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hitting song posts

B

bobdavcav

Hi all,
My friend was getting tired of hosting her 90s music show, so I've taken it over for a little while. I think the best way to describe that show is 90s CHR meets community radio. We've both heard each other's work, and one thing she does is talk all the way up to the start of the vocals, while I take more of a say what I need to and then shut up and let the music play approach, particularly on songs with longer intros. Is there any convention on this, or does it really depend on the PD?
 
Over the years I've been in broadcasting, I've found that tight talk-ups are NOT an "acquired taste"....
You either appreciate someone's ability to accurately time out their talk right up to the vocal.....
Or....you ,as a listener, just say (or think): "Oh, come on....just shut up and play the %$%$! song!!!"
The biggest Top-40 stations of the 50s and 60s had jocks that raised the "squeaky-tight" talk-up to an art form!!!
To my ear.....I used to think it was AMAZING when I'd hear a DJ seemingly just start rambling about something as a song
was starting.....then finish the gab at the EXACT moment the vocal began!!
Doing tight talk-ups isn't easy......Try it sometime with music you're most familiar with....
Tricky, isn't it??!!
One of our area's outstanding pastry/cake decorators used to do a segment on TV.....he could frost and decorate a 3-tier wedding cake in less than 10 minutes --- under time pressure and hot lights!!
He MADE it LOOK easy.....
Bottom line.....if it LOOKS easy, it's likely NOT!!
Skill takes PRACTICE --- and TIME!!;)
 
For sure. I've thought on occasion listening to both her shows and professional jocks doing long talk ups that they would talk all over the vocals, only to time it just perfectly. I've been surprised how close I come without even monitoring the song I'm talking up a lot of the time, though there was one break I had to redo last night because I was talking up a song with a shorter than typical intro.
 
The real issue is that the role of the DJ or "host" has changed. In reality, people don't use radio for human contact and engagement any longer as there are far too many ways to engage in direct conversation or dialogue.

In the 60's and 70's, there were no toll-free long distance calls. No Internet. No cellular phones. Just a few channels if your area had cable, and even fewer if it was just over the air TV. Compare that with today.

A person talking over the songs that you wanted to hear full and intact is mostly an irritant. The idea of "your friends on the radio" is long gone, and even morning shows are more like the Late Night CBS-ABC-NBC talk shows, not a host chatting to the listener.

"Why don't they shut up and play the f---ing song?" is not an uncommon comment in perceptual research that is open ended. I've even heard people tell us that they sometimes yell "STFU" at their radio or device when the jock talks too much, or over the "sweet part" of an intro.
 
semoochie said:
I would think that before automation, having to do everything yourself would get the adrenaline pumping and make it easier.
Click to expand...

Then you haven't heard some of the best in the business blow it. And they did.

Bobby Ocean was among the few that I never heard miss. When I had lunch with him back in 1998, I asked him what his secret was---expecting to be let in on some element of rhythm or to have it confirmed that Osh, as I suspected, actually operated on a plane higher than mere mortals. He looked down at his salad and said...

"um....I used a stopwatch."

Today's voice tracking systems make it so that you can hit every post, every time. But the question asked by the original poster was----should you?
 
Last edited:
DavidEduardo said:
The real issue is that the role of the DJ or "host" has changed. In reality, people don't use radio for human contact and engagement any longer as there are far too many ways to engage in direct conversation or dialogue.

In the 60's and 70's, there were no toll-free long distance calls. No Internet. No cellular phones. Just a few channels if your area had cable, and even fewer if it was just over the air TV. Compare that with today.

A person talking over the songs that you wanted to hear full and intact is mostly an irritant. The idea of "your friends on the radio" is long gone, and even morning shows are more like the Late Night CBS-ABC-NBC talk shows, not a host chatting to the listener.

"Why don't they shut up and play the f---ing song?" is not an uncommon comment in perceptual research that is open ended. I've even heard people tell us that they sometimes yell "STFU" at their radio or device when the jock talks too much, or over the "sweet part" of an intro.
Click to expand...


All true. If you're going to do it today, you have to be exceptional. Not as good as Broadway Bill Lee at WCBS-FM? Don't even try. Listen to Bill hit ALLLLL the posts on this one:

 
TheBigA said:
With today's automation systems, it's VERY easy.
Click to expand...
I learned to do it with 45s... and still spin 45s on my weekly show, hitting the post on almost every record. It's one of the most fun things in the world to do! And boy does it feel good when you absolutely nail one!

I'm sure there are listeners who get annoyed with my post-hitting... but frankly, I find that it often sounds pretty unprofessional when people don't hit the post and do the little stop talking, pause, song starts thing. Yuck. Few things impresses me more than a jock who can really hit the post! Especially jocks from the days of yore, before the digital age.
 
Yeah, those can be a bit awkward, but the program I was using at the time I posted my original question started the track at the exact time the associated song started, so that won't happen unless you're not using that system. Typically though, especially on songs with longer intros, I would finish up my station business and let the rest of the intro play. My friend always tries to go all the way up to when the words start.
 
Gray Lab timers that started with the clock or the turntable. You set the timer to the intro labeled on the record or cart. When you hit "start" the clock started counting down. Worked great.

I have always felt the best jocks were the ones who, if you wanted to hear them they were there. If you didn't want to hear them they, they didn't irritate. Sometimes you felt the jock was just in love with the sound of his voice. There are some I hear today that sound like they are just on their own ego trip.
 
....but seriously, folks.

Hitting all the posts was great when the format was high energy and the audience was caffeinated teenagers.

It's not that anymore. Hasn't been for a long time.

Plus---there's a master of it. A guy who is SO brilliant at it that, frankly, we'd all look silly trying to keep up. Better to do it sparingly, if at all, for the rest of us mere mortals.

Broadway Bill Lee:

 
Just kicked off my lunch time 12 to 2 show and hit the post on "love me do" by the beatles.... i get the feeling my listeners didnt give two craps or even realize what id just done.
 
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