For those of you watching the early morning news on Channel 3 this morning, you may have noticed some "technical difficulties" as we say in the broadcast industry. Our main control room news switcher locked up completely at 6:30 a.m., bringing the entire show to a screeching halt. As computers overtake our lives in the broadcasting industry more and more, we [mortals] find ourselves at their mercy when something goes wrong. Most of the time, mistakes you see on the air are a result of human error. I push a wrong button and something ugly gets on the air that is quite unexpected - and at times humorous (News Director never think this though). In the good ole days, switchers were much less complicated than they are today. Our Sony HD switcher uses software that practically controls everything that happens on the air. The Directors (who also switch their own newscasts now at WKYC), still physically push buttons to take sources to air, but each of those buttons are software contr...