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partridge writes "Carson Daly's simulacrum is the new Max Headroom. I guess this makes Clear Channel Communications the current embodiment of Network 23? Now we just have to wait for the blipverts to start making consumer's heads explode."
Bwahahaha. You don't know what Max Headroom is?!?! Go play with your tinker toys...
Blipverts? Exploding heads? Makes me think of stuff like David Cronenberg's Videodrome...
giel.y contains 2 shift/reduce conflicts
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
Old, amazingly well-done (for the time period, and medium)cyberpunk show. Main character, a reporter, had an artificial simulacrum named Max Headroom. Worked for network 23. The network created high-energy bursts of commercials that would occasionally cause people's heads to blow up. Reporter investigated. Etc.
*runs to the nearest thesaurus*
Carson Daly rose to fame as the host of "Total Request Live" on Viacom's MTV. Less well known is his side gig as a superhuman D. J. With a little help from digital editing, Mr. Daly can do a top-10 countdown show tailored to the phoned-in requests of radio listeners in 11 different cities without actually knowing which songs he is counting down.
Mr. Daly's syndicated radio show, "Carson Daly Most Requested," is produced by Premiere Radio Networks, a unit of the broadcasting giant Clear Channel Communications. The program runs each weekday on 140 stations -- most of them owned by Clear Channel -- although only 11 receive the digitally customized version that seeks to simulate a local program.
"Most Requested" has been on the air for nearly two years, but only recently have people not directly involved in the program become aware of the extent to which technology is allowing Mr. Daly to cozy up to local listeners. Radio experts say the program involves perhaps the most extensive use yet of digital audio processing to offer localized shows from a central location. And members of a major broadcasting union are investigating to determine whether the techniques violate local labor agreements.
Clear Channel executives and Mr. Daly declined to discuss the program and the technology. But according to former Clear Channel employees, Mr. Daly spends several hours a week in a studio in his Manhattan apartment, reading scripts with short song introductions and longer segments of D. J. patter. His audio feed is transmitted to Los Angeles, where the show's engineers turn the segments into digital files and drop them into a database.
With a lot of cutting and pasting, the engineers create 11 customized hourlong countdown shows for cities like New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, and two national pop and rhythm-and-blues countdowns for other markets. The customization means Mr. Daly can seem to be telling listeners in a particular city their most-requested songs for that day -- without ever seeing the city's top-10 list.
Clear Channel has been widely criticized for its use of so-called voice-tracking technology, which enables prerecorded D. J.'s to sound to listeners in a distant city as if they were both local and live.
Opponents of media consolidation say the technology allows Clear Channel to ignore its regulatory mandate requiring the company to have local stations serve local audiences.
In a case that will go to trial this week, the National Labor Relations Board is charging that Clear Channel violated the contracts of the staff at WWPR-FM in New York, a hip-hop and rhythm-and-blues station known as Power 105.1. The suit argues that the station began using a voice-tracked Los Angeles D. J. without union authorization.
The company has said that the show, "Power After Hours," was a syndicated program, which the contract allows.
Mr. Daly's show uses technology that is similar to voice tracking, but industry experts said that the digital manipulation of the host's words and phrases is so extensive as to put the show in a league of its own.
"This tells you that Carson Daly, as a brand and a personality, is worth the extra studio effort," said Tom Taylor, the editor of Inside Radio, an industry newsletter. "The technology has been advancing to the point where you can do that and make it sound really good."
Steven Dunston, a sound designer and editor in Los Angeles who worked at Clear Channel's Premiere Radio unit when the Daly show began in early 2001, said he helped build its innovative database, which had tens of thousands of audio samples in it.
He said that because Mr. Daly had only a few hours a week to devote to the program, phrases like "coming in at No. 4" were recorded once and stored in the database for reuse. The call letters and phone numbers of the 11 stations, in Mr. Daly's voice, were inserted throughout.
"It really was fascinating from a technological angle," Mr. Dunston said. "Nothing had been done to that extent before."
People close to the current show said its operations had changed little since it began. A spokeswoman for Premiere declined to answer questions about the production of Mr. Daly's show, saying that was proprietary information. She said Mr. Daly was unavailable for comment.
Not all of Mr. Daly's sentences are digitally constructed. The show's writers give him longer segments, like gossip roundups and customized introductions for New York and Los Angeles. But much of the material is written with recycling in mind, so a joke about Christina Aguilera that is used to introduce the No. 3 song in Boston can be used on another day when the song is, say, No. 6 in Atlanta.
Mr. Daly's unconventional countdown only recently caught the attention of the New York chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents broadcast personnel and opposes voice tracking. Peter Fuster, the chapter's assistant executive director, said the union had previously thought that the show was just a national countdown with local branding.
Mr. Fuster said, "We're looking into whether the customized package that they are preparing for New York violates our collective bargaining agreement" at Z-100 (WHTZ-FM), the station that carries the show in New York. If the station is giving Mr. Daly's show a list of songs to play, that would essentially be voice tracking, which is not allowed under the contract, Mr. Fuster said.
Mr. Daly is likely to be even more pressed for time now that he has his own late-night television talk show on NBC, "Last Call With Carson Daly." But when he needs some time off from his radio work, the database lets the countdown roll on. Before he goes on vacation, the show's producers try to make sure they have enough sound clips so his voice can introduce top-10 lists that have yet to be compiled.
That has not always gone smoothly. Mr. Dunston, the sound designer, said that at one point a new Michael Jackson song, "You Rock My World," unexpectedly showed up on the charts. Mr. Daly was unavailable that day, and because he had never introduced a song by Mr. Jackson, the engineers had to dig through old recordings to find a segment in which he made an offhand reference to the singer. Then they hunted down bits of the song title and assembled all the pieces.
"We had to cobble things together," Mr. Dunston said.
...the legal ramifications of voice tracking, or the fact that since CCC started this, there's only been one instance where they've had a song show up that they didn't handpick^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hanticipate making the Top 10.
Why, just use Google and see what you can find.
You call yourself a geek? I want to see your membership card, Mister! Try this link for starters. If you get TechTV, try catching some episodes.
-------
And we also have a cancel button...in case you don't want toast.
