Years ago, I was announcing the days and times of an upcoming festival's air show on the radio. As I was reading the announcement, however, I noticed that the starting time of one day's air show was missing. This was during the relatively early days of the Internet, and there was no access to it in the studio, so I couldn't look it up while I was on the air.
As soon as I finished the air show announcement, an incensed listener called.
"What time is the air show on Saturday?!" she demanded.
I had to admit that I didn't know.
"Well, what will I do? I want to see the air show that day!" she continued.
That incident reminded me of the importance of reading copy thoroughly before going on the
air and choosing alternate copy if information is missing. It wasn't my fault that a starting time was missing from the copy, but if I'd read it completely before going on the air, I would have noticed the missing time and chosen a different announcement.
