Performing Personality by Crider David;

Author:Crider, David;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Institutional Talk

The term “voicetracking” is one example of institutional talk (Holstein and Gubrium 2000, 154) that exists only within radio. Such terms are part of the discourse of being a radio announcer. It is within this discursive framework that an announcer must craft a performance. “Donut” (the 10-second space in a jingle where a DJ can speak) is another example. If the announcer fits his or her talk in perfectly before the vocals begin on a song, then he or she “hit the post,” and it is a point of pride among DJs to hit the post consistently. The audio that an announcer hears over a remote connection to the station is called the “mix-minus.” The schedule of elements to which an announcer must adhere each hour is called the “clock.”

Baseball announcers must invoke the discourse of baseball when they describe the game on the air, making it a second kind of institutional talk to which they must conform. Chris and Rick used phrases such as “fires a seed to first” to describe a hurried throw, “crooked number” to describe two or more runs on the scoreboard, “slab” to describe the pitching rubber, and “smokes,” “tees off,” and “hit on the screws” to describe a particularly hard-hit ball.

Another form of institutional talk comes from the language of broadcast journalism. As part of his news script, Brian must write headlines and teases. The difference between the two terms is in the timing: Headlines are read right before the top of every hour, and they preview the entire hour. Teases are read before commercial breaks or other elements to let the listener know what is coming up immediately afterward. When Brian and Bob James anchored together, they called the sound effect that prefaced a live report a “whoosh.” Bob told Brian that he would give the weather forecast and cue Brian by saying, “I’ll weatherize you.”

Other announcers exchange technical terms and terms specific to the formatics of their specific stations. For example, Delyte told her intern that there are “red liners” and “blue liners” that she read between songs, depending on what her program log says. The program log used by Laura Donaldson and George Brooks at FM University has shorthand directions like “LV” for a live read, or “R” for a recorded underwriter. The names of software programs are tossed around without explanation because every team member should know what they are and what they do. For instance, Drew casually refers to RDS, the software that allows drivers to see the names of artists and songs on their car radios. At one point, a frustrated Ali said to me, “(Drew) talks like a doctor when it comes to radio.”

Part of the institutional discourse of radio comes from the FCC-mandated standards against indecent content. In order to make a point without using the actual offending words, announcers have to do a linguistic dance of sorts, selecting or inventing terms or double entendres to stand in for what they are not allowed to say.

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