That's all a lot of work. Is this guy so important he cant put in (lets say.. an hour per show, since its an hour show and the music is (supposed to be) most of it, times 11 shows) 11 hours a week? What do they pay all the guys on the soundboards doing all the work?
Whale
...seizure? I miss cyberpunk TV where any show could do me in.
-Valiss
Oh, also TechTV occasionally shows reruns.
This is just a simple case of a radio station using technology to bring high profile talent into a market.
It's been done for tens of years. Ok, so technology now allows them to fine tune it up to every tiny little word -- that's kind of cool, actually -- but anyway, do you really think Casey Casem or Dick Clark knew anything about half the cities they were broadcasting in?
It's America's Top 40 Dance Band Stand! Broadcasting right here in Minnoke!
The union's just looking to save their local DJs some jobs. Carson Daly is not going to appear on every radio dial. The fear is, though, if people tune into this, maybe they would like more high profile talent on their other radio shows.. not local talent. Good luck unions! ugh, would hate to fight that fight..
It would be cool to hear Carson Daly stuttering over his words digitally and repeating a star's name over and over and over again.
[sarcasm]
This whole time I thought that MTV and Clear Channel were picking songs that were really good instead of just shoving whatever happens to be popular down my throat.
[/sarcasm]
Mmmm... C-C-C-Catch the Wave, Coke.
-i eat green eggs and ham, b00yah i am.
I know Max Headroom, but who's Carson Daly and whats the simaluacarom?
Isn't he the guy from MTV that does the show about Boy Bands?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Of course he won't, most celebrities are to afraid of beeing branded a geek to read slashdot.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals."
I read all this and couldn't help but mutter, "Wha?" I'm not a compulsive mouth-breather or anything; I just don't know what I'm supposed to think here. So please, who in the article am I supposed to hate? I am under the impression I'm supposed to hate somebody there. Is ClearChannel the bad guy? And what's this got to do with blipverts? ...Or even Max for that matter.
Wha?
No I'm not trolling.
"With a lot of cutting and pasting, the engineers create 11 customized hourlong countdown shows for cities like New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, and two national pop and rhythm-and-blues countdowns for other markets. The customization means Mr. Daly can seem to be telling listeners in a particular city their most-requested songs for that day -- without ever seeing the city's top-10 list.
Clear Channel has been widely criticized for its use of so-called voice-tracking technology, which enables prerecorded D. J.'s to sound to listeners in a distant city as if they were both local and live."
So... what's the BFD as long as he doesn't soound like a Speak N Spell?
That hip-hop crap Daly's introducing is already enough to make my head explode....
Ah, Bach!
"Why, just use Google and see what you can find [google.com]."
Because Google gives you information, but doesn't put it into context. Try using Google to figure out the 'In Soviet Russia..' jokes.
Max Headroom was great, however he was clearly from far in our future (the 20 minutes they suggested was obviously an gross underestimate). Current technology only allows creation of fake personalities with absolutely no charisma (has anyone seen Carson Daly's talk show?).
Hopefully with increased technology we will be able to create in the future a media personality with the charisma of Max Headroom.
I have talked with someone who have worked for
the likes of Clear Channel and other large
multi-station broadcasters.
This has been going on for at least two years now,
especially with the larger chains.
As I remember, he told me that the announcers
would say a catalog of phrases to be digitized
and cataloged into a data base. They would say
each city's name; common street names, names of
businesses, common school names, common church
names; the list goes on.
With this massive database of phrases (and many
that can be used for different locals; Saint
Mary's Church could be in Buffalo or Atlanta),
now they can put together just about anything
and make it 'local' to you.
What is interesting is that many of these stations
are becomming nothing more than a transmitter.
Studios, productions facilities, and even sales
and marketing have all but dissapeared from the
local scene. All of that is done remotely.
Local companies that want to buy ads now deal
with the national office. They come up with a script. The script can be assembed via computer
using the announcer's voice. Only if something unique needs to be said, does the announcer say anything. After all, Henrys' Fine Drycleaning
has probably been used before the Henry's Fine
Drycleaning in your hometown decides to advertise
on the radio.
School sports scores, news, and so forth, can be
handled remotely.
Cleara
Oh thanks for explaining it. Now people'll try to pass off their typos as Max Headroom impressions.
Carson Daly already makes my head explode.a ra-Reid-Daly.
Stupid Carson-getting-to-date-Jennifer-Love-Hewitt-and-T
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
3rd Edition PHB P252.
From the SRD.
"Simulacrum creates an illusory duplicate of any creature. The duplicate creature is partially real and formed from ice or snow. The duplicate appears to be exactly the same as the original, but there are differences: The simulacrum has only 51% to 60% (50%+1d10%) of the hit points, knowledge (including level, skills, and speech), and personality of the real creature. Creatures familiar with the original might detect the ruse with a successful Spot check. The character must make a Disguise check when the character casts the spell to determine how good the likeness is.
At all times the simulacrum remains under the character's absolute command. No special telepathic link exists, so command must be exercised in some other manner. The simulacrum has no ability to become more powerful. It cannot increase its level or abilities. If destroyed, it reverts to snow and melts instantly into nothingness. A complex process requiring at least 1 day, 100 gp per hit point, and a fully equipped magical laboratory can repair damage to the simulacrum."
The on-air personality is inches away from being a thing of the past. I have a lot of friends that work in radio. Most of them have had the stations they work for bought by clear channel. Most of my friends that are still on-air personalities (many are unemployeed these days) are being pumped out to at least 3 stations with little tweaks being done to the audio to make it sound like they are local. Frequently celebrity interviews are mocked up from a stock tape of the celebrity answering questions with the DJ's voice dubbed between even.
I keep hoping that eventually people will notice how sterile, packaged and crappy it is and that independent stations will be able to compete by way of superior programming. However, apparently people don't give a rats ass. They don't even notice how shitty radio is these days.
From the /. FAQ:
;)
You must never, ever, have anything less than perfect competence in everything, and if you are to post anything that may call this into question, you must be ridiculed by at least 3 people.
I'm assuming that you're feeling really secure about yourself, to go and post something like this.
