Different Radio Genre

I enjoyed our latest Broadcast Speech project.  Everyone picked a different radio station genre to evaluate.  It was very interesting to compare the different announcer's styles.  I selected classical music.  In 2007, Arbitron stated there were only 300 classical radio stations nationwide.  Classical radio station announcers have three requirements which include: have knowledgeable background of the music, know music theory, and know several languages.  The stations play portions of opera and symphony music.  With the low numbers of stations and the length of songs played, I found it difficult to find a sampling of a classical radio announcer.

The project required us to record ourselves as the announcer for the genre we selected.  Everyone did such a great job representing their specific format.  Classical, News, and Gospel station announcers have similar styles.  They have a more authoritative, formal voice with a stereo sound.  Classical announcers have to know more trivia about the composers and how to properly pronounce their names.  The Rock, Oldies, and Country station announcers seem to have a closer connection with their audience by having contests and song requests.  They also can be more creative and have more freedom to ad lib and add color to their announcing.   Everyone represented their genre of music very good and captured the character of the announcer for each.

I prefer the Oldies radio station and dj's over the classical, gospel, and news.  They appear more personable and relaxed.  With my age I can relate to the music.  With new technology, digital is changing the way radio is being broadcast.  The internet has more music, less talk.  Satellite radio opens more stations and offers a broader choice for the listener and more competition for the radio dj.