Most Important Frequently Asked Broadcast Interview Questions
Interview Quesions on Broadcast
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Question 1. What Is Broadcasting?
Answer :
Broadcasting - Because radio (RF) signals can radiate over a relatively large area, in a sense all radio is "broadcast". However, broadcasting usually refers to transmissions intended to be received by a wide group of listeners. (This excludes transmissions meant for selected listeners that just happen to be overheard by others.) Furthermore, although most of the earliest broadcasts used telegraphic dots and dashes for sending out things like weather forecasts to farmers and seagoing vessels, broadcasting is generally considered to be a form of radiotelephony (essentially voice), hence the transmission of information and entertainment in a readily understandable audio and/or visual form to the general public.
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Question 2. What Is Broadcast Station?
Answer :
Conflicts in defining a broadcast station occur due to differing interpretations of what constitutes broadcasting. Today, "broadcast" is a distinct station classification. However, during the early years, experimental broadcasts were conducted by a wide variety of stations, and often were just a sideline for the station's normal use in developmental or other activities.
Proofreader Interview Questions -
Question 3. What Is Commercial Broadcast Station?
Answer :
Many accounts would begin the story of broadcasting with the grant of the "First Commercial License" or the "First Limited Commercial License" issued by the Department of Commerce in 1920 and 1921, specifying operation in what was to become the Broadcast Band.
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Question 4. What Frequencies Were Used By Early Broadcasters?
Answer :
AM:
In 1922, all stations were assigned by the Secretary of Commerce to 360 meters (833 kHz) for the transmission of "important news items, entertainment, lectures, sermons, and similar matter."
Later that year, 400 meters (750 kHz) was added, with power limits raised to 1,000 watts. One frequency was set aside for music broadcasts, the other for news and other voice transmissions.
In 1923 and 1924, additional changes were made, opening up 550 to 1500 kHz for broadcasting (in 10 kHz increments) with powers up to 5,000 watts. (The band from 810-850 kHz was "left" for the stations on 833 to continue for a while).
In 1938, an administrative conference designated 1500-1600 kHz to be opened in May, 1941.
In 1979, the WARC expanded the band again, this time to 1700 kHz. The first station on the new band was WJDM, Elizabeth, NJ, which went on in 1995.
FM:
The original FM band was 43.0 to 50.0 MHz, but unlike the present, the assigned channels were on the even frequencies (43.6) instead of the odd (98.3).
The band was originally to be used for experimental "high-frequency AM stations," where the channels would be spaced farther apart (200 kHz) and permitted to broadcast the full frequency spectrum. The idea was to relieve the congestion and skywave problems which would lead to the severe bandwidth limiting which would eventually doom the AM band to talk radio and poor quality radios.
TV:
The original TV band ran from 50 MHz to 108 MHz and was designated channels 1 to 7. In June 1945, as part of his campaign against FM, David Sarnoff had it moved down to 44 MHz.
The low TV channels soon proved to be woefully inadequate for the expressed interest in TV broadcasting, so the FCC decided to go back and allocate more spectrum. They also decided to deal with some of the problems being seen with severe skywave on channel 1. Therefore, in 1948, channel 1 was officially dropped, with channel 2 starting at 54 MHz. (Channel 2 still has the skywave problem - or "benefit," if you are a TV DXer - of the early years, but since FM was moved up to the high-band no broadcast service was affected by the interference from TV.)
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Question 5. When And Where Was The First "all Commercial" Radio?
Answer :
In 1966, Gordon McLendon bought KGLA(FM), Los Angeles and changed the calls to KADS(FM), running only commercials: local ads, commercials and national commercials.. It was targeted to grab business from the newspapers. The want ads were either their own voices into a telephone recording device or they could use professional announcers.
In August 1967, McLendon declared it to be a failure; returns to "regular programming". The decision was made to change call signs to KOST-FM and play "beautiful music."