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
From the article: "...members of a major broadcasting union are investigating to determine whether the techniques violate local labor agreements." Groups like the RIAA apparently are not alone in wanting to make sure new technology doesn't disturb existing revenue streams, and wanting to thwart it if it does. This kind of thing reminds me that geeks seem to live in a completely different continuum from the rest of the world.
What would things be like today if, for example, computer programmers and electronics engineers had reacted in the same way to things like code-generating tools, CAD and microcircuitry, clinging instead to the practices of hand-entering 1's and 0's and wiring everything with a soldering iron, because more streamlined methods might threaten our jobs? I envision something like the computers in the movie Brazil, coexisting with pheumatic message tubes.
Thank you.
I recall someone trying to explain that to me in grade school once, but his head was submerged in the toilet bowl at the time, and I was busy counting his lunch money.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
For a movie dated 1983 it contained some very interesting and or prophetic ideas. Some of them similar to Max Headroom. A few:
giel.y contains 2 shift/reduce conflicts
....I formerly thought this was the main sign of the impending apocalypse for the music industry.
Seriously tho, Carson Daly's show will promote piracy even more due to the creation of specific shows, of specific music, aimed for specific audiences.
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
A good exemplar: calling this show local content is like calling ketchup a vegetable. And that's what they've doing for all this time.
I don't see why they don't just sit Carson down and read through a dictionary, a list of artists, a lists of songs, common phrases used for countdowns, and common phrases in general - so you could essentially write the script and plop each single word or phrase in there. Didn't IBM or somebody have synthesized speech software that used actual voice audio samples of all possible vowels? I remember reading that they basically paid these people to sit down and read a lot of shit so they could make whatever they wanted with their voices. Why don't they just do that for Carson Daly?
I belong to the ______ generation.
I don't understand why this isn't done across the board with porn stars. considering how far they have come in 3d these days - just scan in a model for cheap and then they can do far more work.
hell, you could even get rough mo-cap done once at a franction of the cost of needing her around all the time.
the audio is obviously even easier than the carson thing.
hell - you could have a system where you customize it so that the person watching it can choose what they want - color hair, skin tone, % bodyfat, etc.
or even to the point of doing famous people, etc.
is it still cheaper to pay real people to do it all?
I could see if the technology wasn't there, but it would seem people would line up even at the level of playstation is right now.
then again, I'm not really all that much into porn, so perhaps this is already out there and I'm just out of the loop.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
context galore, including kuro5hin articlen &lr=&ie=U TF-8&oe=utf-8&safe=off&q=%27in+soviet+russia%27+jo kes&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=e
im too lazy to put in tags
I suspected as much...
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
What's to stop some enterprising folk from making their own, highly subversive versions of Carson Daly from recordings of his show?
What's to stop those recordings from being either broadcast locally from pirate rigs, or injected into a Clear Channel satellite feed?
Ok, maybe state and federal laws and the wrath of the FCC, if you care about that kind of thing.
Does this remind anyone of the DJ 3000 from the Simpsons episode "Bart gets an elephant" ?
Boss: This is the DJ 3000. It plays CDs automatically, and it has three distinct varieties of inane chatter.
[presses a button]
DJ 3000: [stilted] Hey, hey. How about that weather out there?
Woah! _That_ was the caller from hell.
Well, hot dog! We have a weiner.
Bill: Man, that thing's great!
Marty: _Don't_ praise the machine!
Boss: If you don't get that kid an elephant by tomorrow, the DJ 3000 gets your job.
[Marty punches it]
DJ 3000: Those clowns in congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns.
Bill: [laughs] How does it keep up with the news like that?
What?!? Are you also telling me that the guy on AOL MoviePhone isn't live? That they just cobble his sentences together with... a computer! This can't be happening! To think I thought we had something special together.
Did Tara Reid have to dump him eleven times?
"You know Myra, some people might think you're cute. But me, I think you're one very large baked potato."
Max Headroom always makes me think of one of the most disgusting scenes I have ever seen in a movie: Somebody eating cold noodles (ravioli?) directly out of the can.
Urgh!
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted and ignored otherwise.
23 Skidoo
Oh crap!
I jsut realized, thanks to you, that the in soveit russia things were jokes!
I'd been taking them seriuosly!
What's she up to now?
From the first sentence, I thought Max was back!
I'd really like to see if Amanda Pays is as hot these days as she was then...
Max Headroom was a great show. Best line:
"You remember when we said there was no future? Well, this is it!"
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,ah,uh,oh,eeh,wah,tk,ck,bl,fd,ok, umm,brit,ney,sp,ears,lo,ook,pen,os,is,us,hizz,ouse ,word
... to remember Max Headroom you can catch the 80's TV show on TechTV late at night. Set the Tivo/VCR if you are one of those sleeping persons.
In short Max Headroom was a computerized head that spoke to you from a TV (played by Matt Frewer, later on Psi Factor). I guess the Max Headroom charcter started either as a spokesperson for Coke or a MTV thing. I didn't have cable TV back then so i don't remember where he started. Eventually they created a TV show around him.
D. J. Stephen Hawking.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Well i'll add Doyouwant2cds.com
unitron
5733
We just call them java pop-ups instead.
Max was cool, but all cool TV shows get cancelled. Bad TV shows live forever.
Okay, she's got all the personality of Clippy, but give it time.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Confused by Blair? Baffled by Bush?
Join the anti war protest in Hyde Park, London on Saturday 15th of February at one o'clock. Probably the largest ever demo to be held in England, bring your friends for the booze, batons and birds.
Largest piss up ever, followed by one of the largest parties ever, and closed with the largest fireworks displays ever in Baghdad as the governments once again ignore the opinions of the general populace.
How could any s-s-s-self-respecting ggggggggeek not have h/AH!/AH!/AH!/[strange laugh] have heard of M-M-M-Max Head(ead/ead)room? Haven't you seenN!/N!/N! BTTF2? (Ach!/Ach!) 2? [crrrk] 2?
You must think in Russian.
Free your mind with genuine music played by genuine people.
www.radioparadise.com
Point your MP3 player to http://205.188.209.193:80
"Had it coming," say police.
I went to CCC's site and they had this link about a press release on music piracy (an always fun topic here at /.) so I read it, and low and behold there are some nice comments from the heads of various record companys. Some of the statements are rather bland, but a few really show the twists they want to make to common sense. Anyways, check them out.
