The Infinite Dial

Some radio clichés were probably ridiculous from the beginning ("Sean Ross wit'cha, folks"), others started for a valid reason and then take on a life of their own. Radio people will clone something from a winning station even if it doesn't make sense for their own situation. The early WHTZ (Z100) New York buried its legal ID at :50 to hide its calls and its Newark city of license. Soon, even stations that used their calls and were licensed to the city they served were burying them at :50.

So in our occasional series on pet peeves about the way radio stations are produced, we must now add this one: Local shows that are produced to sound like syndicated ones. I most notice this in rock radio -- the longest running stronghold of the syndicated daypart -- and can take two forms: The local host opens and/or closes each break with a produced bumper that identifies the show, but not the station. Or, in some cases, the local host uses a produced drop that mentions the call letters at the beginning or end of a break, but never lets them pass his own lips in between.

It's easy to understand why this might appeal to a lot of personalities. The production sounds big. It's what they hear on other shows. And they all secretly want to have the infrastructure in place just in case 20 other markets come calling tomorrow. And there are likely a number of program directors who would rather just let the producer make sure the calls get in there then have to nag the jock about it yet another time.

The downside, of course, is that producing your local show like a national show throws away the local advantage and sounds more generic. And it's too easy to sound generic and./or national as it is. From a listener need standpoint, there's no reason that every break must end with,a produced "it's the ____ show" any more than stations must ID at :50. It's just become what radio people are used to.