Journalism Interview Questions -
Question 6. Who Were The First Full-time Radio Announcers?
Answer :
At KDKA it was Harold W. Arlin. He also was the first play by play sports announcer there. The famous Graham MacNamee was the first announcer at WEAF, New York, rivaled at the time by Norman Brokenshire at WJZ.
The First African-American announcer was Jack Cooper on Station WSBC, Chicago, in 1929.
If we want to talk "part time", then we are probably talking about Some of the early people like Doc Herrold, Frank Conrad, or folks from WHA. As far as first female announcer, it was likely Cybil Herrold.
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Question 7. Who Were Some Of The First Women In Radio?
Answer :
Marie (Mrs. Robert) Zimmerman - The first woman to own and operate a radio station.
Sybil Herrold - Wife of pioneer Charles "Doc" Herrold. She was so adept at Morse Code that she taught courses at the Herrold College of Wireless in San Jose. She was also on the air at her husband's station, playing phonograph records and doing some announcing, as early as 1912.
Vaughn DeLeath - known as the "Original Radio Girl" because she sang for several of Lee DeForest's demonstrations of radio beginning in January 1920.
Eunice Randall - one of the earliest female engineers, she not only ran her own amateur station (which she built) but went on to be perhaps the first female announcer in Boston, on the AMRAD station 1XE (later WGI) around 1918.
Bertha Brainard - First female announcer in New York, she was on the air at WJZ in 1921, doing a nightly program of theatre reviews and commentary called "Broadcasting Broadway".
Mary Texanna Loomis - the first woman to become director of a radio school, she ran the College of Radio Engineering in Washington DC in the early 1920s. She was cousin to Mahlon Loomis.
Several women became program managers (what would today be called Program Directors), including Vaughn DeLeath (WDT in New York, in 1923) and Eleanor Poehler (WLAG in Minneapolis, 1922). Bertha Brainard was probably the first female network executive, being promoted to a management post with NBC Blue in late 1927.
VSAT Interview Questions -
Question 8. What Are Some Early "bloopers?"
Answer :
There was an earlier era when more than one station in a market was owned by the same company. Often, they were NBC affiliates, with one stations running NBC Red and the other NBC Blue. When one operator was required to run them and keep them "separate" ... well, you know what can happen.
On February 12, 1931, the Papal address on World Peace was carried on the NBC Blue Network. At the same time the Red Network was running a remote light program "The Shell Ship of Joy." As "The Shell Ship of Joy" concluded, Cecil Underwood flipped the wrong switch and cut into the Pope's talk with the words: "This past hour of fun and nonsense has come to you over KPO, San Francisco."
By the way, it WAS NOT Uncle Don that made the "famous" remark on the kiddies show. (Actually, many of the "bloopers" you've heard on the Kermit Schafer records and tapes were recreations and in many cases, fictional.
It is also untrue that Harry Von Zell announced "President Hoobert Heever" just before a live presidential address. (This is another canard from Kermit Schafer.)
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Question 9. How Was Early Radio Regulated?
Answer :
Before 1910, there were no restrictions on who could build and operate a radio station. Regulation began following the Berlin Convention in 1906, which was where call letters were first assigned to individual nations.
Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation: Original regulation fell under the purview of the Secretary of the DOC. The Radio Act of June 24, 1910 led to the creation of the Radio Division of the DOC on July 11, 1911. It quickly became clear the new medium was outrunning the legal system. Court challenges rapidly diluted the minimal control exercised by the Commerce Department.
The Federal Radio Commission: The FRC was created February 23, 1927, by the Radio Act of 1927 to deal with the 732 stations now on the air. While progress was made, and some of the regulations tried to "catch up" with the fledgling industry, this Act did not close all the regulatory loopholes, leading toward
The Federal Communications Commission: Further regulatory needs were filled with the Communications Act of 1934, when the FCC was created. It opened on 7/11/34. With some modifications by Congress, this has served as the basis for Communications Law ever since.
