Voice Tracking...

[a_and_m_king]

And sometimes it's just about cheap management wanting as much work as they can get from a person for as little money as they can get away with.

 

[klifhanger]

That pretty well sums it up.

 

[trafficchick]

I will admit that I love voice-tracking, but then again...I worked for Star System in Austin where it all got started. If you can DJ live standing in a room by yourself, you can DJ canned in a room by yourself. Sure phone bits are going to be a hell of a lot more difficult, but with a little imagination, anything is possible.

There is one very large downside to VTing (and satellite automation, for that matter) that no one seems to realize. Without small market stations staying live 24/7, where are we going to "train" the next generation DJ? No one's gonna throw a rookie onto a morning show. No, wait...we are. KHFI in Austin is doing it. Austin radio sucks! There's not a true rock station here! There's not a true country station here either! KROX plays too much 80's & 90's, and KASE (country) plays too much old stuff, too. I thought that's what KVET was for. Please God, give me a frequency, so I can have a radio station of a REAL format here in the ATX. Sorry, I digress...

The other downside to VTing is the lack of talent pool. There are tons of us that can do it, but the "it's not what you know, it's who you know" mentality plays a large role. There are several trackers, that on a well timed trip across the state, you can hear them the entire way.

 

[Alan Freedus]

Depends upon the market, I have friends at several top-10 market stations, many of them are clear channel stations, and even they have no vt-ing. I can always tell when someone is vt'd, there will always be something with the audio levels on the intro's or some tell-tell sign, however I seriously doubt the average listerner can tell at all, and who cares about anyone else.

 

[Musicradio]

Most listeners can't....or don't care to worry about it.

 

[Tookiebird]

There's a reason why at one time the jock shifts were 3 or 4 hours. Any great jock will tell you he gives 300% the first 3 or 4 hours. After that it's difficult to maintain. That's why i hear a lot of boring radio these days from air talent having to do 5, 6 hour shifts including vt'ing other stations, production, etc.

BURN OUT!

 

[smallmarket]

The only downside to VT'ing is the jock isn't live. Whoopty Doo....Those who refuse to embrace VT'ing are only hurting themselves in the long run. It's here, it's not going anywhere, learn to deal with it.

Hey Scott just wanted to report K-Fox is back at number 2 and only 2 points behind KYKS for number one. We actually became a rated market and you can see the complete list on some sites. O yeah and we love syndication and VTing....11.6 12+ love

 

[Musicradio]

If a jock can make some extra money VTing, why not?

 

[the undork]

I agree with trafficchik....and have said the same thing on two other boards..

the universal responses...

1. "You're living back in THE DAY! This is the 21st century! Get used to it!"

2. Consolidation just eliminated people who sucked anyway.

3. It's all Lowry Mays and Bill Gates' fault.

4. Who cares about new talent anyway? Listeners don't care. Bob, Jack, Tom, Dick, Harry, John...and any other anthropomorphizations of formats don't need jocks anyway because the listener doesn't care. Bill is building technology to replace us all anyway.

5. Sure, a (relatively) very small group dominates VT'ing. But it doesn't matter because the listener doesn't care and everyone who isn't them sucks anyway.

My answers...

Correct, "The Day" is over. I agree anyone who can't accept it should go. Anyone who stays but hates it and gripes about it should either just shut up, shut up and do it and cash the paycheck, or go.

Consolidation has been both good and bad and has been discussed to death. Nuff said.

VT'ing is both good and bad, I do a little myself and am always actively seeking more. It is what it is. Bottom line? Like everyone else here, I'm just a squirrel trying to get a nut.

Lack of talent? IMHO, look back 30 years, pre consolidation, pre CC, pre Prophet. It all started when we let the first consultant convince us that all the listeners cared about was the music and we don't matter anyway. It started when the first lazy PD typed up the first liner card. Then, we turned around and shovelled it onto the audience for so long that they REALLY started to believe it. We started tying our own noose right then and there. Bill and Lowry didn't let it happen, we did it to ourselves. Bill and Lowry just took advantage of the situation we created.

As for the VT buddy club; first, any PD who has ever hooked up a buddy or been hooked up, shut up on this, please. Personally, I accept that the buddy club dates all the way back to Marconi, same as it ever was. But stop and think, same as it ever was is what got us here. Do something different or shut up please. Rebuild the training ground, give a new guy or gal or one from a smaller market a chance to VT for you, or please...well you know.

So, if the listener doesn't care, why do we bother at all?

Ok, I'll shut up now.