Favorite On Air Cliche's

[robgrayson]

The following "do not say's" come from the RKO General "General Instructions" memo, dated May 7, 1976 (a couple of months before I started at WHBQ):

Do not end sentences with prepositions
Don't talk about technical difficulties on the air
Never refer to your show as being "your job"
No off-color remarks will be permitted - You may be heard at the dinner table!
Avoid negatives - it wastes your creativity
Never use the word "program" - Avoid "show" if possible
Never "thanks for listening to me"
Never use phrases like "sitting in" or "standing in"
Avoid words like "incidentally, now, here, here at, or by the way"
Avoid using tired phrases like "late and great" or "John Paul George and Ringo"
"Friday is payday" or "T.G.I.F" are yesterday's radio
Never say "all of you", "everybody", "any of you"
Avoid hip phrases like "man", "boogie", "far out", "dynamite", etc.

Far out...

 

[DeadElvis]

Those are all pretty good, Rob.

And, remember... a preposition is a word you should not end a sentence with.

DE

 

[firepoint525]

I like Rob's list, and it is especially good, considering that it is from 1976, thus predating political correctness.

In a similar vein to that Friday thing, I would also avoid referring to Wednesdays as "hump day," or saying that it's all downhill from there.

And in addition to that "John, Paul, George, & Ringo" thing, I would avoid referring to Bruce Springsteen as "the boss." Seems like a lot of relatively new djs do that.

I like the rule against ending sentences with prepositions, but that rule is not set in stone. Obviously, you want to avoid saying "do you know where you're going to?" (hmm, wasn't Diana Ross' "Mahogany" a hit earlier in '76? ;D) or asking where something is at, because those prepositions are redundant. But I don't see anything wrong with "what are you talking about?" because to ask "about what are you talking?" seems too formal for me.