National Talking Newspapers and Magazines

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Good Practice for Talking Newspapers

Introduction
1. Management
2. Infrastructure
3. Editorial
4. Presentation
5. Reading
6. Recording
7. Copying
8. Packing and Posting
9. Returns
10. Reactions
11. Repairs
12. Health, Safety and Electricity
13. Public Relations
14. Finance
15. Development

11. Repairs

A little forethought and planning will pay dividends when equipment goes wrong, either at a listener's home or in the studio. Delays in restoring normal service are frustrating to all involved. Everything must be kept fully operational.

Loan machines
Taking the listeners' end of the operation first - perhaps 25 - 30% of the audience will have a cassette player on loan from the TN and it is generally accepted that any maintenance necessary is provided by the TN rather than by the listener. This is preferable to allowing DIY by a well-meaning grand-son (which may happen anyway, but a well-publicised system should discourage it).

Expertise
The usual loan machine is simple enough and most faults have simple solutions (for those who know). That is the key. In contrast with other TN roles some prior knowledge and expertise is needed by the volunteer repairers. The volunteers who look after the RNIB's Talking Book machines in your area may be interested in assisting your TN to maintain cassette machines as well. (See Appendix 8 for contact telephone number for RNIB Talking Book Library).

Your local Volunteer Bureau or Association may also be able to help by circulating your requirements. The Bureau or Association may hold open days for would-be volunteers for all aspects of voluntary service in your area, and a short introductory presentation about the TN at one of these may well produce recruits. But whoever you recruit, they will need to be judged to be willing, able and responsible enough to call at listeners' homes.

Machines owned by listeners
Cassette machines owned by listeners are their responsibility. However, if your TN has a home visiting group then this is a good way to keep contact with listeners by offering to clean the heads on a regular basis. Such visits can have other purposes - feedback can be obtained from the listener about the TN, but more importantly, a watchful eye can be kept on the more vulnerable listeners.

Manuals
Having found the skilled labour, it is easy enough to obtain the circuit diagrams and manual for the machine(s), together with a supply of the most frequently needed spares. A workshop bench somewhere in the studio complex is desirable but most work will probably be done in a listener's home and may be as simple as cleaning the player's head with a cotton bud and cleaning fluid.

Sometimes a listener can get upset and think that they have broken the machine and ripped up a cassette. The best policy here is to exchange the machine even if it just needs a good clean.

Reporting faults
A good trustworthy system is needed to connect a problem to a fixer. The telephone offers the easiest method of reporting a fault by a listener but the number will need to be readily and usually available. A studio answering machine would be the best way. But whatever the system, it must be known by all members and this can be achieved by verbal reminders on the taped programme and by printed labels on the cassettes and on the loan equipment.

There is then a responsibility to deal with incoming messages efficiently from both the listener's and the volunteer's points of view. A simple repair chitty will be a useful record for future reference and could perhaps take the form of a label inside the machine.

Exchanges
If a home visit by a repairer is not possible then the listener's faulty machine could be exchanged for a working model and the faulty machine repaired at leisure in the workshop. A working party in the workshop will be needed at intervals to avoid stock-piling broken machines. If no skilled labour is forthcoming, a swop system and commercial repairs will need to be financed.

Working life
Over the years the number of suitable machines for home loan has decreased, and those on the market have become more reliable. If a machine that is, say, five years or more old is reported as faulty then it may well be worth considering writing it off for spares, particularly if the problem is a broken case. As the machine probably cost £15 -£20, your TN would have had its money's worth out of it.

Warranties
The (usual) 12 months warranty on machines will provide an initial buffer period to most problems except accidents and this applies to the studio equipment as well. Here the complexity of the machinery is bound to be greater and commercial repairs are probably the best answer.

Studio faults
With different people using the studio equipment it is essential to have - a) some problem-reporting procedure and b) someone who receives the reports and takes prompt action to arrange remedial work. This applies to both technical and domestic equipment. A broken kettle is the ultimate disaster!!

Dilemma
Planned preventative maintenance is a good theory which may well help keep the copiers going if they are regularly opened up, cleaned and checked. On the other hand, if it works, leave well alone, apart from the usual head and pinch wheel cleaning, plus keeping an eye open for pieces of cassette stuck in the works!

Monitoring
Over a period, copier performance will drop off as heads wear, so it might be worth keeping a set of copies which were made when the machines were new, together with the master cassette and then compare quality, say, every six months. This will help in deciding when replacements are necessary.

Boxes
The original packaging that the copiers came in should always be kept for the time when the machines have to be sent back to the supplier for maintenance. Other equipment including reporters' recorders can probably be dealt with locally. This is well worth checking at the time of purchase.

Head cleaning
The single most common cause of poor recording and poor playback needs no technical resource at all to put right. Dirty heads in the recorder, copier and player only need a wipe over with a cotton bud which has been dipped in cleaning fluid, and that is a job anyone can do.

Replacements
No piece of equipment works for ever. Breakdowns and consequent frustrations will become more frequent with age, although if a TN buys professional or specialist rather than domestic equipment, then a much longer operational life should be expected.

Put old equipment on the next sales stand while it is still working and get a few pounds for it, then buy peace of mind with something new which (hopefully) your benefactors will be only too happy to provide. Do not neglect to stick a large label on it along the lines - 'PRESENTED BY XYZ ROTARY CLUB' and get a picture in your source paper to encourage others!

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