08/10/98

We live in the age of technology, in which more peoples' jobs become endangered each day because of this technology. Computers and machines can do more simple and not-so-simple jobs that were once done by humans.

Usually, though, the jobs replaced are of the manual labour type. However, I believe a more "cushy desk job" is in danger. The job in question is that of the Disk Jockey.

Come on, think about it. Do most DJ's actually differ from each other all that much? Especially here in Saskatchewan, most radio stations are close to identical. They play nearly the same songs every day, with little variety. They introduce the songs almost the same way all of the time.

So I think that computers will soon replace DJ's. Perhaps they will get the former DJ's to record a few different introductions for the various songs, then let them go. As computer voice synthesis gets better, soon the computers will introduce the songs themselves. Add a random song program, the ability to handle the news, and you're set.

Of course, there's still request hour. Voice-recognition software is pretty good, but it's not good enough to understand the voice of some random person whose voice it hasn't been trained to recognize, talking over a cel phone.

Also, recording all of the voice samples for song introductions, along with the little facts the DJs give about songs and groups, would be time-consuming and expensive.

So, maybe the Disk Jockey isn't dead quite yet. Just give it a couple of years, and you'll see. It might not be so bad at all; no computer in the world could replace Howard Stern.