Good Morning (Your Town Here)

from the who-needs-a-local-DJ dept

The second in Wired's series on Clear Channel's way of redefining music talks about how their DJs record shows used in many different locations as if they were the local DJ. They keep up on the local news by reading local papers online, and use "voice tracking" technology to record five hour shows in 45 minutes (the DJ just has to record the voice parts, and the computer puts in all the rest - the music, the promos, the commercials, etc.). Of course, not actually being local causes some noticeable mistakes - confusing towns, mispronunciations and such things. It also means that almost no one has to really be at any particular radio station - leading to problems such as a number of radio stations that kept playing music for four hours on the morning of September 11. The story doesn't go into nearly as much detail as the one we posted earlier this year about a Clear Channel DJ broadcasting out of San Diego, but pretending to be in Boise (sadly, no longer online at the original link, but - thank you Google - it wasn't so hard to find a copy), but it still reinforces a number of the ethical questions it raises.