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Sirens in Songs & Commercials

R

RoddyFreeman

So I know the song Breakeven by the Script has a siren in it. But I still react by perking up and looking for an emergency vehicle. I also react that way to commercials with horns or sirens in them.

Is putting a siren or horns into a song or commercial a smart way to get attention? Or should it be banned for safety reasons?
 
I think they should be banned, especially ones with the screeching brake sounds. I always think I'm about to die when I hear those.
 
My mom used to do that a few years ago - when I used to play my CASSETTE TAPE mixes with those types of sounds in them. Now I've caught myself doing it....!!! Uh oh, combine that with the fact that the songs I had in those mixes are now being played as old school and that's a sign that... well, I'll just say, I'm not getting any younger! Geezus! Why must we grow up and get older in this world?

Anyway, I have no real opinion on those sounds, good or bad. I just wonder how many accidents were in reality caused by any of those sounds that we are completely unaware of, due to the causes being blamed on other more sensible things for more credibility?
 
From a free-speech point, I say no ban.

But as a listener, I'd change the station if I heard sirens on the air.

Therefore, as armchair PD, I would just 86 sirens unilaterally to keep from annoying listeners.
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
R. Dean Taylor checks in with an emphatic NO vote on a ban...
Click to expand...

And he gets a supporting vote from Beyonce, who said, "Ring the alarm," as well as Lil' Wayne, aka "Fireman." In a joint statement, they added: "I heard my mama cried/I heard her pray the night Chicago died..."
 
Waaaay back when, when radio stations adhered to 'good broadcast practices', there was some un-written rule that you didn't use sirens and the like in spots. Of course, this was also when you did not - for any reason - play two female artists back to back. Am I dating myself?
 
Wasn't unwritten, although it was un-written (deleted) in 1983. Prohibited sirens and other warning-type noises.

IIRC, FCC rule 73.4240 was one of those high-number, "back of the rulebook" responses to specific questions or other Commission findings that by inclusion became an FCC "rule". Reading those, as well as the rest of the FCC rule book, was a pretty complete lesson in broadcasting, technology and the law.

Then again, that was way-back when we had those "book" things...
 
Then there is the Amber Alert - and, additionally, stations that abuse it.

I didn't hear it, but I read on another board a listener account that on Wednesday, WINS/New York had played the Amber Alert sounder long after the child who had been missing was located - only to promote the fact that they would be doing a story on the no-longer-missing child.
 
While out in Vegas for the NAB, the one CHR I heard had what sounded like EAS Header data sounds in one of their station promos...crazy!
 
Bored Op came close. Sirens on-air used to be against Code. NAB Code. When there was a Code. When there was an NAB. Responsible operators didn't cause accidents. That's over.

Date yourself? Bloodrock's "D.O.A." had a siren in it. The record guys were scared to death it wouldn't get played. I think they had a version that was siren-free. It topped out at #21 in Billboard in 1971.

Sirens are cheese-ball. Unprofessional. Long ago, agency research discovered the #1-attention getting sounds, and they haven't changed. Women: The Wedding March. Men: Sirens.

We used to attract audience and sell clients wares through creativity, humor or a unique approach. It distanced us from TV, which couldn't turn on a dime, be creative, funny or unique.

It would work right now if there was just someone left in the building.
 
Personally, I kinda like sirens in songs & commercials but I much rather look at them!
 
DToTheJ said:
Then there is the Amber Alert - and, additionally, stations that abuse it.

I didn't hear it, but I read on another board a listener account that on Wednesday, WINS/New York had played the Amber Alert sounder long after the child who had been missing was located - only to promote the fact that they would be doing a story on the no-longer-missing child.
Click to expand...

The Amber Alert sounder is the most blood-curdling siren I've ever heard. Somebody at WINS ought to lose their job for using it in a promo.
 
I ran a spot many years ago using the old Star Trek red alert SFX and was told to pull it. I guess when people heard it they all ran to the bridge and prepared for a Klingon attack.
 
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