Voice Tracking Concerns

[John FL]

On average, how far in advance is a show voice tracked? The jock on Sirius XM/80’s @ 8 (PM) show extended well wishes for Clarence Clemmons the other night. Ordinarily, that would be a nice gesture but sadly Mr. Clemmons had already past away earlier on the same day of the broadcast. That was one incident. I know we can all tell of voice tracking horrors and really that shouldn’t be the case. It actually surprised me this show was VT’d. It seems very little is live today.

It raises an interesting question though. If talent is aware they may have misspoke etc., is it common for them to share that concern with a PD for review or edit prior to broadcast? If an artist who is on the playlist suddenly passes away, as an example, does a PD review upcoming voice tracking shows specifically looking out for comments when that artist is featured to avoid an embarrassing moment or misstep?

I’m not sure of the answers. Even though radio hardly resembles what it once was, I would still think loosing credibility with listeners with something improper or inappropriate is a costly price to pay and it should be avoided whenever possible.

I wonder too if today’s PD’s keep remote/out of town VT talent in the loop regarding unusual or unique community events, such as all the smoke in the air in Jax. Radio seems to have written off middays. A program I usually listen to is voice tracked middays but it seems disconnected from reality. I’m practically choking to death where I live and not a word on the radio unless I listen in AM or PM drive only - a more revenue-worthy time of day.

Maybe it’s just me but VT programs tend to be very generic and vanilla. I would think the further away from airtime you go, the less topical the presentation becomes. Probably the main reason VT hosts never bring up anything in the news because things can change on a dime. So it's the usual and safe concert mention when that artist's song airs. Today, I guess none of this really matters with automation kicking butt most times.

Funny thing about PPM, there's all this data that shows how much time the talent speaks and everyone is in a pissing contest to talk the least. Maybe we should be listening for a little more relevance too. I'm just sayin'......

 

[TommyR]

What I learned from listening to several Westwood One/Dial Global 24 hour music networks through the years is this: If you can't be local, at least be topical and informative! For example, I learned so much about rock from listening to Big 106.5 in its off hours (not that Randy Clemens and Steve Fox weren't educational, but they were local and that's not the point). The jocks in California couldn't talk about anything that wasn't appealing to listeners from Jacksonville to Juneau all at once, so for the most part, they talked about the MUSIC, or at least inoffensive kicker material (if you're Frazer Smith). How novel--but by necessity. Nowadays VT jocks don't even backsell that much!

As for 80's on 8, that is the most abysmal attempt at "radio" I've heard since some of the brokered shows on Talk Radio 970. The mere fact that as long as I've been listening, the jocks often get drowned out by the music while talking up the post tells me that nobody at Sirius listens to that channel with any sort of critical ear. Not to mention the "fingernails on a chalkboard" imaging, and numerous other things that have turned me off so many times through the years. 102.9 The Point at its absolute worst was far more tolerable than 8.

 

[1250wg-al]

And tons of us out of work radio people are in tears. Just one big juke box and noise for the office.