It's true, Roy. It was bad enough when radio switched over from live on-air staff to mechanical automation racks, but to have the human element fully replaced by fake people is ghoulish.
I have fond memories of sitting at a table at an area restaurant chatting with fellow announcers from the FM station, sharing stories about the sweet women listeners that called in on the overnight shift. You can't join an AI DJ because they don't drink coffee nor do they have friends. Of course we have been in some other career for a long time now. It is sad and horrible.
Well, this is what automation is. People used to assemble cars but it's done by robots now and if this is applied to radio you don't need a live person or broadcaster and a computer voice or "person" takes over. More jobs and careers are obsolete now.
Yeah this is scary. Just like self driving cars. The days of an on air DJ putting on a good show and entertaining an audience are long gone. You know the song "In The Year 2525"? This is slowly becoming a reality.
If memory serves correctly, it was Mr. Artisan Radio who mentioned that some stories are omitted by radio newscasters, a form of what we might call 'silent bias'. This comes to mind following a conversation I just heard that stated the fact that our present wars have driven up business to the arms industry into the dillion$ of dollar$. Of course! Here I am getting ruffled over what the various sides are doing to each other and keeping score of their offenses, when in fact the whole business has to do with the money. A tax preparer of mine once said that a person could become very wealthy by investing in the war industry just prior to the outbreak of a war. The news seems to have omitted this key part about war profits.
You may have a point as the second world war ended the great depression of the 1930s
But try not to get so upset. War profits is an evil I agree. But I don't think that this is where discussion on this forum should be going.
Please allow me to be very eye to eye about this. We are radio stations accessible by some small part of the general public. This forum is very easy-going when we talk about song-lists and entertainment, but when it comes to presenting serious and thoughtful information there is invariably a resistance and denial, as if the forum was a Disney Channel for retarded children. I am the reason moderators are necessary because I might be the one who says something that needs a fence around it.
Acting as Admin of this Forum, I think it's time to address the elephant in the room - Moderation.
When Part15.org was effectively relaunched about 8 months ago, it was with the intent of making it more open. Previously, moderation had gotten so tight that many discussions not relating to the technical aspects of Part 15 radio were being actively discouraged. People also didn't know what was acceptable to post, as the goalposts kept changing - some posters were being allowed far more leeway than others.
There is, of course, much more to Part 15 and radio than its technical aspects And if you don't know whether your post is going to be moderated, why bother to post? As a result, participation dwindled down to virtually nothing.
Since the relaunch, participation has been slowly rising, and I'd like to see it continue.
With all that being said, there have to be some rules, or else you get a free for all, and those rules can be found here. They are not particularly onerous, and are meant to ensure that those visiting and participating at the new Part15.org have an enjoyable and educational experience. Hopefully, they define the goalposts for posting as well.
Over all of this, the Moderators (myself and user Mark) are asking posters to consider the potential effect of their posts on other members of the Forum, as well as those visiting the site, potentially for the first time. If the end result could be rancorous discussion that doesn't help anybody or anything, including the Forum objectives, then perhaps they don't belong here.
I'm sure Jon Paul Janze (the owner) and Mark would join me in saying that we want this to be the most open, most informative, well behaved radio Forum on the Internet.