Subpar is the new normal

[TomSanders]

Listen to radio for more than a day or two. Songs cut off -- not faded to hit a break or network newscast, just bang, gone -- network content upcut by local breaks with too many ads stuffed in them, etc etc ... the same DIY / unfinished chic approach applied to everything else now applied to radio. Mutual -- your network for news, sports and cue tones -- foreshadowed this in the 70s.

[the chief]

This is NORMAL when the station is run Un-attended, with no employees in the building and/or no one monitoring the on-air product. The station automation is often programmed by an intern or other inept employee who does not understand the basics of programming. The result is sometimes hours of dead air when the proper automation commands are not entered into the automation PC. Often, simply keeping the automation PC "clock" accurately set can clear up most of the network content upcuts. I hear this on many, many stations these days.
Yes, this is the new normal.

[Ed Joseph]

This is NORMAL when the station is run Un-attended, with no employees in the building and/or no one monitoring the on-air product. The station automation is often programmed by an intern or other inept employee who does not understand the basics of programming. The result is sometimes hours of dead air when the proper automation commands are not entered into the automation PC. Often, simply keeping the automation PC "clock" accurately set can clear up most of the network content upcuts. I hear this on many, many stations these days.
Yes, this is the new normal.

Quite true, on radio and TV alike. Also, automatic mic mixing is something awful IMO. I hear 750milliseconds of cross-room echo before the mic is ungated. That's just STUPID. Having never had one of these units (just give me an actual mixer and cue me, like they did in the old days), I'd have to guess there is a way to set the attack time on each input. If so, people evidently don't know what it does.