Voice Tracking: Who Needs Live Radio Anyways?!?!

 Voice Tracking. It's exactly what you would think from what it's called.Voice tracking is pre-recording an entire show or shows ahead of time so that what the listening audience hears is canned, not live. Some people say "if you're good at it, the audience won't know" but isn't that equally lame and deceitful?In many cases, especially with the big guys (Clear Channel, Infinity, Entercom) you have people who are located in other cities voice tracking the show that you hear in your city.People tend to be very divided on the voice tracking issue. There are those who love it and think it's an amazing advance in the radio world and there are those who see it as pure evil.My take on it? After being on both sides of it, I think it's evil.Here's a few key reasons as to why I fall on that side of it:- One of the things that's fun about being a radio DJ is BEING THERE!! Talking to the listeners when they call in, being there to talk about things that have happened over the course of the day (kinda hard when it's pre-taped!) etc...It's all playlisted, so you can't get a request on anyways, but how crappy that you can't even call and talk to the DJ. Radio is supposed to be FOR THE LISTENERS!- Jobs! Voice tracking is all about consolidation of work loads, which is why you find it is more prominent in the big corporations. It's cutting jobs in the long run. You have PD's and MD's who are also part of the on-air staff. They are overloaded with work that needs to be done in their offices, so they voice track the show and work in their offices at the same time. They're on salary, so it's no extra dollars spent for the company. Another shining example of what radio should NOT be. Here's another job loss example:There's a station here in town that flipped their format last December to an alternative/wave style rock. Musically it was up my alley and from what I knew, there was a promising staff being hired on with folks I know and respect moving to that station. So I tried like hell to get a meeting with the PD. We chatted here and there, but nothing came of it and I assumed they'd made a choice. They had and she wasn't here. Soon after, I heard a very familiar voice in one of the slots I was hoping to interview for. Low and behold it was a woman who'd worked in this market for MANY years and had moved to the Mid West. Turns out she does a show in the Mid West and voice tracks what we hear here every day. I'm not saying the job should have been mine, but it should have been someone in this town! This same thing happens all the time. I just saw it at another major station here. The afternoon drive time slot came open and they filled it with a guy in Spokane who was already on the payroll as a voice tracked weekender and now voice tracks the afternoons as well. Consolidation.He's very open about it and almost boasts about how he tracks so many stations each week. I asked him once, "How does it make you feel taking jobs from people in those cities?" and he said "The job was gonna go to someone and I need the money just as much as the next guy, so why not take it?" It's a capitalistic stance and I completely disagree. I guarantee you there are a TON of talented people in the cities he voice tracks who would have loved the opportunity. - I had a few situations where I had to voice track shows and it sucked. I had 4 jobs at the time, all radio. KEXP is my priority. It's the most challenging, fun, real radio job there is and it's where I want to be for the long haul so I make it a priority. I would be scheduled to work at KEXP and the "big time" station would say "No problem, just voice track your show". So I would be on the radio in 2 places at once in the same city. I addressed it a few times, but there was no concern because they said there was no shared audience. It drove me crazy! I felt guilty about it and hated the feeling that I was deceiving people. I don't work there anymore.All this did was cement my feelings about how amazing KEXP is. They are truly and anomaly.Having to make ends meet in radio when you're part time is really hard. That's why most part time radio folks tend to have multiple jobs. That's why I've been to so many stations here. I keep hoping I'll find something that's radio related that will make ends meet, but having found KEXP has made that SO difficult. In a good way. See, it's such a great example of how a radio station should be, that I can't tolerate anything else anymore.