Early radio automation systems evolved very little in the first two decades of their existence. They consisted of an array of big reel-to-reel tape decks and cartridge machines, sequenced using thumbdials or toggle switches, and were triggered using metal foil markers stuck to the recording tape, or with recorded "subaudible tones" at the ends of songs. Early tape-based automation systems were fun to watch, with all their blinking lights and wagging VU meters, but they were also frighteningly expensive, a pain to maintain, and large enough to cover an entire wall.

In the 1970s, radio automation's Cretacious Period, automation behemoths were still every bit as cumbersome, but were gaining a bit more intelligence. Primitive little computers, accessed by a keypad or other simple input device, took the place of toggle switches and thumbdials. Commercials were still keyed-in by hand, one at a time. Automation was gaining acceptance in the radio industry as a way to cost-effectively "automate the FM" while station staff handled air duties on the AM station.

Then came the great asteroid. In the early 80s, the FCC relaxed its licensing requirements, and new stations began popping up everywhere, each of them dispatching their account representatives into the community to graze. Where once, great leafy green advertising dollars sustained full radio announcing staffs at a limited number of stations, now the advertising landscape was increasingly trodden and bare due to overgrazing. Many stations were left with little choice but to lay-off air staffers and rely on automation. The need was great, and the timing was right for a new, "evolved breed" of radio automation products.

The early 80s emergence of the "personal computer" greatly improved the brain side of the creature, without doing much to improve its "body." Automation in that era was still encumbered by physical tape media, with all its inherent problems and cost. Some dubious crossbreeds that attempted to interface computers with other audio playback devices like cassettes and VHS tape decks crawled onto dry land during that period, but quickly went extinct. The ultimate creature was yet to be born.

In the late 1980s, some brave pioneers were experimenting with the idea of containing an entire radio automation system within a computer and playing some or all of a station's programming directly off the hard drive using digital audio files. No more hissy, troublesome tape: a great notion! But in an era when a 16 megahertz computer was considered a "screamer," and the average hard drive contained about 80 megabytes of storage capacity, it was miles from being practical. Ten more years were to transpire before PCs had enough brains, memory, and agility to realistically run a complete radio station directly from the hard drive. But when we reached that threshhold, I believe the "Golden Age" of radio automation began.

More than ten years have passed since the start of radio automation's "Golden Age," and computers have increased their speed another tenfold! Hard drives big enough to store the average contents of a dozen radio stations cost half as much as you would have spent in the mid-80s for a drive that would have had room for two or three songs. And while you could easily have spent $70,000 for a clunky, stumble-footed monster in the 80s, today $1300 will buy you a system (with hardware) with infinitely-greater capabilities, storage, speed, and audio fidelity. Imagine. A fifty-fold reduction in cost, and an inestimable increase in quality.

These days, every radio station needs to be equipped with some degree of radio automation capabilities. Even a fully-staffed station will need it sometimes, if only as a means of playing back their program log's contents between spoken segments and providing random-access to audio tracks. Hard drive based audio also allows DJs to instantly find any song in the station's music library during request shows, an enormous time-saver over the dreaded "flip-flip-flip" method long associated with request-finding.

The days of doing without such a system are over forever. Radio automation today can be used to do as little or as much as you like. And unlike the "dino days of yore," it offers awesome capabilities at a price any station can afford.

Many of the most-capable systems available today maintain a pricing philosophy based on very old theories about what radio automation ought to cost, because they go back to that era. These companies' prices are so high they don't even mention them on their web sites. TuneTracker Systems has taken a different tack. We were born at the start of the "Golden Age" of radio automation. We load our systems with advanced capabilities, price them affordably, and post the prices prominently, right on our Product and System Packages pages.

Give us a call and tell us about your radio operation, your requirements, and your budget. Let us direct you to a fast, modern radio automation system that will meet your needs at a price that, by any standard, historic or otherwise, cannot be beaten!