eli5: In a world of instant communication via satellite, why does news anchors connecting with field reporters live still involve a 3 second silent pause?
In: Physics
In high school I worked for the town’s local radio conglomerate, and though it was many years ago, I wouldnt be surprised if they still patched remotes through the telephone line like we were doing 20 some years ago.
Especially because once I graduated and got to college, my first work study gig was cueing up and playing the sponsor’s advertisements… from their 8-tracks!
It wasn’t THAT long ago…
My only point being that stations get fixed in their ways, both equipment and protocol. You’d be surprised just how few people work at any given station, especially locally. Those station managers know what they’ve been forced to change, what they fought to keep in place, and what method has been most reliable for them over the years. Usually they aim for live air above all, but they must follow fcc rules and what has become important to that guy and his audience isn’t necessarily the driving factor in a stations business model anymore.
So it all depends on the comm equipment and protocol being used – and while it may not be dialed in anymore, what one station uses isn’t necessarily indicative of another station’s methods.
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