Record Labels Speak Out
The recording industry, including the labels and their artists, lose millions of dollars a
year to Internet theft. According to information released by the RIAA, US music
shipments in the first half of 2002 were off 10% over the same period in 2001, with sales
down nearly 7%. Clear Channel's move to lead the radio industry in publicizing the issue
of music piracy struck a chord among the record labels:
*The dip in sales couldn't be from poor product, could it? just a thought. Oh, and I always thought you had to have something to "lose" it.*
Arista Records, Antonio "L.A." Reid, President and CEO
"The plague of music piracy is spreading in geometric numbers and the industry is faced
with the challenge of turning around the mind-set of a generation that thinks its 'cool' to
obtain recorded music for free. Arista Records, its staff and its artists all support Clear
Channel's efforts to bring the message across in a way that demands radio listeners'
attention and dares them to confront a serious issue."
*Ok, as a guy who grew up taping music from the radio, I would like to point out that my generation started this trend. Sheesh, give credit where credit is due.*
Atlantic Records, Craig Kallman, Co -President
"Everyone involved in music has to commend Clear Channel for partnering with our
artists to get the truth out about Internet piracy and the terrible impact that it's having on
musicians. Their PSAs are humanizing an injustice that threatens every musician's
livelihood."
*"...humanizing an injustice..."? Umm, right. If you buy this I am running a "Old Retired Senator's Fund", which aims to soften the blow of leaving public office.*
Columbia Records, Charlie Walk, Executive Vice President Promotion
"We're happy to see Clear Channel coming on board and educating young fans that music
has real value that should not be taken for granted. Artists deserve to be compensated for
the music they create, just like anyone else deserves to be paid for the work that they do."
*Education? Re-Education more like.*
Elektra Entertainment Group, Sylvia Rhone, Chairman/CEO
"Illegal downloading and other forms of music piracy have had a devastating effect on
consumers perception and value of music. With Clear Channel's enormous reach of over
100 million listeners, they possess the ideal platform to educate consumers about the
negative impact of Internet music piracy."
*This is my favorite. "..devastating effect on the consumers perception and value of music.". I think its ok for consumers to decide that your product is over-priced and lacking in quality. I'm pretty radical though.*
RCA Music Group, Clive Davis, Chairman
"Clear Channel's efforts to educate the consumer on the destructive impact of Internet
music piracy will be invaluable. We must protect our creative community even from well
meaning fans who just don't know that with every file they download or CD they burn,
they are undermining the future of the very music they profess to love."
*I don't love music. I enjoy it. Like I enjoy ice cream and a good philly cheesesteak.*
Pardon the editorials, I couldn't resist (ok, I could have if I wanted to, but I didn't).
"/. =
If you watch the Discovery Channel or TLC you've no doubt seen blipverts. You know, where an obviously mechanically processed human voice comes on and speaks at very high speed. So fast that it requires a great cognitive effort to decipher what is being said.
Because when I watch TV I want to veg out (otherwise I'd be on my computer, or reading) I find these blipverts to be very annoying. In fact I find them to be the most offensive form of television advertising that I've ever come across. So much so, that I usually turn the channel instantly. I may ordinarily channel surf, but when I see those Discovery blipverts, you've never seen me move so fast for the remote!
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
Yes, everyone does in fact realise that radio sucks. What they DON'T realise is that it sucks because Clear Channel now owns MOST radio stations. Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area we had, just 5-6 years ago, one of the best collections of radio stations in the country. Three different rock stations trying to outdo each other. It was great. All the stations had shows highlighting local artists, they all had distinct personalities that defined the station, and they all had character. Now Clear Channel owns two of those stations, and the other died. Clear Channel also owns (IIRC) a classic rock station and a couple of country stations here. The shittiest thing is that all the rock stations play the same damn things! Ozzy, Sabbath, AC/DC, Led Zepplin... this area is a radio wasteland now. Radio should be treated like newspapers are. Companies should not be allowed to own more than one in any market.
That said, I really don't see the problem with the Carson Daly thing aside from the fact that he annoys the crap out of me. It's no different than the interviews you see with actors where you have the local TV reporter talking with someone, then a half hour later you see the same question being answered the exact same way when asked by a different reporter on another station. It's just more pointless crap that idiotic companies do that they think makes people listen. Here's a tip: QUIT PLAYING SHITTY MUSIC. That will do more than anything Carson Daly could ever do.
I think Aki must deserve a mention... it's probably the first digital celebrity featured in Maxim's Top 100 and to pose nude as well. Woo!
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Rather than describe this as wiz-bang tech, I'd describe it as poor content production by local DJs. Don't get me wrong, I do want good local content. I do not want junk generic content spewed by a "local DJ" (read moved in from out of state last week).
I don't listen to the radio any more. I'm tired of the increasingly stupid DJ personalities, the ads for stuff I'll never buy, and the same songs being played over and over. To top it off, I dislike static.
Now they are making the stupid DJ personalities even worse by making them entirely generic. Yay.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
information wants to be free.
there is no logical contradiction.
therefore, you have only made a fool of yourself.
my head explodes every time I fail to divert the little'ns' attention and switch off the television before the Barney song plays.
Liberty uber alles.
Fuck Daly, "hire" Big Url from Soma FM! Use a damn macintosh and pick Fred.
The party's over
The "who was fooled by this factor" seems a more reasonable complaint than the whole job thing. Do listeners really think this Carson dude was actually "servicing" their area personally? Like he cared or something?
About one in every 10 or so station breaks on the local classic rock station is some celebrity telling me I'm listening to the "the home of classic rock, W???". Do I think they give a shit? Is the station legitimately trying to pull the wool over my eyes and make me think that Ozzy or Mick Jagger came to my area, drove around, saw the sites, fell in love, bought a summer home, listened to the "home of classic rock", and decided to go lend their whole-hearted support?
Radio is artificial, like all media. They provide local news, weather, and topics of local interest. But the people who deliver this could be anyone, anywhere, and may or may not give a rats ass.
And no one is confused by this, at least no one with half a brain. "Servicing the local area" is just noise. It's money, somehow, this whole thing is that someone ain't getting money they think they should.
