I hate radio "fast-talk"

[Franklin]

Top-40 deejays have been doing “framing” for as long as I can remember. They were doing it back in the 1950s and ’60s, long before the internet, digital audio and file-sharing. But the trick was to talk right up to the moment the vocals start. “Stepping on” the singer(s) was considered unprofessional and bad form.

It still is.

Clever framing is what made the DJ's reputation. I kinda liked it. But yeah, it's very bad form to have the patter spill over onto the vocals. I don't mind framing at the end of the song, either, as long as they didn't cut the tune short.

This discussion reminds me of the Tom Petty song, "The Last DJ". If you grew up with it, you miss it, now. If not, you probably hate it. It was part of listening to the radio.

 

[Trekker4747]

You know the kind... you're listening to the radio, and then a commercial for some kind of legal or credit service comes on, and at the end, the narrator totally speeds up his pacing so that the speech is incredibly fast, like an auction caller, to convey the "fine print" text of the ad through voice.

I absolutely HATE this now... it is just so frakking irritating. As soon as I begin to hear that, I just switch the station on the radio, because I find it so incredibly annoying. Does anyone else find this as annoying? Okay, rant over.

Well, it's obviously done because 30-seconds of air time is really expensive and you've got to cram all of this stuff in -as well as your ad- so it doesn't bother me because I know the "why" of it.

On the other hand I'm more annoyed when they repeat the phone-number several times in a row.

"Just call 555-1234, 555-1234, remember that's 5. 5. 5. 12. 34. Call today! 555-1234!"

 

[Franklin]

"Just call 555-1234, 555-1234, remember that's 5. 5. 5. 12. 34. Call today! 555-1234!"

I'm sorry. I didn't get that number. Will you please repeat it one more time?

(And don't forget, operators are standing by. This is a free call. Offer void in Nebraska. Residents of California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Wisconsin must pay appropriate state taxes.)

 

[RoJoHen]

"Just call 555-1234, 555-1234, remember that's 5. 5. 5. 12. 34. Call today! 555-1234!"

My problem with this is when they don't give me the area code. I have always lived in places where you can drive 5 minutes down the road and suddenly be in a different area code. If I don't know exactly where the radio station is, which I usually don't, those 7 numbers don't do me any good.

 

[tharpdevenport]

They have commercials, I'veh eard a few, were they actually speed up the person by a tad, to make him talk faster. What's the point of even saying all that if no one can remember a word, is goes by so fast? It's babel. You're busy driving, maybe pressing a cellphone or something and by the time you realize that's being said and pay attention, it's over.

 

[scotpens]

They have commercials, I'veh eard a few, were they actually speed up the person by a tad, to make him talk faster. What's the point of even saying all that if no one can remember a word, is goes by so fast?

Subliminal advertising?

 

[Trekker4747]

"Just call 555-1234, 555-1234, remember that's 5. 5. 5. 12. 34. Call today! 555-1234!"

My problem with this is when they don't give me the area code. I have always lived in places where you can drive 5 minutes down the road and suddenly be in a different area code. If I don't know exactly where the radio station is, which I usually don't, those 7 numbers don't do me any good.

If you're in an area with 10-digit dialing then they should give you the area code, yeah. In my area we have 10-digit dialing but the radio stations don't give the area code because they've bought both numbers so it doesn't matter. I'd presume this is the same in your area. If a business is doing it they probably have either done the same thing or assume you can infer from the address what the area code should be. But, as I said, I live in area with only two major area codes on local radio so knowing what business is in Missouri and what business is in Kansas is easier to tell from the address than it might be in an area like say L.A. or NYC.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

What's the point of even saying all that if no one can remember a word, is goes by so fast?

You're supposed to hear it over and over again until it's nested in your subconsciousness and you start dreaming about it.

 

[scotpens]

If you're in an area with 10-digit dialing then they should give you the area code, yeah. In my area we have 10-digit dialing but the radio stations don't give the area code because they've bought both numbers so it doesn't matter.

Doesn’t the entire United States have 10-digit dialing now?

 

[tharpdevenport]

I was talking about the legal mumbojumpbo at the end. The advertising, yeah -- I get what they're doing. Thought I usuallky curse and turn down the radio in pure disgust.

