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| − | == Presenters' Contract == | + | {{Incident |
| | + | |brief=Jukebox forgets how an audio happens. and suddenly remembers after scaring the Chief Engineer |
| | + | |severity=Moderate |
| | + | |impact=High (Approx 1hr of dead air) |
| | + | |start=29/10/2019 11:02 |
| | + | |end=29/10/2019 12:26 |
| | + | |mitigation=Make sure the dead air alarm actually alerts when dead air happens |
| | + | |leader=Marks Polakovs (MP) |
| | + | |others=Morgan McKay(MM) |
| | + | }} |
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| − | I, The Undersigned, agree to abide by URY's station rules and regulations as set out below, and the Ofcom Programming Code (accessible at www.ofcom.org.uk). I have fully read and understood these rules and regulations, and I understand that if I break any of the rules or regulations stated by Ofcom or its successor, I will be solely liable for any resulting fines or actions that may be levied against University Radio York.
| + | Report under construction. |
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| − | I also understand that should I break any of URY’s rules or regulations, I am liable to be subject to disciplinary action as decided by URY’s Programme Controller. I will also abide by the YUSU media charter (available from the Student Centre). I have never been convicted of any criminal offence related to radio broadcasting.
| + | =Summary= |
| | + | An (As of yet) not pinpointed issue caused Jukebox to fail to output to TX and Online for over an hour, despite the jukebox service still playing out music on Icecast and through the studio faders. Also the dead air alarm didnt tell anyone, the bastard. |
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| − | In the event of The Undersigned ceasing to be a member or honorary member of URY, this contract will expire before the expiry date at the discretion of the Programme Controller.
| + | =Rough Sequence of Events= |
| | + | At around 11:02 Jukebox stops playing out audio to streaming and TX. Nobody notices as nobody listens to us, and the dead air detector sends no emails (Not that it could do much other than "We detected a silence, jukebox has been switched to jukebox!") |
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| | + | Having finished his morning lectures at around 12:00, MM enters the station and has a quick check of Jukebox via a desks AM feed. MM notices that no sound is coming out. Checking the feed from the AM2, Yamaha, and Icecast show the same. In a nervous panic MM alerts the committee, switching to red and playing out the Jukebox feed via the Pres Pc (Through Icecast, as Jukebox still was playing audio itself) at 12:11. At the time MM didnt know online was off as well as AM so ran into TX and stared at it. The transmitter was sitting there all happy and smug, no reflected power to speak of, just the ominous "Audio break" LED latched on. Having no idea what to check, MM comes back to the studio after a good 10 minute stare and contemplate to find that Jukebox is back on air playing as normal. |
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| − | === URY Rules And Regulations ===
| + | Turns out during this thoughtful TX stare someone came in and thought "Why the fuck is Red on thats not right!" and switched to Jukebox, which suddenly worked as normal. MM is very confused at this and declares the incident over at 12:26, unsure if the incident was over (But the dead air was gone and MM had shit to do so eh, good enough). |
| − | # You must have passed a URY training session, paid £7 membership to URY and have permission to broadcast from the Programme Controller in order to be allowed to operate broadcast equipment.
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| − | # If you operate broadcast equipment, you are responsible for its correct usage and for upholding URY’s stated rules and regulations at all times.
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| − | #
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| − | ## You are responsible for the content of all broadcasts in which you operate the broadcast equipment, including all technical and audible contributions that you, co-presenters or guests make.
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| − | ## An individual may appear as a guest presenter on air twice in an academic year without being a URY member. After those two appearances the individual must pay membership, register on MyRadio and become studio trained before they may appear on another URY show.
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| − | # You must do all shows that you have signed-up for, unless the Programme Controller states otherwise.
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| − | # If you are going to be late for your show, you must contact the Programme Controller as soon as possible. If you believe that you will be unable to do your show, you must inform the Programme Controller at least 48 hours before the occasion in question.
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| − | # If you have to cancel your show suddenly due to unforeseen circumstances, you should contact the Programme Controller as soon as possible.
