Radio speak (Part 1) Why we’re all turning into brainless bots. Sort of.

So, here’s the moment when your radio alarm goes off and the DJ, all-bright-and-breezy, says:

“Hey! Good Morning! It’s now five-after-the-hour of six AM in the big Monster City.”

The slick breakfast jock is actually Mike. He’s really good at doing impersonations and spouting cliches like this.

Either way, what’s this I can see? Is that really flab hanging over the bed…? Eww!

And for the English language pedants, the question arises about this time-based geographic specificity of Mike’s. Perhaps in other locations it’s not actually five past six? And maybe those redundant jock-speak words imply some weird form of zonal time dilation. Maybe.

Billy Crystal has the perfect voice for the Mike Wazowski character, and in this clip he captures the rubbish we radio presenters talk as soon as the mic light goes red in the studio. It is, sometimes, frankly nonsense.

I admit that I, too, am guilty of returning to stock-phrases such as,

“You’re listening to… on FM, online and on your phone, and if you want to drop me a line the e-mail is… dot com”

…sort of thing. At best it fills five seconds, during which I can quickly think about what on earth to say next or wrangle with the mixer or the computer. Or just panic.

However, for each radio DJ that’s going down the dead end of spouting inane cliches there is always another who has turned those very catch phrases into an art form.

Try this. “Hi there pop-pickers.” I don’t ever remember Alan’s voice being quite so well-spoken and clearly enunciated. And I had forgotten how well-educated and erudite his scripts actually were.

Fluff was the exception to the rule. But this is now the 21st century. So, I’ll be considering how lapsing into radio-speak is a constant danger for us presenters and DJs. I’ll have more detail in a future article, including observations about the relentless advance of AI into our creative industries. Sign up to find out more in the next piece in this series. 100% human.

In the meantime, what we say on-air and what others say about us as we speak through the microphone into the aether is a recurring theme of my current book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/radios-legacy-in-popular-culture-9781501388231/  .

Radio’s Legacy is the story of radio’s first 100 years as told through literature, movies pop songs and art. You can get a preview – before you buy – about my methods.

This link takes you to Chapter One – which is available to look at for free online: https://bloomsburycp3.codemantra.com/viewer/61c091c75f150300016f10af  

Thank you for reading. Do sign up to receive a new piece every month, around the 14th – just before the BBC’s regular payday for staff and freelancers. And part two is here: https://prefadelisten.com/2025/09/15/radio-speak-part-2-bots-and-ai-on-air-what-could-possibly-go-wrong/