What are the headphones used for in radio broadcasting?

Question

I'm going ot be starting a radio broadcasting course and don't want to look stupid. Its probably just cue times and stuff right?

Answer 1

I am a slight bit surprised by the answer given by dmb06851.

The headphones are used for:
a) Talkback. This is talking to people outside the on-air room using a microphone and listening to their responses on the headphones. This is possible with certain mixer/control setups only.
b) Cueing. Listening to something before it goes out on air, to check that it is the right track, that it is at the start, etc
c) BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT APPLICATION BY FAR...is to hear what is going on when you are talking on air. If you listen to the radio in the studio you will get feedback. If you don't listen to the output, then you could be introducing this lovely CD, but it's skipping all over the place, and you look a fool! Also, if you are interviewing someone over the phone, it is difficult to pull this off without using headphones, because phone receivers have nasty horrible loudspeakers in them.
They are fine when you are asking mom what's new at home, because you kinda know the words she is going to say anyway, but if you are interviewing a reporter in the Lebanon on a windy day with shells in the background they just aren't upto the job.

Some radio stations also allow the broadcaster to listen to the mixer feed from the studio (nice clean sound) or the radio transmission, where there is a loss of quality. This allows him to determine if he should, for example, continue with a difficult phone interview because he knows what it sounds like to the radio listener, who gets a degraded sound compared to the pristine sound from the studio mixer.

Hope this helps...

Answer 2

The broacaster is sometimes given instructions etc by the producer, so yes, "cue times and stuff" is correct.

Lack of knowledge isn't stupidity. I'm retired from a life in electronics. I learned quite a bit and had circuits I designed published in a prestigious magazine. But there are tons and tons of things I never learned about electronics and other things. That doesn't make me stupid.

Don't worry about it.

I wish you the best in your studies. I'm sure they will be fascinating.

Answer 3

That is questionable and there are actually several possible answers to the question

Answer 4

Wow! thanks! Exactly what I was looking for. I looked for the answers on other websites but I couldn't find them.

Answer 5

I'm not sure