Narf! "American enough"? Max started in Britain. (And that weird accent he has is Canadian.) I've got the original 1h movie version.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Easy way to understand it: ClearChannel is like Microsoft, except there is no open source radio (except the Internet, which is being priced out of existence).
Actually, MTV and the Coke commercials came *after* the show, but otherwise you are correct.
Of course my fave charecter was Reg, Hence my name. ^.^
Just once, I'd like it if someone called me "Sir".
Without adding, "You're creating a scene."
I think it tells you something about the quality of Carson Daly's show when a machine can create a show by clipping together a bunch of sound-bites, song titles and artist's names. Of course it also tells you something about the quality of its listeners who are fooled by it. :)
The more "old" sci-fi type stuff I watch, the more erie it is how similar we've become. How long untill we're not ALLOWED to turn off our TVs? How long before our TVs watch what WE'RE doing so advertisers can see what effect they're having? How long before Max is invading MY TV screen?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
As long as one of those "consumers" is Carson Daly...
the truth out about Internet piracy and the terrible impact that it's having on
;)
musicians.
What terrible impact is that? Realising that they really DON'T have to go through a label to get their music heard? God forbid that should happen.
We must protect our creative community even from well
meaning fans who just don't know that with every file they download or CD they burn,
they are undermining the future of the very music they profess to love.
Bullshit, you don't give a fuck about music. You are protecting your bottom line don't even pretend you aren't, fuckers.
Yes, I do know they can't hear my bitching, but what the hell.
It's shit like this that pisses me off severely. Corporate morons thinking they know a fucking thing about what drives music and musicians. For the REAL musicians out there it truly isn't about money, it's just about making some noise. Record companies need to realise they're fucking doomed if they continue with this bullshit parade they're on. I'm still waiting for one of these ill-regulated banks (that is ALL a record label is) to nut up and dive into distributing music online for free. I don't mean SOME of it, I mean FUCKING ALL OF IT. There are MANY albums I own that I had as MP3's before I bought the album. I went out and bought the albums simply because I thought the artists in questions were worth supporting. According to the RIAA and other fucktards like them, I'm a damn weirdo because I prefer not to waste my money on total shit that they ram down our throats. When these labels stop promoting the next big thing and realise that there are THOUSANDS of excellent artists that would sell a SHITLOAD of records if they had some fucking backing, THEN maybe we'll talk. Until then, I think I'll go download Kazaa.
Not only were the pop-culture references so obscure that people were forced to demand assistance from Google, but they also had to RTFA in order to provide ANY useful insight!
Partridge was kind enough to send me his accepatance speech, it reads:
"I'm so pleased to accept this reward! I feel just like Kryten did when he was forced to wash 800 bedsheets as part of his sentence."
...I thought Carson Daly was a robot.
I guess the execs at MTV no longer need to rely on force-feeding the VJs qualudes to get them to push Britney Spears and other crap.
How long before the Republicans use this to make a composite of Clinton or Gore endorsing all of Bush's policies...oh, wait, they don't need to do that. Clinton and Gore already do endorse most of Bush's policies...
"You done taken a wrong turn."
-Bill McKinney, in Deliverance
OK, picture this.. an alternative reality (20 seconds in the future) where law and order have broken down and the only power is wielded by huge media corporations. The ratings are measured in real time second by second and programmes are designed and implemented to get the most audience using the basest TV formats.
Now, enter Edison Carter, the on the spot reporter for Network 23 who carries his own camera and is controlled by his director in Network 23's offices.
Network 23 are using high intensity, high speed "blipverts" to force people to watch the commercials giving them no time to change to other channels.
Unfortunately for Network 23, they also cause people who overdose on the blipverts to have their head explode.. it's doubly unfortunate that Edison Carter is sniffing out the story and Edison is also Network 23's highest ratings puller.. so with the help of their pet geek, they devise the idea of a virtual Edison Carter, getting rid of the original (at the body bank).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, Max Headroom is created by a not so well transfered personality from Edison Carter after he has been knocked out when trying to escape from Network 23's underground car park, the last image he had seen was the barrier with the warning sign "Max Headroom ? feet."
There is far more to the original 1985(?) Channel 4 production which involves the escape of both Edison Carter and Max Headroom from Network 23.
The american market got a rejigged version which was no-where as good. The spin-off from which was The Max Headroom Show.
Agrajag: "Oh no, not again!"
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General,
has drawn up articles of impeachment against Bush,
Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft. There is a
petition being organized and these will be
hand delivered to the Democratic leaders and
the judiciary committee. To sign the petition go
to Impeach Bush et al.
There you can read the articles and sign
the petition.
Peace,
W00t
TV Watches you!
We've heard Mr Bush call the American people evil, and terrorists,
We've seen OJ Simpson in Fuzzy Bunny slippers...
Why should we not expect Carson Daily to get manipulated up the wazoo?
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
So far no one seems to have mentioned Gary Trudeau's Ronald Reagan alter-ego on "Doonesbury,"
...!"
"Ron Headrest":
"I'll s-s-set up illegal covert operations and lie about them to Congress and the American p-p-people! If detected I promise to falsify documents, shred evidence and preserve plausible de-de-deniability! Then I'll take the Fifth! But with moist eyes! And selflessly
I'm a bit offended by this. This form of entertainment for the masses is nothing more than a regionalized extract of speech phrases recorded by some MTV fun boy?!?!?! WTF?!?
Another poster above knows of a common practice of fabricating celebrity interviews by splicing their sound bites with opportunistic questions.
Much of my news (print, TV, and radio) comes with a slant, a spin, or is presented from a single point of view.
Video editing and CGI-annimation have gotten so good it is hard to tell what is real and what is not. This is especially true for big-budget movies, but the technology is getting cheaper and cheaper. Anyone see those Matrix Reloaded trailers? Wow!
It seems as though everything we see and hear is heavily processed/filtered before it gets to our brains. Almost as if the mass-media outlets (and perhaps big govt) don't want us to think for ourselves. I know I've got offtopic here.
It is why I only watch two things on TV anymore.
1. Cartoons. They are fake and obviously so. There is no way I am going to watch a "REALITY SHOW" as seen through my fucking TV screen. This started for me with the MTV show called "Real World". HA! Real? and on TV?!?!