Video Editing Interview Questions -
Question 10. How Can I Find Original Records Of Broadcast Stations?
Answer :
The FCC has a library and information on all current broadcast stations, available in the Public Referene Reading Room (CY-A257) at the FCC offices in "The Portal" at 445 12th Street SW in Washington, DC (Metro: Smithsonian or L'Efant Plaza Stations). However, for most individual station files, you must make a request the materials in advance of the date you wish to see them.
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Question 11. What Are "dx" And "qsl"?
Answer :
"DX" and "QSL" : These terms started as Morse Code "words." DX is an acronym for "distant" and refers to stations distant from the listener. Many DXers send letters to the stations they hear, requesting QSL, or "reception" cards. These cards are then used to verify the listener has heard the station. In the 20's and 30's, stations often sent stamps (not unlike postage stamps) to be placed in a book "collecting" the stations heard. EKKO was one prominent stamp company.
UnderWriting Interview Questions -
Question 12. What Is A "nemo"?
Answer :
"NEMO" : Many sources claim this to be an early telephone company term, which referred to remote broadcasts as those "Not Emanating from the Main Office." Many older consoles have this label to the selectors and pots used for remote broadcasts. On the other hand, the name of the captain from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea may be a good clue. Nemo in Latin means "no name" or "no man."
Proofreader Interview Questions -
Answer :
SCA : SCA is Subsidiary Communications Authority or, in other words, an audio subcarrier on a main station, usually FM. For many years, this was the way Muzak was distributed. Today, many private services can be found on SCA channels, from foreign language programming to radio reading services for the blind.
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Answer :
kHz : kHz is an abbreviation for kiloHertz. The term Hertz, named for the inventor, refers to the number of times an electrical signal of alternating current "crosses" the "0" line and changes from positive to negative and back to positive. Human hearing is nominally in the 50 to 15,000 Hertz range. A kiloHertz is 1000 Hertz (15,000 Hertz = 15 kHz). Frequencies above about 100 kHz are said to be in the "Radio Frequency Range" as they are used for transmitting sonic or digital information.
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Answer :
MHz : MHz is an abbreviation for MegaHertz, mega taking the meaning of 1 million. So 1,000,000 Hertz = 1 MHz.
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Question 16. What Are Qsl Cards?
Answer :
QSL Cards : QSL cards are usually postcards with a station's call sign and data. These are sent to listeners who report receiving a station. Some stations will actually send a letter on station letterhead, others will send various combinations of information and maps.
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Answer :
RPU - Remote Pick Up : An RPU system is used by radio and television stations to get programming back to the studio from a "remote" broadcast. This may be a news story, sports event, or "personal appearance" at a clients business. RPU frequencies normally run in the 160 or 450 MHz band, TV in several GHz bands.
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Question 18. What Is Simulcast?
Answer :
Simulcast : A simulcast is when two stations run the same program at the same time in the same city. This was common practice in the early days of FM, when stations tried to save money by running the same material on AM and FM. In an effort to reduce the spectrum waste and promote variety of programming, on October 15, 1965, the FCC made a ruling demanding that at least 50% of all programming on each station be "original." The practice has been revived in recent years as station groups try to use multiple stations to cover some growing markets. WTOP in Washington, DC, for example bought an AM and an FM in the suburbs to carry their signal. (According to some reports, the simulcasts can reach more people than the original station!)
Journalism Interview Questions -
Answer :
EAS : In November 1994, the EAS (Emergency Alert System) was approved by the FCC, with operations to begin January 1, 1997. Using digital signaling, the EAS was to permit sending more than an alert, actual information could be sent, printed out, and rebroadcast on command.
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Answer :
EBS : To replace Conelrad, the EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) was put into place in 1963. Originally as outlined, stations were to test weekly. They were supposed to set off "carrier detect" receivers by the following sequence (As Conelrad receivers operated on the "loss of carrier" principle, they were still used for that purpose with the EBS program.):
- turn their transmitters off for 5 seconds.
