Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 April 15

= April 15 =

TV show air times... 10/9c
I don't get the time thing at all for TV shows. I know what 10/9c means because I can Google that, and everyone gives the same answer: 10 eastern time / 9 central time. But what does it mean for mountain and pacific times? How come TV commercials don't give the time for these zones? I'd love to think that 10/9c meant 8 (mountain)/7 (pacific), but it's not even remotely close. Why the confusing time "code"? –  Ker αun oςc op ia◁ galaxies  23:42, 14 April 2010 (UTC)
 * That was discussed here some months back. Generally shows in Pacific Time Zone are at the same local time as shows in the Eastern Time Zone. Of course, if it's 10 Pacific time, it's by then 1:00 a.m. Eastern, but that doesn't matter. In the Mountain Time Zone, though, some stations use the Eastern Zone approach (i.e. 10 local) while some use the Central Zone approach (i.e. 9 local). There's more to it than that, but hopefully that's a fair summary. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:59, 14 April 2010 (UTC)


 * So if I'm in the mountain zone, then I really should disregard those numbers and just look it up on the web/TV? It's always frustrating. Anyway, thanks for responding. I promise I did an archive search, but what keywords are there for this sort of question? I used my subject line and found everything but what I was looking for. : ) –  Ker αun oςc op ia◁ galaxies  00:52, 15 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Here's some related discussions on Wikipedia Reference desks: Where did the mountains go?, Primetime, and an old Google Answers question: TV times in Mountain time zone. The consensus seems to be "10 / 9 Central" means 10 Eastern and Pacific, 9 Central, and Mountain varies. TV networks typically have two feeds, Eastern and Western, the Western feed rebroadcasts the same shows 4 hours later. Stations in the Eastern and Central time zones show the Eastern feed live, so the show would be seen at 10 Eastern and 9 Central, that is, at the same time, but in different time zones. Stations in the Pacific time zone show the Western feed live, so the show is seen at 10 Pacific. According to Mountain Time Zone (the last sentence before the Contents), Mountain stations typically record the Eastern feed and play it one hour later, so the show is seen at 9 Mountain. But in the Google Answers post I mentioned above, it's suggested each Mountain time zone station decides on its own which feed they use and how much they delay it. --Bavi H (talk) 01:21, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Given that the Mountain time zone is mostly rural (the only real urban areas are Denver and Phoenix) the networks don't see any financial purpose in specially feeding their shows to that small amount of people. There is around 19 million people in the time zone, about the same population as the New York metropolitan area, which is estimated to be 19.8 million. To back up what others have said, both KCNC and KSL-TV show their respective national newscasts at 17:30 local time, and primetime begins at 19:00 local time -- exactly the same local times as Central. It is safe to assume for the most part that when Central Time is mentioned the show will be on at the same local time in the Mountain zone; a show on at "10/9 Central" will generally be shown at 21:00 Mountain as well.


 * Of course, there are exceptions. One that's on the top of my head: some viewers in Keloland (specifically viewers of KCLO in Rapid City, South Dakota) see programming one hour earlier than the rest of the Mountain zone, because KCLO, which is located in the Mountain Time part of South Dakota, shows programming simultaneously with KELO which is located in the Central Time part of South Dakota. In other words, the Eastern feed is shown live in this part of the Mountain Zone. For viewers of KCLO, the CBS Evening News comes on at 16:30 MT, and primetime begins at 18:00. I always wondered whether people complain about this, if they just got used to it, or if they don't know the program they watch every Monday at 19:30 is on at 20:30 or 21:30 local time elsewhere in the country. Xenon54 / talk / 01:58, 15 April 2010 (UTC)


 * These are fantastic answers, thank you so much. I checked out all the links above, and evidently Mountain time is at the whim of the stations. A lot of examples floating around; mine specifically was the new South Park episode, which shows at 10/9 central, but instead of being at 8 here (mountain time), it's on at 11. You guys have more than cleared up the confusion for me, and I've asked this question on several boards over the last few months. That the mountain region is 6% of 48-state population is pretty fascinating, and how that affects the delay in broadcasting is very interesting indeed. –  Ker αun oςc op ia◁ galaxies  02:59, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

FM radio in Japan
Why aren't there any FM radio stations with a frequency higher than 90 MHz in Japan? --84.61.146.104 (talk) 07:25, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Will there ever be any FM radio stations with a frequency higher than 90 MHz in Japan? --84.61.146.104 (talk) 07:48, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Is it allowed to import Western radios (which don't support frequencies below 87.5 MHz) into Japan? --84.61.146.104 (talk) 07:50, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Is it allowed to import Japanese radios (which don't support frequencies above 90 MHz) into the European Union? --84.61.146.104 (talk) 07:53, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Is it allowed to import Japanese radios (which don't support frequencies above 90 MHz) into the United States? --84.61.146.104 (talk) 07:53, 15 April 2010 (UTC)


