Who doesn't know about TikTok, Grandma and Grandpa, or Gen-Z?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Computer (voice) as Host/"Talent"
- Thread starter kfbkfb
- Start date
I think you know the answer to that.
There are lots of parents who post to TikTok. Just like Farsebook, those parents will become grandparents. And like Farsebook, when young people have all moved on to something else, what's left?
There is always something new.
But the big change, of course, is the move from mass media to smaller and smaller versions of it.... There is an infinite number of them possible. We're witnessing the demise of mass media as we've known it for the past 100 years or so. With the internet, it's become democratized and fragmented, and that will continue.
And I also see the day approaching where increasing numbers of celebrities will be 100% virtual. It will take a few years to get there, but it will get there.
But the big change, of course, is the move from mass media to smaller and smaller versions of it.... There is an infinite number of them possible. We're witnessing the demise of mass media as we've known it for the past 100 years or so. With the internet, it's become democratized and fragmented, and that will continue.
And I also see the day approaching where increasing numbers of celebrities will be 100% virtual. It will take a few years to get there, but it will get there.
Celebrity has always implied virtual. Madonna has always been virtual to 99% of her fans.
Or do you actually mean a celebrity who is not a real person at all?
A little bit of both, actually. With advancement of computer tech, in the future there may be complete composites and totally fictional characters that will look as real as movie and singing stars presently do.
If you've seen some of the characters in popular video games they're almost to the point of appearing as genuine, real people. It's only a matter of time before completely fabricated singers with completely fabricated voices are singing or rapping and no one will know the difference. Same thing with actors and actresses in movies. The tech isn't quite there yet, but give it time. It would save the studios and recording companies tons of money. No contracts, no salaries, aside from payments to whatever tech engineers they use to build the virtual composites.
Your mentioning of Madonna is interesting, as it does show that whenever there are live performances, real people will still be needed. Madonna may be virtual to 99% of her fans, but over the years enough of them have seen her in live performances.
But movie actors, DJs, TV news anchors and other, similar celebrities generally don't do live performances, and a completely virtual character could fill in rather well.
You mean like ABBA?
Most popular radio personalities aren't DJ's anymore. They're stand alone radio personalities who talk about culture war topics, sex, music, politics, or whatever is making the news cycle today. Somehow I doubt trying to use a synthesized personality would be very effective in the interaction process.
RE: Abba: LOL
RE: the rest: I was referring more to TV shows, newscasts, movies. Not all mass media is that interactive. A lot of it is scripted, like TV shows, movies, and the like. Those things would be easier for synthetic characters to take the place of actual people.
No, I meant ABBA: it's an acronym formed from the first letters of each group member's first name: Agnetha, Björn, Benny, Anni-Frid
They have been running a virtualized concert where they're portrayed as they looked forty years ago:
ABBA Voyage Official Website - 2022 ABBA Concert in London
You probably didn't hear about this on right wing talk radio.
You mentioned DJ's. DJ's are no longer a thing. Radio personalities are, and can't be synthesized.
I don't pay attention to infotainment, no matter which station where it's being broadcast. Infotainment bores me.
Interesting that ABBA is doing exactly what I mentioned.
Voice tracking can be synthesized. Give technology enough time, it will happen.
Apparently so does news about technology.
Yes, it's been happening since 2021.
Not with any personality or inflection. Synthesized voices only repeat back what is entered as data.
Why would I follow what ABBA is doing? If Gojira were doing the same thing, perhaps I'd have known.
As for personality, you're starting to sound like the guys who insist radio would be more popular than TikTok if they had "real DJs", 24/7, all personality, and all live and local. Not all voices on the radio are loaded with personality. A lot of them are merely scripted. There's a station 120 miles north of me where the announcers are reading traffic repot and weather scripts, 24/7, and AI / synth / whatever you want to call it / voices could do the same thing. It's an extreme version of what some radio has become, but it's the future. Just ask Alexa.
Not that I would be in favor of actual people be replaced by bots, even though that is happening in many industries.
People need jobs. Still.
NOAA Weather Radio has been using "AI" voices since the late 1990s. It's only a matter of time until commercial broadcast radio catches up to their lead!
