AI, or AKA artificial intelligence, is popping up in markets many never believed was possible. AI, in short, is the creation of new information by referring to prior data which has been learned. This type of technology can make deductions and facilitate the ability for computers to perform similar functions which humans partake in. A DJ or Disc Jockey is referred to today as a radio host who selects songs live or places them in a queue to play during their show. Throughout this article, I will share how DJs became popular, the new world of AI in the music industry, and how this innovation may affect the industry.
Whether you listen to a podcast radio, show online, live local radio show, or a syndicated radio show, it’s because you enjoy listening to the type of content or music played by that specific DJ. In 1935 American Radio Commentator Walter Winchell first used the term “disc jockey,” referring to disc-shaped phono graphed records and the jockey or the person responsible for playing these popular records over the air.
Jimmy Savile, in 1943, kicked off the first DJ Dance Party by playing jazz music at the upstairs function room Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds in Otley, England. He claims to be the first person to use dual turn tables to continuously play records, facilitating one record to be queued up. He immediately started once the DH ended the other and became a DJ in 1958 at Radio Luxembourg. Unfortunately, his claim to be the first to spin records from two players simultaneously was untrue as they were first shown in the BBC Handbook in 1929 as advertised in Gramophone Magazine in 1931.
Around 1947 the Whiskey a Go-Go nightclub opened its doors in Paris and was considered the first commercial discotheque or disco. Disco refers to music previously recorded and played instead of live bands on stage. Soon discos started popping up all over Europe and the United States because it was hit. When 1980 turned, MTV, or Music Television Network, began to showcase music videos originally for popular rock music. 1990 hit and the acid house genre of music made way to have the first superstars Djs who built marketable brands. In 1992, the MPEG-1 Layer 3 Standard was established to allow good-quality music to be produced at low bit rates.
More innovations happened in 1993 thanks to Carl Malamud, who created the first internet radio station, “Internet Talk Radio,” where soundwaves were repeated over the internet instead of airwaves. Carl allowed many amateur and professional radio artists to broadcast from their personal computers. The birth of digital audio players surfaced in 1998, developed by Eiger Labs MPMan F10. N2IT contributed by delivering Final Scratch soon after enabling creators and editors to use vinyl records as input to build digital files. Final Scratch achieved this by using a digital time code sent from a turntable to the computer and using their interface called ScratchAmp. The software can tell the exact position of the stylus on the record, which direction it is traveling, and what speed.
Did you know that a radio station, 95.5 in Portland, Oregon, recently announced that its midday host Ashley Elzinga would broadcast a cloned version of her voice, “AI Ashley,” to listeners daily from 10 AM to 3 PM? The station will be using Futri Media’s “RadioGPT™ a new AI-powered tool that will utilize GPT-4. They will use this system to generate a script based on current trends and other news that will be read on air via a generated voice.
RadioGPT™ is the world’s system to generate content for radio stations powered by artificial intelligence. Some of the elements they have available to generate content are local weather, local traffic, a national radio show to plug locals news now, and others I’m sure will be on the way soon. RAdioGPT™ is available in English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. Their system even has the flexibility to create voices in many distinct local accents and dialects. Thus RadioGPT™ is a bot that is specialized in entertaining and getting the station’s maximum attention by featuring stories people want to know about. One of their other big claims to fame is allowing a DJ to host multiple generated voices on one show.
RadioGPT™ can even see what’s in your music queue, talk about songs or artists on your station, and speak about current events in real time. Since it is part of technology, you already know it could post to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok during the show and post teasers of what is coming up next on your station. The system can even monitor how many listeners are streaming the station and say hello to certain areas. Did you know it can even open mic audio from callers, conduct engaging interviews, and include that information in your shows? Contests seem too much of a chore to run or manage; it can do that too.
AI has benefits, but did you know that iHeart Media 2020 reorganized its team and started by laying off hundreds of people worldwide and then investing in AI Technology? The radio station told Tech Crunch that AI Ashley, and I quote, “isn’t fully replacing tradition, Ashley.” Even though they have made this statement, I know that radio stations and many large media companies are only concerned with one thing: how much money they put in their pockets each day. Although several other radio stations said that if they implemented it, the reason would not be because of cost but instead to have an efficient set of tools for Radio Hosts.
First, we saw what iHeart Media did, and I’m sure many other companies will follow suit to add more dollars back to their bottom line. I had the chance to listen to “AI Ashley” and Traditional Ashley, and as I suspected, you could still tell it was not a 100% human voice. I even went to the software developer’s website to listen to their AI samples, and although they were clear, it was apparent that this was not a live person. I know how the technology-generated voice sounds caused me to look for other stations with live, engaging, entertaining content. RadioGPT™ is not as bad as the Max Headroom commercials, but anyone could tell it is not a fully human voice.
AI technology is a tool that will continue to evolve and provide many benefits to us, but it should only be used in places where 100% human interaction is required. Thus using AI technology to fetch current events, news, traffic, etc., is an excellent use for it, but when it comes to having it speak for the host, that is taking this too far. If businesses are advertising, the radio stations and media companies will need to clarify if their ad will be on an AI-voice-generated show or where there are only live hosts.
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