 * see FM_band which answers some of these questions. Nanonic (talk) 08:09, 15 April 2010 (UTC)


 * By 'radios', do you mean receivers or transmitters? I can think of no reason why one would not be allowed to import any receiver of any capability, given that it can have no actively deleterious effects on others (like broadcasting on a reserved frequency), still less one not capable of receiving some available transmissions in an area, which your question seems to imply. One might not however want to commercially import into an area equipment not best suited to receiving the broadcasts there. Most countries seem to have discontinued the requirement for a licence to (just) receive radio (only) broadcasts, though our article Television licence suggests that a few may still retain it.
 * Although there might be some transmissions (e.g. Police), and therefore some frequency bands, that some in authority would prefer not be monitored, in practice it is impractical in the absence of a Police State to forbid equipment with this capability, since it is comparatively easy to construct/adapt. It might well, however, be an offense to disclose what you hear on some frequencies to a third party, as for Police transmissions in the UK, for example.
 * If you meant transmitters, then again ease of construction/adaptation would make such an equipment ban impractical. What would, and for some frequencies is, illicit is actual transmission on certain frequencies without a licence (since one might pre-empt a frequency licenced to someone else, block emergency transmissions, etc).
 * That said, in our current state of terrorist-induced official paranoia, it may be that various governments have recently snuck in new laws without my noticing, so further input is welcome! 87.81.230.195 (talk) 11:31, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Lady Gaga's companions
Who are the "mature" gentlemen with Lady Gaga in image number 5 here? http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/mVtemSUeTx2/Lady+Gaga+at+Buddah+Bar/KEBhrJiYIwN/Lady+Gaga They look rather old and scruffily dressed for bodyguards. I'm wondering if they are her managers or agents. One of them is also in the Lady Gaga Leaves Il Bottaccio set of photos. 92.29.104.157 (talk) 11:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I think they are in fact her bodyguards. See The Sun. ---Sluzzelin talk  11:23, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

The Riftwar Saga
Have any of Raymond E. Feist's books been made into movies or are there any plans to do so? Magician or A Darkness at Sethanon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 15:26, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * (Bluelinks in above q fixed) The answer would appear to be no; none of Mr Feist's books have been filmed, although there have been comic book versions and at least two computer games based on his locations and characters. You can find more information on his official website here, and there's an onsite forum you can join where fans will probably have more information about any films and other derivative works if you ask them.   Ka renjc 17:49, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Futurama intro (re-asking)
I didn't recieve an answer last time, and I'm putting this down to the lateness at which I posted, so I'm asking again. Which episode of Futurama has on the screen before Leela crashes into it the music video to Psyche Rock?-- Editor510  drop us a line, mate  16:14, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Well,you can find a list of screenshots of the bilboard in each episode here. At a glance, I can't see any of them featuring the video. However, presumably you are aware that the theme tune is based heavily on Psyche Rock. 129.234.53.144 (talk) 17:08, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes...and I'm sure one episode shows it. Thank you anyway!-- Editor510  drop us a line, mate  18:18, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Play him off, keyboard cat
In the YouTube meme from a year ago, "Play him off, keyboard cat" (search for it on YouTube if you need the clip; I won't link to any of the videos because they are probably mostly copyvios), what is the music ditty on the organ that the cat plays? Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:12, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * WHAAOE, Keyboard Cat, but it doesn't list the tune. I found several videos to use the keyboard cat theme, and it doesn't sound like anything except "nondescript upbeat keyboard tune".  It could have been written on the spot by the inventor of the meme or the producer of the video.  -- Jayron  32  20:22, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Shouldn't they have used Kitten on the keys ? --Sussexonian (talk) 20:33, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Or the Cat's Fugue? --  202.142.129.66 (talk) 04:49, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * In any event, an improvement to what I got when putting "cat" + "piano" in the search box. No lolcats involved. Ouch! ---Sluzzelin talk  05:02, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm embarassed to not have found Keyboard Cat myself; I lamely attribute this to my impression that Internet memes are usually deleted at AFD here. Thanks for the article link, and ideas on the tune, if it's something beyond what Jayron32 suggested, are still welcome.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 05:08, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Good interview with Charlie Schmidt, creator of the original 1984 cat footage. In this interview, Schmidt says he is the composer of music. Also see Schmidt's website and Keyboard Cat Church. Pepso2 (talk) 18:24, 16 April 2010 (UTC)


 * That settles it, thank you! I was surprised that it's (allegedly) a live recording of a finger-synched performance.  I had assumed the sound had been dubbed afterwards.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:02, 17 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Also see iPad Keyboard Cat. Pepso2 (talk) 20:00, 16 April 2010 (UTC)