Issue 57		SMARTS Broadcast Systems	       May  1999

Hello, and welcome to spring! And we know it is spring by all the rain. April showers bring May flowers. May showers bring out the flotation devices. HOW ABOUT YOU? There are several reminders to pass along that have come from recent Support calls. 1.) Defrag and Scandisk at least once a month. Not only does this determine the condition of your hard drive, it makes your drive access faster and more efficient. 2.) If you have to unplug ANY wires from your SMARTCASTER for ANY reason, make sure that they have been labeled first. That way it gets wired the way it was and saves you the hassle of trying to figure it out later. 3.) Check the airflow on your SMARTCASTER regularly. By merely placing your hand at the back of the unit you can tell if the power supply fan is working. When a fan fails, the hard drives are not cooled properly. When they overheat, they fail. The sooner you know about a fan failure, the better the chance of protecting your hard drives and saving yourself heartache. TRAINING We have a training session coming up in July. We will have a three day class, the 14th, 15th, and 16th in Emmetsburg. The fee is $150 per person, with $50 of that being a registration fee which is due July 1st. If you want to brush up on your skills, or learn some of the finer details of the SMARTCASTER, don't miss this session. Due to the amount of information, the class has been expanded by one day compared to previous classes. Remember, this is the Operator training, and not the Engineering class. That session will be held later in the year. PHONES We ask that you remember we are located in northwest Iowa and use the phone to help you. We don't know if you are the only station in your county or the number one rocker in your market. So when you call and say you're "the radio station" or Cool 92, that doesn't help us one iota. We need a viable phone number to call and a contact name of someone who will work with us. And please, give us a number that will get past voicemail. And do yourself a favor. Tell the gatekeeper you are in the building and that you are expecting a call from us. I would be a rich man if I had a dollar for every call I made where the gatekeeper told me that so-and-so wasn't in the building, only to come back and sheepishly admit that they found the caller once I convinced them to go look. People seldom call us to pass the time of day. And we can't help you if we can't talk to you. Do the math. WEBSITE We have a new feature on the Website. If you can access the Web, you will find us at http://www.smartsbroadcast.com/ where clicking on "On Line Support" will allow you to browse through information on several typical problems or questions. Feel free to touch base with us there to see if we already have the answer to your question. R.I.K. It stands for Reply In Kind. What it means is that we will respond in the manner we were approached. If you call the Support Line, we will call you back. If you send a fax, expect one back. If you e-mail us, we will e-mail you. Be warned, that sometimes faxes and e-mails take a bit longer to write up, so it may take longer to respond, depending on the topic. The Support Line number is 1-800-765-2930. The fax number is 1-712-852-5030. And the e-mail address is support@smartsbroadcast.com for Support. NOTES I've written before about keeping a log regarding projects you have worked on with the technicians at SMARTS. It would also be wise to keep notes of any changes you make to the system. Whether a change is made in wiring or in Timed Events, knowing the "before and after" can sometimes save a lot of hassles. Especially since there are enough regular radio activities to keep you busy without trying to remember all of these details, too. Doug Burton

      OFFICE: 800-747-6278	     SUPPORT: 800-765-2930          
     SALES: 800-498-0487             E-MAIL: support@smartsbroadcast.com
 				 WEBSITE: http://www.smartsbroadcast.com