting, because otherwise, after four months of this, I’m going to be driving a truck for Pringles because I’m not going to work twelve hours a day.” Ed and I were both working 12-hour shifts before, and it’s just unacceptable in today’s world when there are better ways to do things. So luckily we’ve been able to make it so we’re out of here by 5:30 every night for the most part. There are still instances, but those are outside instances, things you don’t have control over, such as agencies and stuff like that. But that’s okay. I’ll make the in-house systems better so that we can handle outside problems that happen to pop up.