A Loyal Reader Writes:
“I’d like to suggest a blog topic for you: ‘Industry jargon on the air.’
“Maybe I’ve got a touch of OCD, but this is a huge pet peeve of mine. I cringe when I hear a jock say, ‘Listen for the drag race sounder.’ My mind wanders when someone says, ‘Here’s a PSA,’ since that’s a test my doctor runs on me now that I’m over 40. And I shiver when I hear jocks say, ‘We’ll be doing a remote at…’ To most listeners, a ‘remote’ is what they use to change channels on their TV or the thing that opens their garage door. These aren’t even the best examples.
“Log, segue, promo, stopset, pot, board, etc. The list goes on.
“Have we forgotten what it’s like to be a listener? Do we not realize that these terms have no meaning — or a radically different meaning — to most of the people to whom we’re talking?
“I once heard a jock use the ‘Listen for the drag race sounder’ line above on the station I was programming. I asked him not to phrase it that way again, as the vast majority of our listeners had never worked in radio and don’t know what he means when he says ‘sounder,’ because it’s an industry term. He looked at me as if I’d grown a slightly smaller second head, took about 10 seconds to form his thoughts, and replied with as much sarcasm as he could muster, ‘Well, what do I tell ’em to listen for? Do you want me to tell them to ‘listen for the sound of the drag race??’
“When I replied ‘Sure, because that’s how they’d describe it to a friend, and they’re sure to understand it,’ he was incredulous.
” ‘You’re over-thinking it,’ was his reply, ‘If they’re interested, they’ll take the time to figure it out or they’ll look it up.’
“Unless it’s something REALLY compelling, I can’t fathom listeners taking time to Google what we say in every break — and that’s honestly how often I hear jargon on some stations. If they don’t immediately understand it and they’re not motivated to sit and think about it or to do an online search to see in what context we used a word or phrase, what good has it done for us to have even said it? We’ve wasted our time AND theirs. Worse, we may have made them feel excluded.
“Is it just me, or is making your listeners feel excluded a not-so-smart way to do radio?”
Usually radio jargon that many listeners won’t understand is foolish.
The most commonly known radio expression probably is “PSA.” Perhaps 15% of listeners would know that’s an abbreviation for “Public Service Announcement.” Jocks who refer to a PSA, therefore, are using a term that probably means nothing to 85% of their listeners.
I do hear radio people refer on-air to “doing a remote at….” Dumb, dumb, dumb. Perhaps they mean “a personal appearance, broadcasting live from…”?
Some radio people might defend the use of such “inside” verbiage as “breaking the fourth wall” — letting listeners see what goes on behind the scenes. For the right show and performer(s), breaking the fourth wall is good. But that’s not how you do it.
Jocks who say “doing a remote” or “after this PSA” are distancing themselves from their listeners.
They might as well say, “I’ll talk up this vocal now, then backsell the song, give our new positioning liner and jingle into a music sweep, during which I’ll run into the production room and record the new tag for that stupid restaurant trade spot we’ve got to do a make-good on.”
Jocks who believe “If they’re interested, they’ll take the time to figure it out or they’ll look it up” don’t understand audiences, don’t understand radio, and vastly overestimate their own importance in the lives of the station’s listeners.
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So so true. How many times do you hear TV news anchors apologising for lost inserts? Oh! by the way…what’s Google?
Back when I was a part timer, I had a PD that scolded me for using insider talk. I thought he was nuts, but later the same day I was with my sister and was telling her the story, trying to show how out of touch my PD was, and when I used to insider talk she said, ‘what’s a PSA?’ Oh. Boss 1 James 0.
On a tangent to this topic, I’ve always despised the use of “broadcasting live” for a couple of reasons. First, “live” is redundant. Better to say “broadcasting from” or “appearing at.”
Second, the appeal “broadcasting live from” somewhere is an anachronism. In 1964, it was a big deal to see a personality live behind a mic. But for the past 30 years or so there’s been no novelty or thrill to seeing a jock at a car dealer or lumberyard. Who’s impressed by it, really?
Nick Summers
Palm Springs, CA
I agree with Nick… that phrase has bugged me forever. If you’re not ‘live on location,’ what are you, ‘dead on location?’ I know society can be morbid, I’m pretty confident I don’t want to go see a dead personality promoting a car dealership.
Tim Day
Red Deer, Alberta
What’s a “jock” or “DJ”?
I have alternate words for most of those while I am on the air.
If anything that I need to talk about refers to any working part of the station, whether its automation, traffic, log editor, skimmer the text interface my sound board, callers, the phones. I always refer to those as “the stupid computer”
We need to remember that guy we know that gets all jargon-laden when he talks about work and how annoying that guy is… Don’t be that guy.
I have to agree that jock or DJ is an insider term. If you must use a label, announcer or personality seems to be a better fit. Besides, who jockeys disks anymore?