- turn their transmitters on for 5 seconds.
- turn their transmitters off for 5 seconds.
- turn their transmitters on.
- broadcast a 1000 Hertz tone for 15 seconds to alert other stations.
- broadcast a "test" message so the public understood what was going on.
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Question 21. What Was Conelrad?
Answer :
CONELRAD : Conelrad (CONtrol of ELectronic RADiation) was set up in 1951 to provide warnings to the public during the Cold War. Upon alert, most stations would go off the air. Each remaining station was to move to either 640 or 1240 kHz, and alternate with other such local stations, supposedly so no enemy Direction Finding equipment could lock onto locations in the US. Or course, most stations were not really that far apart, in air miles, so it was not a very useful system. Actual activations were apparently very few.
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Question 22. What's This About A "wandering Call Sign?"
Answer :
The story is how KYW went from Chicago to Philadelphia to Cleveland and then back to Philadelphia. In 1934, with the government quota for stations in the Chicago area full, Westinghouse was forced to move to Philadelphia in order to keep the clear channel frequency. Total mileage moved: around 1400.
Later, a swap between Westinghouse and NBC sent KYW to Cleveland for nine years, but it returned to its original Philadelphia facility in June 1965 after several court cases.
Another interesting story is how WTOP started its life in Brooklyn as WTRC, changed calls to WTFF and moved to Virginia, then finally landing on 1500 in Washington, DC, 215 miles away.
In 2013, the FCC granted moves for Channel 3 in Ely, NV to Middletown, NJ (2159 miles, more or less) and Channel 2 in Jackson, WY to Wilmington, DE (about 1828 miles) under order from the US Court of Appeals, citing a 1980s law that guaranteed VHF licenses to TV stations relocating to states without them.
Side note: We ought not forget the Portable Stations, a special class that existed until 1928. Some were used as demonstration purposes by manufacturers. C.L.Carrell had a half dozen or so portables, which he took to different cities and state fairs in the midwest. The FRC finally ruled that all portables had to become "fixed" in one location or lose their licenses. Most ended up in midwestern towns.
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Question 23. What Are Some Famous "k" Calls And Their Meanings?
Answer :
- Detroit KOP Detroit Police Department
- Los Angeles KFWB Warner Brothers
- Los Angeles KFSG Four Square Gospel (Aimee Semple McPherson)
- Phoenix KOOL "It's Cool in Phoenix"
- Phoenix KTAR Keep Taking the Arizona Republican
- San Diego KGB NOT owned by the Russians....
- San Francisco KFOG (Where else?)
- Tucson KVOA Voice Of Arizona
- Tucson KOLD "It's Cold in Tucson"
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Question 24. What Are Some Famous "w" Calls And Their Meanings?
Answer :
- Atlanta WSB Welcome South Brother
- Boston WEEI Edison Electrical Illuminating
- Chicago WGN World's Greatest Newspaper
- Chicago WLS World's Largest Store
- Davenport WOC World of Chiropractic
- Hartford WTIC Traveler's Insurance Co.
- Hartford WHCN Harford Concert Network
- New York WMCA McAlpin Hotel
- Nashville WSM We Shield Millions
- Norfolk WGH World's Greatest Harbor
- Rochester WHAM (no meaning, just sequential)
- Tampa WSUN The Sun ... but slogan: Why Stay Up North?
VSAT Interview Questions -
Question 25. What Does The "am" In Am Stations Mean?
Answer :
Contrary to popular belief, AM does *not* mean "Ancient Modulation." It refers to the method of modulating the amplitude, or strength of a fixed frequency carrier to allow detection of the program matter. The Standard Broadcast Band (using AM modulation) in the USA runs from 540 kHz to 1700 kHz in 10 kHz steps. In other regions of the world, there are different spacings (often 9 kHz)..
Topic: Broadcast Interview Questions
Interview Quesions on Broadcast
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