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.