Been guilty of all the above in the past. Always tried to turn ANY industry-speak into terms the listener could understand and even got scolded by PDs for it. What a wacky biz radio iz! 🙂
My own pet peeve is “Meet & Greet,” not only because of the insider nature but the cynicism the term implies. I don’t see it as a jock term; where I worked, it came straight from the people who was writing the promos.
ick, bad grammar. who = were.
“At the top of the hour” and “during the 9 o’clock hour” have always bugged me.
I kind of get where a couple of you are coming from when you say that “jock” and “DJ” are insider terms, but I partially disagree.
I absolutely agree that “jock,” as used in the context of the letter above & Dan’s reply to it, is jargon. However, the letter and Dan’s reply are also targeted at an audience that will understand the context & the intended meaning of the word. “KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE” = brilliantly simple advice.
I disagree that “DJ” is a jargon or an insider term, at least not in the U.S. Ask 100 people who aren’t/haven’t ever been in the radio business what they call someone who talks on the radio & I’ll bet you good money that more than 90 of them say “DJ,” — EVEN if the person is a talk radio host. DJ is such an iconic term that the meaning behind the initials doesn’t matter to the average listener anymore — if you’re on the radio, you’re a DJ. Personally, I hate the term — I think it’s a little too “cutesy” and doesn’t come anywhere near describing everything we do, but it’s what people have called us for years, it’s what their parents called us, etc. I think WE are the ones who decided we wanted to be called “Personalities” or “Announcers,” but the listeners never caught on. We’re DJs.
Having said that, I can’t imagine too many instances where you’d need to say “DJ” on the air. If you’re talking about another DJ, you should use their name. If you’re talking about the entire staff, why wouldn’t you say “the entire staff,” or “all of us,” or just a plain old “everybody?”
Got so busy with my “DJ” diatribe that I forgot to say, I **LOVE** the “stupid computer” story above. Brilliant example of taking something we’d normally use jargon to describe to each other & saying it in a way to which anyone/everyone can relate. Kudos to Tad Shackles!
Taking this a step further, it’s easy to tell when your competition picks up the phone to grab intel from you posing as a listener when they ask, “What rotation do you have ______ in? I keep missing it on the air”, or, “I hear you guys are changing format to CHR”. Just two examples, and it happens more than you know.
At least in North America, “DJ” is a part of the general lexicon. I wouldn’t it to be jargon.
@Mary Brace: Absolutely. And you nailed it with the word “cynicism.” “Meet & Greet” is a task for the radio personnel. For the audience, it’s supposed to be an exciting opportunity to meet a celebrity.
@Devils Advocate: I agree.
Civilians refer to us as DJs.
Personally, I never liked the term in reference to myself. But I had no objective reason; I just didn’t care for it. I preferred to be referred to as a “jock” (again, for no objective reason).
Worst for me was being referred to in print as a “DeeJay,” which I found more objectionable than “DJ.”
I also never liked being referred to as an “announcer.” Once again, purely my own subjective response. To me, “announcer” implies someone who reads words into a microphone, period.
Meanwhile, some people object to “jock” and prefer “air personality” or “radio personality.” To civilians, I’d prefer to myself as a radio personality, not as a jock.
Others hate all of the above and prefer “host.”
But if listeners think of us as DJs, then from their frame of reference, that’s what we are.
If Loyal Reader has a touch of OCD, then so do I, because I also can’t stand the majority of those terms listed. My wife is always a good one for “reality checks.” We’ve been married 12 years and together 6 years before that, but when I come home from work talking about things like “promos, liners, sweepers, etc.” she gets that glassy-eyed look. And I have to remind myself that just because she’s married to a radio guy, she’s not immersed in my world 8-12 hours a day! (just like the other listeners)
As far as substitutions for “remote,” I don’t think you need to say “live broadcast,” “personal appearance,” or anything like that. It can be as simple as, “Hi, this is [jock] and I’ll be at XYZ car dealership this Saturday from 2 to 4, with free hot dogs and all the other piddly crap that’s supposed to draw you in.”
And I agree with Dan that “DJ” wouldn’t qualify as “industry jargon” – the general public may not know that it stands for “disc jockey” but they know the DJ is the person on the radio playing the music. I’ll never forget, after getting hired for my first radio gig, when I told a friend of mine that I was working as a jock. I was met with stunned silence…because I’m not good at sports! And, like most people who hear the word “jock,” he thought “athlete.” It was after I told him I was a DJ that he understood.
Expecting your listeners to ‘look up’ a word or term is pretty arrogant and more then a little foolish. After all, if your listener doesnt understand your break(sorry for the industry term:)) then you have failed at your job.
One I‘m hearing more and more is “so and so‘s new record ‘drops‘ next week“…never mind calling it a ‘record‘ anymore.
Brooksie
Lethbridge, Alberta
lol. This has drove me CRAZY forever… there’s a station in our area that always does the, “listen for the sounder”… lol. Nobody knows what that word even means
Pet peeve time? How about ….
“…… with the temperature SITTING at ……”
(I hear this on TV too)
Not really industry jargon, but a ridiculously stupid thing to say about the temperature. How about changing it to — “with the temperature SQUATTING at……”