 

[B.J.]

Doesn’t the entire United States have 10-digit dialing now?

Doubtful. My own area only made it a requirement within the last couple of months. I'm sure some of the more sparsely populated areas still only need 7 digits.

 

[tharpdevenport]

As far as I know, as long as you are calling from with an area that is not long distance, you only have to dial seven numbers. If you dial a long distance, you got to use the area code for that number.

 

[B.J.]

^Nope. For a "10-digit" area, even if you're just calling your next-door neighbor, you still need all 10 numbers.

 

[melancholymecha]

you know what i find hilarous is drug ads on tv. With that list of horrendous & even life threatening side effects that the announcer will list while you watch images of smiling happy families/people frollicking with new agey happy music in the background.

 

[Trekker4747]

As far as I know, as long as you are calling from with an area that is not long distance, you only have to dial seven numbers. If you dial a long distance, you got to use the area code for that number.

Some areas have "10-Digit Dialing" where you dial all 10-digits of a phone number to reach someone, usually only if you're calling outside your area code. This happens when the pool of phone numbers grows shallower and shallower with the increase of population and especially in cases where businesses might have multiple phone-numbers or a single person and their home may have multiple phone numbers, not to mention cell phones.

Here you dial 10-digits if you're calling a number in Downtown Kansas City/on the Missouri side of the city but only seven digits if you're calling a Kansas-side number. (Or vice versa if you live in Missouri.) Both would be a local call but making 10-digit dialing allowed both sides to have a deeper pool of numbers to give out. 913-555-1234 and 816-555-1234 can reach two different people depending on how you dial the number and where you live, both would be a local call.

In places like New York City there's probably a half-dozen or so area codes in the city of over 10 million 10-digit local-call dialing is an every-day fact of life. (Given that a single area code can only support 1 million numbers at the very most, less considering a number like "999-9999" isn't likely given out and no numbers beginning in 1 or 0 is given out.)

 

[tharpdevenport]

Yes, outside your area code is considered long distance. There are areas in my county that are long distance. Same area code though.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Just let me listen to the music dammit!

We would but surveys show that people listening to the radio would rather hear a human voice from time to time.

Not me. Just play the music.

If you have to have a DJ on there to talk, have him or her give the station identification and the name of the upcoming song/artist, and then shut the hell up.

Something else I don't get is why so many stations have nothing but wall-to-wall talk on in the mornings. When I'm driving to work, I just want to hear some enjoyable music to help get me in the mood to deal with my day, not a bunch of morons laughing their asses off (usually rather forced laughter too, I might add) at meaningless crap.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yes, outside your area code is considered long distance. There are areas in my county that are long distance. Same area code though.

And there are many areas inside my neighboring area code that are considered local calls and are charged as such (that is, not at all.) The fringes of my area code and the neighboring area code, sure, are long distance. But long distance vs. local isn't based on area code it's based on your area and the phone service. Any call within my metro area to another phone inside the metro area is a local call even though for the Missouri side I'd have to dial the area code.

 

[tharpdevenport]

It's a quibble on my part. Roughly speaking, without thinking about it more, same area code, not a HUGE area that code cover, it should all be local calling.

 

[BolianAuthor]

You know the kind... you're listening to the radio, and then a commercial for some kind of legal or credit service comes on, and at the end, the narrator totally speeds up his pacing so that the speech is incredibly fast, like an auction caller, to convey the "fine print" text of the ad through voice.

I absolutely HATE this now... it is just so frakking irritating. As soon as I begin to hear that, I just switch the station on the radio, because I find it so incredibly annoying. Does anyone else find this as annoying? Okay, rant over.

Well, it's obviously done because 30-seconds of air time is really expensive and you've got to cram all of this stuff in -as well as your ad- so it doesn't bother me because I know the "why" of it.

On the other hand I'm more annoyed when they repeat the phone-number several times in a row.

"Just call 555-1234, 555-1234, remember that's 5. 5. 5. 12. 34. Call today! 555-1234!"

Yeah, this IS royally annoying... especially when they actually raise the volume level in the commercial AS they constantly repeat the phone number, as if you can't hear them.