[Jeffhs]

TV network/local affiliate automation has come a long way since that brochure was published. Almost all major TV networks, as well as cable networks such as MeTV and Antenna TV, use some sort of automation system today that virtually eliminates operator errors such as were commonplace in the '60s-'70s and probably earlier. I remember one such error when a master control operator at WKYC-TV (NBC channel 3) in Cleveland must have pushed an incorrect button on a control board -- causing the local ID for NBC television station WNBC to appear between commercials on my Zenith 23" b&w console, circa early 1970s. I've never forgotten that.

I seldom see such errors lately, however, since the advent of the automated TV control room, although sometimes the automation systems get a bit too eager and bring up a network commercial when a local one is called for, or vice-versa -- although the error is corrected, again by the automation system, within seconds. There have never yet (to the best of my knowledge), however, been situations in which a programming schedule has been botched up, e. g. the system cues up and eventually airs Cannon (for example) when another program is supposed to air at that time.

I have almost never seen a huge foulup on a major network, though they do happen extremely rarely. Smaller flubs happen every now and then, though, such as one time last year when NBC's Brian Williams was reporting on something having to do with a bill the President was going to veto; I was amazed to hear Williams begin the report thusly: "President Veto -- er, Bush . . .". These are slips of the tongue, however, that are unavoidable (TV newscasters are human, after all) and have nothing whatsoever to do with the network's behind-the-scenes workings. I downloaded that flub from YouTube (as well as hearing it live on NBC News the evening it aired) and still have it (it may still be on YouTube itself); the title is "Brian Williams' hilarious faux pas." I laugh my head off every time I watch it.


I guess when a person working in TV gets to the network level, they have (supposedly, anyway) learned enough about how TV control panels and such operate so they don't make dumb mistakes. I cannot remember the last time I saw a flub on either the local NBC station's newscast or on NBC's own national broadcast. The local TV stations in Cleveland are mostly automated these days, with channel 3 tooting its own horn all the time about its "digital broadcast center" at the beginning of its local newscasts. I have yet to see flubs on this station, either, and I watch its news (and NBC Nightly News at 6:30 p.m. ET) 99.999 percent of the time.