[joe-frank-list] WBEZ

Justin Kempton justin at kempton.com
Tue Jul 11 19:46:27 PDT 2006


Text to speech technology has come a long way in recent years, perhaps WBEZ can look into creating a database driven text announcement message. I know with the proper filtering, a smokey yet subtle ironic yet lyrical voice can be achieved. just a thought.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: SpringyStepps at aol.com
> To: joe-frank-list at armory.com
> Subject: Re: [joe-frank-list] WBEZ
> Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 21:33:17 EDT
> 
> 
> 
> I understand the WBEZ practice in the sense that most
> radio shows  make a point of introducing themselves
> within the show. Le Show does  this.
> 
> In another sense, what a daunting task it would be to
> create an  introduction to a Joe Frank episode! I don't
> think WBEZ talent is up to the  task.
> 
> Can you imagine the pressure that falls on the staffer
> who has  to introduce Joe Frank, who typically just
> dives right into his material?  Knowing that Frank's
> voice is rich and practiced, you'd have to be  a
> gifted, experienced announcer to pull off an
> introduction that sounds  right.
> 
> You certainly don't want to introduce the show in the
> voice of  Porgy Tirebiter.
> 
> And if you are female and know what's coming up  next,
> how do you approach an introduction? Do you use a
> voice like the See  Clearly Method actress? Certainly
> you couldn't use your common voice, could  you?
> 
> So, at WBEZ they scrambled around looking for the
> person with the  voice that can do justice by way of
> introducing Joe Frank. And their search  yielded the
> only person on staff, the afternoon janitor, Raul,
> whose voice  had just the right timbre and damage from
> smoking. They sat him in front of  the mic and had him
> cut demo disks. Trouble was, he just couldn't get  to
> the level of the accent-free announcement that
> English-only radio  requires.
> 
> So, they fired him and started their current practice.
> As a  result, Raul now introduces Jose Franco episodes
> at the local  Spanish-language station, to quite some
> success.
> 
> Either that, or the  station is just a tape-loading
> robot that tirelessly works through the  day's
> playlist, and annoucements are mailed in from  NYC.
> 
> Robert
> 
> 
> 
> Not looking for introductions, just a short identifier. WBEZ always
> announced the name of the show before it started, to the effect of "up next, 
> Joe
> Frank.  Tonight's program is  xxxx."  Simple, all of 4  seconds or so, 
> providing a
> nice reference for those of us making note of  the program perhaps to order
> them off his website, etc.  About 4 or 5  weeks ago they stopped offering that
> simple  courtesy.
> 
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