I never said that. What I said was that data entry into a voice/speech synthesizer lacks any sort of inflection or personality. When it gets to the point where there's no further need for voicetracks created by humans, listeners will be content with finding the artist and title of music displayed on their device. Oh wait, that's already there.
And if there are things like Alexa, which answers based on your command, why again would radio need this?
People aren't being hired to just talk up the intro of a song, read liner cards, or read the local weather. They need to have a shtick that translates well to digital and traditional media. That means an entertainer. Max Headroom was the one and only supposed digital entertainer, and he was an actual person anyway.
Radio has shed tons of jobs in just the past 5 years. They're replacing people with automation, and centralization. Once AI voice sounds more real, they'll be using that. It's the trend that much of American business is taking: replacing people with computer AI or bots, and other forms of automation. Automation has been around for years. But American business in general is embracing it all the way. You ever try to get real customer service anywhere? It's just one example of how businesses cut costs, and radio is no exception, being that it is a business.
They are reaching the point where aside from some formats, like all news (how many stations in the US have that?), NPR (much of it national programming), conservative talk and sports talk, the rest of it could be automated. Jack has been automated since it started in the late 90s, and there's no reason other music formats that haven't already gone the same way won't do so in the future. It's not the 1990s anymore. The days of the Morning Zoo are over. GenZ doesn't know what a radio is, and their tastes in what they want from "radio" is different from the Boomers, Jonesers, GenX.
GenZ doesn't care about entertainers on radio. They get that from TikTok. Boomers care about entertainers on radio. GenXers -- probably half of them or more. They're all nearing 50 or over 55.
And yeah, I know there are morning shows on radio that get ratings and bring in revenues. I've read about them here on RD. So I get that. But in 1985 every station had them. Not as many of them have that now.
The all talk formats like sports talk, news talk, on there I agree with you. Can't really replace that with AI, even 30-40 years from now it won't happen in those formats (if those formats still even exist).
No they don't, unless they are infirm and spend their days in bed. You won't find a group of Boomers gathered around the radio listening to Jack Benny - unless they are part of the Far Right morons. They are engaged with their laptops, just like most other people.
'Perfect Paul' is not AI. It creates vocal sounds from text.
AI is Artificial Intelligence. AI means it learns and reacts within certain parameters. Synthesized voice reading some text is not considered AI.
Really? You don't say! And here all this time I thought there were humans pressing buttons and playing the music live.
Duh alert.
You mean like: Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago, New York, and most other major cities?
So, this automation thingy could take phone calls and interact with listeners? That's amazing!
Wow, is that the kind of automation with big reel to reel tape decks??
What about syndicated morning shows like Elliot in the Morning, Howard Stern, and several others? Are they over according to you as well?
Hmm.. My daughter is GenZ, and I rode in her car with the radio playing. Guess she's an outlier eh? Granted, she's looking at her phone constantly, but not when she's driving.
Wait, I thought you just said they were over?
Amazing analysis. Simply amazing.
Sure, they might be just broadcasting Morse code by then!
KellyA, you know a lot about radio tech, but you can't predict the future. The writing is on the wall, American business models are headed towards "AI", and radio is a business. They're getting rid of people and replacing them with computer programs, and although some versions of that has been in place for decades, it's increasing, and voice synthesis will advance and replace people.
You keep reciting the definition of AI used in 1990. I go by the way the term is used in the news media today.
GenZ doesn't, and won't care about someone taking phone calls on the radio, or talk shows. Who listens to talk shows on radio now? -- the demo you keep telling us is dying off.
And as for all news stations, what percentage of stations in the United States are all news?
You keep reciting the definition of AI used in 1990. I go by the way the term is used in the news media today.
GenZ doesn't, and won't care about someone taking phone calls on the radio, or talk shows. Who listens to talk shows on radio now? -- the demo you keep telling us is dying off.
And as for all news stations, what percentage of stations in the United States are all news?
Every comment I see lamenting the demise of "live and local" on radio forums, whether here on RD or on other social media, are posted by Boomers.
- Status