(By Mike McVay) This past week Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media and I joined Loyd Ford on his podcast The Encouragers: The Radio Rally podcast. The topic was artificial intelligence. Fred, Loyd, and I agreed, almost immediately, that none of us knows where AI is going to go. No one does. It’s all speculation. Some are embracing AI and are enthusiastic about it and many naysayers. Which is no different than anything that’s arrived on the scene from the invention of the wheel to today. Those things that resonate last … at least for the foreseeable future. AI is resonating.
What seems to be most important right now is that our industry’s thought leaders keep an open mind to new platforms. This is a media business that has been continually morphing and evolving for over 100 years. Our leaders have to be thoughtful, anticipatory, and cautious. Thoughtful as to what are the best and most beneficial uses of AI for our business. Anticipatory regarding future uses of artificial intelligence. Cautious regarding crossing legal lines pertaining to copyright, ownership, and Name Image and Likeness (NIL), as an example of just a few of those things to be considered. Many businesses are formulating what their position on AI will be and that’s an important part of the process. AI is being addressed in many conference rooms and among a variety of Leadership Teams.
Artificial intelligence isn’t going to go away. Do you remember when Blockbuster was the number one movie rental business in America? Netflix came along with the idea to mail DVDs to your home. They evolved into a subscription streaming service. Blockbuster went out of business. Visit the Blockbuster website. Their logo appears on the screen and under it are the words “We Are Working on Rewinding Your Movie.” No one wants to be Blockbuster.
The challenge for many is that the speed of change is ever-increasing. Especially given mechanical intelligence and machine learning. It’s tough to keep up with as it’s an ever-changing product. During the podcast, Loyd acknowledged that “this is a fast-spreading technology. Faster than anything we’ve seen since 2007.” Fred was quick to point out that the difference with this new technology is that we’re looking at societal changes. He underscored that we’ve not faced that with other technological changes.
There will likely be at least two streams that media will follow. Possibly even interchangeably. Consider that vinyl is seeing a resurgence and growing because of the authenticity it presents as it provides better audio quality. This is happening during a time when streaming is entering the mature phase of the product’s lifecycle. One is original and seen as genuine while the other is seen as a duplication. Polyester is still sold as are fabrics made of genuine fibers. Real fabrics are authentic. Some people like polyester and some people don’t. That’s the world that we’re living in. Authenticity doesn’t replace AI nor will AI replace authenticity. Two different streams and room for both.
There are broadcasters whose approach is for their station to be 100% Live & Local. Many do not buy into that approach. There are two different streams here, too. Room for both. There are many ways to approach the “what” and “how” regarding the use of AI when it comes to content. It may be on-air, it may be behind the scenes, it may replace a team member, and it may enable your business to grow by adding AI Experts to your team.
AI magnifies and mirrors a slice of society. There are bad people in the world and AI has been used and will be used for scams. Much like the social media and texting scams many of us deal with daily. There’s the story of the Arizona mother who was just on Capitol Hill, sharing a story of how her daughter’s voice was recreated using AI to plead for ransom money. It’s a parent’s nightmare. Scams like this will continue to be used until a digital footprint is created, which it will be, that enables the AI scam to be tracked down and the perpetrator captured. Sidenote: in this case, AT&T did put a trace on the victim’s phone.
There’s also the creative side of artificial intelligence. Paul McCartney has announced that a new Beatles song is coming that will use AI John Lennon. To be fair, it’s not a totally AI version of John Lennon’s voice that we’ll hear, but audio from a previously unreleased Beatles tune that AI has cleaned up and restored the vocals to a place where McCartney said it was possible to mix the track cleanly as if they were recorded fresh for this purpose. Sir Paul has, in my opinion, the right attitude about AI. He is reported to have said “It’s kind of scary, but exciting because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.” Cautiously.
I advise against drawing a line in the sand against AI. There is still too much that’s unknown. We live in a world where Broadcaster’s proclaimed that “national talent will never beat local talent.” Then Howard Stern did. People said “Voice tracking will never beat a live talent” and there are examples where it has. It’s too soon to reject the use of AI out of hand. There will always be time for that.
The Encouragers: The Radio Rally podcast hosted by Loyd Ford is available wherever you hear your favorite podcasts. The episode is titled “Chat GPT & The AI Century.”
Mike McVay is President of McVay Media and can be reached at [email protected]. Read Mike’s Radio Ink archives here.
I’m tired of hearing the phrase, “the good old days.” It’s always used as a negative when trying to support something “new.” No one is advocating going back to the good old days. What we A.I. critics are saying is, “What will happen to the human element in radio?” Voice tracking has already taken the “feel” out of doing an air shift. What will Artificial Intelligence do to the airwaves? Will HAL 9000 become the new Dan Ingram? Excuse me while I take an anti-nausea pill. When you remove the human factor from broadcasting you are removing its most vital element. It becomes nothing more than a glorified juke box. If I’m a local business owner I’m going to think twice about using radio in order to advertise. I would cringe at the thought of a “virtual” air personality promoting my product. Why? Because it’s someone my customers can never actually meet and shake hands with. To paraphrase the Real Don Steele, “Tina Delgado has just entered intensive care.”
Excellent thoughts Mike.
I have utilized every broadcasting and recording technology going back to record lathes.
I loved splicing tape and was pretty darn good at it, but digital audio workstations have enabled me to work faster, cleaner, and more precisely. With an unlimited number of tracks. Things that took me a couple of hours to put together in the 1970’s now take a small fraction of that time. And the quality is phenomenal.
I once really enjoyed slinging cartridges and cueing up records on the air, but today’s broadcast automation systems that can be operated from anywhere in the world are spectacular.
I hear from people every day who yearn for the good old days. People who never embraced any new technology. People who grumble about voicetracking (which, by the way, sounds canned only if you’re too lazy or bullheaded to do it right). These are people who wonder why the business is passing (or has passed) them by.
I’ll be honest. The performer side of me has a few concerns about AI. I have played with cloning my own voice and the results are scary. But like every other innovation that has come along in the past 55 years, I’m going to learn as much about it as I can and how I can benefit from its existence. Once you stop becoming excited about and wanting to learn about new technology, it’s time to move on.
When I got into broadcasting, I constantly ran into coworkers who longed for the “good old days” before TV, when radio was king. “Live music is better than playing records.” “Tape cartridges are a fad.” Blah, blah, blah.
I vowed right then and there that I’d never be that way.
Thank YOU Dale for sharing your thoughts. Progress is always going to challenge us, but the smartest people among us usually find a way to use it to their advantage.
Ostriching new technology can be more dangerous than the technology itself. Glad that intelligent minds like yours are exploring the potential impact of AI.
Great job, Mike. It was fun and stimulating to do this podcast with you and Loyd.