2. Live sports. The only fake or scripted thing about my professional sports is the yellow first-down line they programmatically paint on the field. Sporting events cannot be faked because the events/outcome are corrobated by thousands of attendees. Sure, there is a 7 second delay built into the delivery, but nobody can change the outcome or manipulate the drama.
I am very offended and concerned about this. I don't give a shit about the union filing the complaint. I worry about the things my son will "learn" from this form of brainwashing.
The picture of the goatse guy made my roommate's head explode the first time I naively followed the link. I captured the event for posterity with a digicam. I'd provide a link, but it's a really disgusting picture.
I mean, they don't even NEED Carson Daly himself. They just bought his brain on eBay.
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
I think the large start-up cost is probably one of the prohibitive factors. Nobody's going to finance a setup like that when it's entirely possible that the wanking public will HATE the virtual stars and avoid the videos like the plague (or more appropriately, gonnorrhea). Vivid Video aren't going to risk their current, wildly lucrative production model on the off chance that synthespians can make it in pr0n. From what I understand, a lot of pr0n consumers have favourite stars, whom they creepily worship and follow closely (literally, in some cases). None of that lot would likely take too well to virtual stars when they're used to the Jenna Jamesons and others of the current biz.
Also, as mentioned it's a small elite who command high prices for doing porn videos. There's a huge low-budget industry which consists of some guy paying a girl to have sex with him while _he_ films it. I mean - no cameraman - how much more low-budget can you go? Just a couple hundred to the girl, a few bucks for some pina colada mix* and poof! You have video you can sell or put on your own web site. And people are buying, so clearly the synthespians are not needed there either.
* yes, for that. How do I know all this? The diary of a low-budget pornographer (mostly not safe for work)...
Freedom: "I won't!"
The union and the station owner entered into a collective bargaining agreement. Both sides gave and took. But, it was all predicated on certain actions on both sides... such as the company's agreeing not to voice track.
If this is a problem for the station owner, renegotiate the agreement. However, it is wrong for any party to a contract to arbitrarily decide to change the terms and conditions.
If AFTRA is correct, the company will be forced to stop and possibly subject to sanctions.
(BTW - I am an AFTRA member and have been a negotiator between AFTRA and my employer for nearly 20 years)
Wow!
Thats amazing, I thought it was actually local.(I am in the NY listening area) It is really localized well. He mentions other z100(my local clearchannel station) dj's, and their "song of the day". Wow. Honest to god I would have never known it from any other countdown show on the station.
What signature defines me as a person?
I'm not going to get into the other issues involved.
Whoa! 1913! That must have been a way early version of the Players Handbook!
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Pays,+Amanda
READ IT!
um, i guess you cant grasp subtle sarcasm
I don't have a link handy, but I recall hearing about advertisers installing devices on freeways to detect what radio station you're listening to, so they can target advertising...
>>If the most brain-dead table look-up can pass the Turing test then perhaps local DJs need to do their homework, learn more about their community and really have somthing to offer.
They're not being replaced because they're doing a bad job; they're being replaced because it's cheaper for Clear Channel(and other corps) to pay the salary of one generic DJ out of state than a hundred salaries for a hundred local DJs.
Unless they're willing to do it for free, they can do all the homework they want; it won't make a difference.
I am currently listening to a russian radio stations and I promise you that the clear channel doesn't reach that far yet. There are still real people making jokes and introducing songs. There are still some english-speaking countries. Is there Clear Channel in Canada, UK, Australia and Singapore?
If they told everyone that the program was just a manufactured conglomeration of soundbites recorded over a multi-year period and the audience was still okay with listening to it, that's fine. However CCC is doing their best to keep the issue out of the spotlight, they don't want their audiences having the ability to make an informed choice.
My favorite independent radio station in LA just went bankrupt, and I'm pissed that there are three almost identical CCC stations wasting bandwidth broadcasting almost identical crap. Maybe it wouldn't make any difference, but maybe if CCC was forced to be upfront about how little they care about local audiences, then maybe people would wake up a little and start making some choices.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I don't care if this is all just a union ploy, or whatever else people are saying. If it saves us from the shitty radio we have now, it's OK by me.
...some listener in the middle of Iowa will be listening to a countdown and will eventually hear something like this:
Carson Daly: "...and in the next spot in our countdown is..."
Hollow Computer Voice: "....error in line 24...file not found...please contact an administrator..."
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
I got obsoleted by the advance of technology and my marketable job skills have become irrelevant. It happens. I do other stuff now. The DJs had better get over it and plan for the future, because it's coming whether they like it or not.
"several hours a week in a studio in his Manhattan apartment, reading scripts"
You can just bet that, for 3/4ths of the shows, he's naked.
You know you've been reading Slashdot too often when you see correct use of the words "lose" and "loose" and think they look funny...
So, now we have one source for all our radio entertainment. Actually, it's more allow the lines that Clear Channel and the RIAA are dictating to us what is "popular" and what is "cool" and what is "hot". This is known as programming. Social programming. They dictate what you hear, when you hear it, and how you should feel about it. They want to control you. And the money they get from the advertisers supports them. Welcome to the age of information control. Welcome to a corporation telling you what, when, how, where, and who you should be. Yes, Clear Channel is affiliated with the RIAA. Clear Channel is the number 1 distribution and marketting tool of the recording industry. More than MTV. More than your record store. The control the airwaves, they control the content. You just sit there and soak up the waves. The only freaking radio station that has national and local coverage that I've heard in a long time is NPR. Yeah, it's not the latest Britney pop crud, it's historical pop. But it's also national and a little local news. EFF, FSF, OSS, and anyone with a brain should support this existing institution. Cause guess what? If Clear Channel could, they'd buy up those frequencies and broadcast more consumerism and mind control. Guess what would happen to the national social structure if Clear Channel stopped broadcasting for a week? Maybe people would wake up and start going into withdrawl. That would be fun. Can't get your fix of stupid mind numb and you realize just how much a a messed up society America has allowed itself to become. Control by corporations. The board of director decides that you need to see more jiggling boobies to pacify you. You need to hear another bad commodity "punk/hardrock" band who is angry, rebels without a clue.
