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Indeed it does! There is an example of a peticular network that has a networked jock that reads straight off Breaky Bits, but obviously not before he opens the mic. Its delivered porley, and you can tell its just being read. There is also a breakfast jocks that just use the info straight from the sheets, not thinking of how that info can be used to segue the next feature or track. Is this lazyness or the sign of the times with less staff and multi-tasking in bigger networks??
I think the main reason people choose this in regional areas is simply because of multi-tasking, we just don't have the time to sit around reading the paper and writing bits.
When you have a couple of jobs to do and limited time to do it then using pre-made showprep material is the best option.
It's all about time. Sure if all you have to do is go on air then using supplied show prep material is a bit dodgy.
Here's another thing......most stations don't want you doing bits unless you're on breakfast, simple.
Really, It all comes down to delivery. Whether it is or not your own material is irrelevant. As Jamie said earlier, it's what you do with the material that makes it either good or bad radio, make it sound off-the-cuff and spontaneous even if it is prep straight off the internet. Always rehearse and/or rewrite it if you don't feel comfortable with the copy. If you sound like you're reading the material word-for-word, sorry, you're not a communicator! (and that's what radio is..... communicating with your audience). As for those blaming multi-skilling and 'not enough time'. Make the time! Your station, audience and advertisers deserve more than a half-baked effort.
As a show prep provider, I tend to agree with the approach taken by those jocks who use what appeals to them out of the prep sheets, adding their own twist to it. Any gags supplied with it, at least in my case, are done so as a humour suggestion - one way of looking at the story which may trigger other "lines" in the jock's own mind. While I agree that local references may be funnier, they're not always possible, and as show prep services have to cover such wide and diverse markets, generalities tend to work better (I try to at least put an Australian spin on things)Would you prefer no attempt at humour? I ask that seriously because the most time consuming part of collating the prep sheets I do is coming up with lines. Incidentally, I think it's naive to suggest that the great MC's and "communicators" of the world do it all on their own. Sure, they must have talent of their own to ad-lib well, but many, if not most, have other writers creating their material. Bob Hope had an army of them.
Good on you Steve Baker and anon. user 20 Mar! You both made very valid comments. Any broadcaster who questions the underlying messages in these two posts shouldn't be behind the microphone. Adding to that, how many times have I heard a 'brekky crew' sharing insider jokes that exclude the audience instead of including them, or solo younger announcers trying to be what they aren't, FUNNY!
Hate to get picky, but ad-libbing is not a motor skill, Steve Baker. It's a cognitive one. You don't really go on air and ad-lib the weather , do you? Please - most people want the official forecast, not your spin on it.
Aah...Steve. Who ever taught you that a motor skill is just something you practise over and over? Motor skills are PHYSICAL movements - they don't become cognitive. Ad-libbing is only a motor skill in the sense that your mouth is moving.
Filling in for 60 seconds with weather?! Yikes - haven't you got something better to talk about? Even when I first started out in the 80's doing "real live radio", I knew better than to do that. Tsk tsk.
I'm with you Steve , the previous post doesn't seem to have much of an idea, ad lib the weather???? thats the way to do it , its all written out , but the listener doesn't know it cause you've practised it over and over , till it came out naturally, is anybody teaching the kids out there about real radio???? or is it how to record the next b/a. By the way I've noticed a category in the rawards .. best networked show... how sad, whats next, best automated shift??? don't laugh it may well soon happen