"Calm Act"

With respect and due deference to my cousin who brought this issue to her facebook page.

http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50185371/#50185371 

I would like to share my viewpoints as someone who has been in the radio/television/cable advertising profession since 1990...and with what is now Suddenlink Communications Cable Advertising Operations Central Group since 1997.

 ummmmm, friends.....this was already going on behind the scenes before laws were passed. I know that at least for my daytime job, we do not "turn up" the ads. Here is what is happening. 1. Programming is produced in one place, ads in another. Although there are standards, there is some degree in difference in how different people apply those standards, even when trained correctly. 2. Most of the time what you hear is louder is "apparent loudness", due to the number of frequencies in the audio you are hearing. Think about it, which "sounds louder" NASCAR or a funeral home ad? NASCAR is louder because ....indeed, many times the average level of audio is louder.....but it also has "more sounds" in the audio that in the typical funeral home ad (which will "sound" quieter).
 This legislation is important, just don't buy into the falsehood that advertisers always "pump up" the volume.

 In regards to complaining to a television broadcaster about their commercials Please be respectful when calling.

There are technical details at play here that are not as easy to handle as one might expect. For instance, Suddenlink CAO - Cable Advertising Operations, central group operates over 300 sites across Texas, Lousiana, Eureka California, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. When there is a complaint against one commercials out of thousands, we research it, double check it against standards, and get an engineer to the site to double check how overall audio levels are set. This takes research and time. Our competitors either have the same set up as we do (Comcast/Time Warner), or they are individual stations with master control operators (the person who switches the programs and commercials, etc) trying the past to make everyone happy.