And it's not just radio. Television has been this way from the beginning. Look at cable. 99 channels of centralized propaganda (CNN/FOXNews/MSNBC/etc.). And don't think they won't fight to keep it that way. And they have the money. They have the control. They have the "law" on thier side. As long as they keep the money rolling in, the get to keep the castle.
I say all this and know I will be scoffed at as a lunatic. I will be speken about with unkind words and referred to as a little too paranoid for a rational reader to agree with. But 20 minutes into the future has already happened. We are living in the age of information control. And besides, Max Headroom was just a bot with a tweaked logic algorythm modelled after a paranoid, hyper, driven man who hit his head because he tried to speak about "truth". Truth only exist. No one ever sees it for what it is. And we are all lying. Every one of us.
Screw it, I always wanted to be a console jockey. I even know a few bars that will serve nicely as good hang-outs in the Sprawn when it finally gets it's name.
Jack in, have fun, but watch out for that black ice. It killer.
Don't Ask Questions. I don't know the answers and even if I did I wouldn't tell you.
But soon you won't be able to find a real live TV host on either coast of the US.
Which is just the way it ought to be.
However, the real problem isn't them. The real problem is the artificial scarcity in radio frequencies.
The FM radio band takes up about a third of the airspace that the AM radio band takes up. Yet they can pack more stations into that band and it is better sounding. Why? You guessed it. Better technology.
There exists technology to now pack many more stations into the same space that FM could only imagine. If the FCC would get off its ass and allocate a new radio band, we could have hundreds of new stations.
The status quo only favors the incumbants.
Except, of course, when it's not actually live nor local.
"Leverage" is must be a euphanism for "use our market power to drive everyone else out of business".
"Premium programming to smaller towns" is a nice phrase... You certainly don't want any local DJ on the airwaves. Thank goodness for Clear Channel!
Ever wonder what "diversity" means? According to Clear Channel, it's "everyone listening to the same thing."
There's a difference between "everyone is forced to listen to it" and "hugely popular". Pretty much everyone had to eat cafeteria food in my elementry school, but I don't recall it being "hugely popular."
Except, of course, that it's neither live nor local. Oops, I'm repeating myself.
The biggest scam is that the audience is largely unaware that it's canned, which means that your profit stream is based on the idea of deceiving to your customers. Any what justifies this?
Oh, yes... Premium profits.
Thanks again, Clear Channel! Those tunes sound so much better, now that you more efficiently sell huge blocks of advertising time through national markets.
It's pledge drive at my local NPR station. I'm suddenly feeling much, much more guilty for not contributing.
This gets me thinking: There's an awful lot of borderline sci-fi from the 80's depicting technology from the near future in interesting ways. A good chunk of this fantastical tech is perfectly possible now. Just how far off are we from being able to simulate Max Hedroom?
Do a 3D-face scan, distort to give it a plastic appearance, lip sync to a rudimentary bank of soundbytes (which could be customized from user to user), studder in the proper places-ces-ces. Proper places. The current range of 3D cards could -easily- render something even more believable than Max. Sure, it wouldn't be intelligent, but then, how many intelligent people do you know? You know?
That seems like a reasonably profitable desktop toy to me.
And by the way, why hasn't anyone made a version of Space Paranoids?
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Your stupidity is reaching new heights, of that there is no doubt.
They do the same thing on his NBC Talk Show. They just digitally place him in the picture and have him make bland somewhat out-of-place comments in response to the live guest.
Even I was fooled. I just thought he was incredibly awkward and boring, but after reading this article it's all clear to me.
no shit? i had no idea.
Yes, on /.,
Revealing pictures of Britney Spears
Off the top of my head there are probably 3 or 4 partially unionized markets in the US. The VAST majority of the radio personalities are not in a union, I'll bet 99.9 percent. The last thing CC or Infinity wants is union. In fact, the vast majority of the jocks doing this are in non-union markets. Get lower paying jocks to fill many jobs. In fact, CC uses smaller market jocks to voice track larger markets. The larger market jocks used to be paid more.
Also the Dick Clark and Casey Casem analogy isn't right. These folks did weekend and day-parted syndicated shows that we're never intended to infer that they were local. Voice tracking is filling dayparts in all but the drive times and drive times are in many markets syndicated with national personalities.
The real problem here is that radio is eating its young. With the day-parts being eaten by voice tracking, there is no farm market for new personalities to learn their craft. CC is screwing themselves in the long run.
Don't get me started with this crap. 100,000 thousand radio jobs have been lost in the last 10 years. Thankfully I'm not one of them. I became a dreaded media consultant.
**faggit**
yes you michael fuck off you homosexualbuttraper
mje0w!!!1!
Hey, hey. How about that weather out there?
Whoah! That was the caller from hell.
Well, hot dog! We have a weiner.
Those clowns in congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns.
</dj3000>
-- kwashiorkor --
Leaps in Logic
should not be confused with
Jumping to Conclusions.
...I'm NY Times *challenged*
.
.
.
wait...
.
.
here it comes...
.
.
.
you insensitive clod!
"We are far too easily pleased." --C.S. Lewis
So constructing a radio program using fragments of human speech is bad. What is the difference between doing this and using software to build an artificial human army (pieced together with samples of human movements and behaviors) for a movie? When Weta does it, piecing together "entertainment" using technology is unanimously good. When ClearChannel does it, piecing together "entertainment" using technology is unanimously bad. Someone care to explain?
We have the honor(?) of having the largest concentration of CC owned and operated stations in the country. They own the maximum 8 that they are allowed and control the programming and ad sales for 6 more based out of Mexico. I still can't believe I have to explain to people why I signed up with XM Radio and that they should as well.
I don't know the answers to all of your questions, but I can provide some information for two of them....
How long untill we're not ALLOWED to turn off our TVs?
Maybe sooner than you think... Autostereoscopic Displays being worked on at MIT's Spatial Imaging Group run on SGI O2s. In answer to your question, we won't be allowed to turn off out televisions when our televisions get user level (and group level?) security installed... This will probably coincide with televisions getting file-level security. I can only imagine having to fill out forms and register with an application/internet service provider in order to upgrade from being a 'user' to being a 'poweruser'... "Damn. I had to pay $49.95 and go take a user-training course to be allowed to turn off my television..."