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| − | # Anyone who runs broadcast equipment on-air must sign in using SIS (Studio Information System). This person must also log in any guests present in the studio.
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| − | # You must broadcast the station name and frequency at least once an hour during your show (e.g. play the News-in Jingle) unless the Programme Controller states otherwise.
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| − | # You must broadcast the news every hour. You must also broadcast all or any SBN/IRN adverts that follow provided the feed is available. In the event that there is a technical fault, you must inform the Programme Controller as soon as possible.
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| − | #
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| − | ## You must play all copyrighted music content on your show through BAPS (i.e. you may not use digital music players, including MP3 players, laptops and mobile phones, streaming services such as Spotify or YouTube, or any physical media such as compact discs), except with special permission from the Programme Controller.
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| − | ## All copyrighted music content that is not played through BAPS (subject to the previous clause) must be logged manually, as instructed by the Programme Controller. BAPS will do this automatically.
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| − | # You must follow our PPL music licence laws at all times. The laws are outlined as follows:
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| − | ## During any 3 hour period:
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| − | ### You must play no more than 3 tracks from any album (and no more than 2 consecutively).
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| − | ### You must play no more than 4 tracks from any particular artist or compilation (and no more than 3 consecutively).
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| − | ### You must only play a track once in any 1-hour period.
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| − | ### You must not use tracks as beds at any time.
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| − | ## For a single hour show, you can ensure you do not infringe on PPL laws by abiding by these guidelines:
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| − | ### Play no more than 1 track from any album by a single artist.
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| − | ### Play no more than 2 tracks from any particular artist or compilation (and no more than 2 consecutively).
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| − | ### A Track may only be played once in any 1-hour period.
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| − | ### You must not use tracks as beds at any time
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| − | # You must show impartiality on all political, sectarian, or otherwise contentious issues. If you intend to or predict that you might broadcast potentially controversial output, consult the Programme Controller.
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| − | #
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| − | ## You must not swear on-air, nor express racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise offensive opinions in any broadcast. Use of gratuitous swearing is always unacceptable.
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| − | ## Songs that contain swearing may be played on shows between the hours of 9pm and 5am with advance permission from the Programme Controller. A standard or otherwise pre-agreed disclaimer is to be played at the beginning of each hour of the show. It is unacceptable for presenters and their guests to swear at any time.
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| − | # You must not mention that we can be heard off campus on 1350AM.
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| − | # You must not broadcast under the influence of drugs or alcohol, nor allow anyone on the show to do so.
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| − | # You must play all adverts scheduled during your show. The advert schedule can be found on the notice board in Studio 1, and must be signed when the relevant adverts have been played.
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| − | # You must leave the studio clean and tidy. You may not remove any URY property without permission from a URY officer. You may not remove or copy any URY music. Such activities are illegal and will be dealt with accordingly.
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| − | # If you are the last person to leave URY, you must pull down all blinds, close all windows and lock the front door. Station key cards must be returned to the porter. Should there be any problem with station key cards or any aspect of URY security, please contact the Programme Controller. In an emergency, contact Security Services on (01904) 434444.
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| − | # You must abide by the Ofcom Programming Code at all times.
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| − | === Disciplinary Actions === | + | == What Went Well == |
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| − | ==== Warnings ====
| + | After the incident was declared, partial recovery only took five minutes and a complete recovery took 20. |
| − | There are 2 kinds of warnings that the Programme Controller can issue on any occasion, should they see fit. Inappropriate behaviour, misuse of URY property, breach of URY rules and breach of Ofcom rules are the most sensitive occasions in which warnings will be considered.
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| − | ;Informal Warning
| + | == What Did Not Go Well == |
| − | :Any member of URY may be issued with an informal warning in the event that he or she commits an offence that the Programme Controller considers noteworthy, relatively minor, inappropriate or unacceptable. If you receive an informal warning and repeat the infraction warned against, you will receive a formal warning.
