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No, you are right that you would still need some technicians on duty--FCC rules mandated how many and what kind--but the idea was to reduce the number; during prime time or any other time that the station was broadcasting a network feed, there was little to do until the station ident and the local commercial when you would get a brief flurry of activity called the Panic Period. Not a good use of the high-priced talent, that.
Now, this book is about TV as a business: affiliate deals, ratings numbers and what they mean, time sales, and so on, and only has a brief section concerning the hardware, but that section is accurate, and he cites some specific examples of TV stations that have automated their control rooms.
Trouble is, I can't find a mention of this kind of automation technology in Abramson's History of Television, 1942-2000, or Dicky Howett's book, or the 2nd edition ofDonald Fink's Television Engineering, or indeed anywhere else.
Seehafer & Laemmar seem to imply that at the time of writing, 1958, its use is rapidly growing, but no-one else mentions it. Any suggestions on what this might mean?
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One Ruthie At A Time
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