How long before our TVs watch what WE'RE doing so advertisers can see what effect they're having?
You will note that the design setup for the Mark II Autostereoscopic Display utilizes a video camera to watch the viewers and generate virtual 3D goggles. It's already built into the system design of next-generation 3D televisions...
That's where Everything2 comes into play, do a search for "In Soviet Russia" you get:
In Soviet Russia
(idea) by Andux (3.6 min) (print) ? 1 C! Sun Dec 08 2002 at 7:08:19
A joke originated by Russian comedian Yakov Smirnoff,* which, years later, turned into a meme on Something Awful (thanks, anotherone), and then spread to Fark, where it eventually attained a level of popularity great enough to necessitate filtering. In November of 2002, it was introduced to Slashdot, and by the end of the month had attained a level of popularity rivaling that of CowboyNeal.
Although the joke is often mangled by those looking for cheap laughs and easy karma (as was AYBABTU before it), it's quite possible to create a Soviet Russia for almost any occasion with just a few simple steps:
1. Take a sentence,
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
2. switch around the subject and the object (for second person imperative sentences (e.g., "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those."), you will, of course, have to add the subject first),
The lazy dog jumps over the quick brown fox.
3. ensure that the verb(s) are in the proper tense,
The lazy dog jumps over the quick brown fox.
4. (optional) remove words and/or change spellink to create effect of Russian accent (or simply trim the superfluous crap),
lazy dog jumps over quick brown fox.
5. prepend "In Soviet Russia," and change punctuation and emphasis to taste.
In Soviet Russia, lazy dog jumps over quick brown fox!
6. Share and Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any losses of karma, tarnished reputations, lynchings, atrocities, or global thermonuclear wars that occur as a result of the use, misuse, or disuse of this writeup.
In Soviet Russia, memes node YOU!
*There's some debate as to what the original "Soviet Russia" joke was. Augusta says it was "In Los Angeles, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, the Party can always find YOU," while BrooksMarlin remembers it being "...television watches YOU!" Google and Yakov.com both seem to be silent on the subject.
TOKEN BLACK GUY JOINS BOARD:
Yet remians suprisingly silent, stating only.
"I'm just glad to be here! Gosh free cubans and m&m thats actually melt in your mouth, not in your hand! whoopie!"
Former Congressman J.C. Watts joins Clear Channel Board
I guess that makes up for the nepotism of hiring your sons as Chief Officers and leaving out the pictures of your CIO and CTO like they were nobodies compared to the other CHIEF OFFICERS
http://www.clearchannel.com/ci_oe.php
I can't help but be reminded of the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone & Morelli, who run canned ads during daytime talk shows like Ricki Lake. I saw the exact same ads for a different law firm in NYC; it seems that they are using canned ads, with a convenient cut away from the face of the person saying the law firm's name as he announces it to the stunned evil insurance company guy, so the different firm names can be edited in. I guess they're doing this nationwide.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Remember Space Channel 5? That game was vaguely the plot of Max Headroom retrofitted onto a 60's-kitsch sci fi dance theme. Sega also heavily promoted Ulala, the game's all-singing, all-dancing, all-CG main character, and had her appear on the MTV music awards.
The game is adorable, clever, and quite fun. Unfortunately its "simon says" gameplay is a little too simplistic for today's Resident Evil and GTA loving crowd, so it did not sell well, and Sega's big Ulala marketing blitz flopped. I bet there are toy stores in my area still trying to dump their excess Space Channel 5 inventory...
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Right on head, as a matter of fact.
It is appropriate that Daly's broadcasting presence is being termed a "simulacrum" becuase that is exactly the term P. K. Dick uses to describe the androids built to help colonize the moon in We Can Build You. The simulacra are originally built as a potential source of profit and though they are never produced in mass, the idea is that they would make perfect laborers (nannies). This idea is present also in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (which gets represented in the form of replicants in the Hollywood translation, Bladerunner)
But this is all a long way of saying that simulacra will displace humans from their jobs. I'm not saying this is a bad thing (though it is in some respects). Just saying that labor issues are a main source of the controversy, in addition to the manufacturing of corporate-sponsored national taste disguised as authentic local style.
(Regarding regional inhabitants, New Yorkers are New Yorkers while people living in L. A. are Los Angelenos.)
blog
If you want to get slashdot sued for copyright violation, you're going about it the right way. Fair Use does not mean you can rip the entire thing.
Best Slashdot Co
A long time ago, the local radio station was holding a contest, where you could win the Top 40. My little brother won one week. We got a box with four LP's, a half-hour per side, with the pre-recorded Casey Casem's America's Top 40 radio show on it. Old people like myself remember the turntables where you could stack a few LP's on top, and at the end of one, the arm would move out of the way, the next record drops, and the arm starts on the next record. The LP's were mastered in such a way to play the show this way, in order. There were comercials in there and everything. When the show played, the only place for local content was the station identifier break every half hour.
"The most sensible request of government we make is not, "Do something!" But "Quit it!"
Have you ever seen the no remote controle icon on your DVD? It comes up when you try to press the menu button to get away from the FBI warning and studio adverts. It's not nearly effective, howerver, as having a wife. Just try to tell her you don't want a TV on all day!
How long before our TVs watch what WE'RE doing so advertisers can see what effect they're having?
The TV does not need to know. Your Tivo or cable box knows what you watch and your credit card knows what you buy. Put the two togeter. The next generation of digital TVs will complete the loop for all TVs.
How long before Max is invading MY TV screen?
As others have pointed out, you won't get anything as fun as Max.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Try this:
If your mother's home cooking can be replaced with such a simple stuff then we are not losing much. If the most brain-dead table fare can pass the nutrition test then perhaps your mother need to do her homework, learn more about her community and really have somthing to offer.
Rather than describe this as wiz-bang tech, I'd describe it as poor cooking by local moms. Don't get me wrong, I do want good local cooking. I do not want junk generic food spewed by a "local mom" (read moved in from out of state last week).
Oh dear, I'm afraid it's frozen fish sticks for you in the Clear Channel Commune. They passed the nutition test and it's so much cheaper to raise children that way.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Listen to the tune by Tom Petty, "The Last DJ"
Let me guess, those services are provided by the fine folks at Cirius cybernetics Corporation.