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| − | ;Formal Warning
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| − | :Any member of URY may be issued with a formal warning at the discretion of the Programme Controller. The person in question need not have received any informal warnings nor committed previous offences. In the event that he or she breaches URY rules, Ofcom rules or behaves otherwise inappropriately, the Programme Controller may decide to contact the member in question and/or issue a formal warning. If you receive a formal warning and repeat the infraction warned against, your show can be suspended or taken permanently off-air.
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| − | ==== Suspension ====
| + | The dead air was unnoticed for over an hour, due to a failure in the dead air alarm |
| − | The Programme Controller can suspend a presenter on any occasion for as long as they see fit. | |
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| − | ==== Expulsion ==== | + | == How We Got Lucky == |
| − | The Programme Controller can decide to cancel a show or ban a presenter from doing a show on any occasion. Presenters may be banned from using URY facilities and equipment, or from URY as a whole.
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| | | | |
| − | ==== Appeals Procedure ====
| + | * The Chief Engineer was in the station when he thought to check AM and noticed the dead air - had it been a presenter who may not have checked, the dead air may have been far longer |
| − | If your show is suspended it will be retained virtually on the system for one week, though you will be unable to present this show. Any appeals against the decision can be made to the Station Management within this time. If no appeal is made, the show will be removed permanently from the schedule. If an appeal is made, the presenter will be invited to meet with the Station Manager, Assistant Station Manager, Programme Controller and Training Coordinator to make their case. All decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
| + | * Jukebox/Liquidsoap/whatever broke unbroke itself |
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| − | === Updates to the Contract === | + | =MP's Investigation= |
| − | The URY Committee reserve the right to update this contract at any time following the procedures laid out in the [[Constitution]] and will notify members when this will take place. | + | After running out of his seminar on East, and getting stopped dead in his tracks by First Bus, MP started pulling all the logs he could - namely the HQ audio logs and the Liquidsoap logs. From this he was able to establish the following timeline (all times GMT): |
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| | + | == Timeline == |
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| | + | Dead air begins: 11:02:30 |
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| | + | MM reports dead air in Slack: 12:06 |
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| | + | Dead air ends with MM's presPC bodge: 12:11:20 |
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| | + | Jukebox back on air via selector: 12:26:12 |
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| | + | Total dead air: 1:08:50 |
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| | + | == Significant realisations == |
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| | + | * Jukebox continued to tracklist even throughout the dead air |
| | + | * The selector logs showed nothing out of the ordinary - at 00:02:12 output was switched to Jukebox, where it stayed until 12:11:20 when MM switched to Red to end the dead air |
| | + | * The dead air was heard on both AM and online - it appears clearly in the HQ log |
| | + | * The dead air alarm... did not alarm about the dead air |
| | + | * When MM switched output to Red, it worked without any problems |
| | + | |
| | + | == Conclusions == |
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| | + | The most likely culprit is Liquidsoap hitting one of its numerous bugs, getting stuck, and failing to output audio until the switch to Red unstuck'd it. The dead air alarm is part of <code>sel.liq</code>, so it not going off implies that the whole script broke, which would make sense considering Jukebox continued to tracklist (implying that it thought it was on air). |
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| | + | Other potential culprits are the Jack connection from Liquidsoap to the sound card, or the sound card itself, or TX itself, but all of these are unlikely: |
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| | + | * Jack is relatively stable software |
| | + | * While Focusrite does not officially have Linux drivers, their cards are actually often more stable on Linux than on Windows |
| | + | * TX is hard to break, plus, the dead air was on both AM and online, which makes a physical signal path break unlikely |
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| | + | We cannot conclusively point the finger at liquidsoap, but it is more likely than not to be the culprit. |
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| | + | = Further Work = |
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| | + | * Create a more reliable dead air detector |
| | + | ** in progress - MP working on DEARIE ME (Disappointingly Empty Airwave Remediation and Incident Escalation Management Engine), a dead air alarm listening to the AM feed |
| | + | * Upgrade liquidsoap in the hopes of fixing bugs |
| | + | ** Will need to wait, as this is a risky process |
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| | + | [[Category:Incident Reports]] |