Saturday, August 10, 2002

Joke Du Jour Congressmen are refusing to take polygraphs over government security leaks. Of course, there’s an easier way to tell whether or not a politician is lying. Check his pulse or see if his lips are moving. (Sorry I don't know who said it first.) 11:58:53 AM

Broadcast News August 10, 2002 FYI: This is a new section that will appear at least twice a week. It appears Randy Dotinga over at Wired has picked up on my little explanation and expanded on how Clear Channel and other stations are no longer using local DJ's to announce and give local news between songs. The concept called voice tracking is being done by Clear Channel in many of their over 1400 radio stations on the completely computerized Prophet System.  Dotinga also explains how Clear Channel is now standardizing stations. So there are MIX and KISS stations in various locations nationwide. In essence they make a certain station a franchise with the same logo, promos and play list, while using the same DJ in several stations. This must be Clear Channel's secret weapon to XM Radio or why they stopped internet broadcasting stations. The real reason Clear Channel is doing this is has nothing to do with "getting a show perfect, or bringing wonderful talent to their audience." It is simply money. They hire one DJ to record the heads and tails (intros and bumpers,) for a single three to four hour show in an hour. If they propagate some of the same promo materials and commerical reads, from one genre station to another in different cities-- it can be done in less the 45 minutes.  So in essence from a four hour shift a DJ does the same show for playback (as a live show,) for four to six stations-- or an entire group of stations. From where I sit, remote broadcasting also called syndication of shows has been done for years. In talk radio there is Rush, Art Bell, Dr. Laura, and countless others syndicate their shows to a national audience daily. However for 90% of the stations who carry these syndicated shows they are played or replayed within a specific timeframe, as part of their contract, and the audience is well aware they are national shows. No deception-- no harm no foul. But music radio, like what Clear Channel is doing is phony. It's not like Casey Kasem American Top 40 Show, which we all knew was tape, LP or CD. But Clear Channel is deliberately setting out to deceive the listener the programming is local and put your local DJ in the unemployment line. 3:16:20 AM

© Copyright 2002 Mary Wehmeier. Last update: 9/3/02; 2:02:11 AM. Comments by: YACCS