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The Secret Life of the Continuity Announcer
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27-12-2021, 04:24 PM
Radio 4's Media Show on Wednesday (29th December) has a fascinating episode - The Secret Life of the Continuity Announcer
Guest include current and former CAs including Duncan Newmarch and David Allan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012qg...SdcgbYPmtw
"They don't want your name, just your number".
29-12-2021, 05:40 PM
Hang on a minute...David on this programme has said a continuity should not be too 'overfamiliar' with the audience, so how come a recent (annoying) thing announcers keep doing is telling us their own name!! And things like, "stay with me tonight" or "I'm with you for tonight"...etc. All far to overfamiliar for me!
Bit of a contradiction there, but I whole heartily agree with David on this.
"From today you'll hear some new voices when you're watching UTV, as for the time being we're handing over to our colleagues at ITV, but rest assured Julian and I will be back with you as soon as possible"
Gillian Porter, UTV (2nd April 2020; 5:59am)
29-12-2021, 06:26 PM
Jon post_id=60697 time= user_id=1050 Wrote:Yet, you seem happy to be on first name terms with Julian and Gillian. The point is I don't recall Julian or Gillian ever quoting their own name in announcements. Everyone just knew it was Julian by the voice or by seeing him in vision without having to be told by them who they are.
"From today you'll hear some new voices when you're watching UTV, as for the time being we're handing over to our colleagues at ITV, but rest assured Julian and I will be back with you as soon as possible"
Gillian Porter, UTV (2nd April 2020; 5:59am)
29-12-2021, 06:49 PM
This is UTV post_id=60699 time= user_id=1188 Wrote:The point is I don't recall Julian or Gillian ever quoting their own name in announcements.Well apart from your signature. Agree with you on this one though - irrationally annoys me when they announce themselves as the voice for the evening, but feels more appropriate when they give themselves a name check when they sign off.
@Brekkietweets
29-12-2021, 07:27 PM
Brekkie post_id=60708 time= user_id=976 Wrote:This is UTV post_id=60699 time= user_id=1188 Wrote:The point is I don't recall Julian or Gillian ever quoting their own name in announcements.Well apart from your signature. I did think of this particular announcement when writing my response in this thread but that from Gillian was a super rare situation she was in. Both J and G didn't make a habit under normal duties of mentioning themselves...they made it all about "The UTV" and what "The UTV" has to offer us, not about themselves. Quote:Agree with you on this one though - irrationally annoys me when they announce themselves as the voice for the evening, but feels more appropriate when they give themselves a name check when they sign off. Yes , signing off I'm fine with. That's just them 'end crediting' themselves, in place of their name appearing as text onscreen which of course doesn't happen, so them doing it verbally is fine.
"From today you'll hear some new voices when you're watching UTV, as for the time being we're handing over to our colleagues at ITV, but rest assured Julian and I will be back with you as soon as possible"
Gillian Porter, UTV (2nd April 2020; 5:59am)
30-12-2021, 11:26 AM
This is UTV post_id=60695 time= user_id=1188 Wrote:Hang on a minute...David on this programme has said a continuity should not be too 'overfamiliar' with the audience, so how come a recent (annoying) thing announcers keep doing is telling us their own name!! And things like, "stay with me tonight" or "I'm with you for tonight"...etc. All far to overfamiliar for me!Presumably because that's David's opinion and he is not in charge of how things are done today? Not a contradiction at all
30-12-2021, 12:07 PM
Indeed, that was very clearly stated as being the guidance David was given when he started many decades ago.
At the risk of splitting hairs, I do wonder about the audience figures Duncan was discussing - the Christmas Doctor Who may have got X million viewers, but a significant number of those would have heard a Nations announcer.
Write that down in your copybook now
30-12-2021, 01:08 PM
I agree on the ‘stay with ME’ etc? Feels a bit needy. Much preferred ‘stay with BBC One’
30-12-2021, 01:16 PM
I'm not gonna get involved in the debate above, but I must say that it's a very informative and entertaining listen. I just fear that I'm gonna lay in bed tonight, and remember the line "volcanic erection"!
30-12-2021, 01:41 PM
I think the personal greetings are a nice device (when done well) - I think it helps to differentiate live TV from VoD, and it's another way to give personality to a channel. That said, it's a fine balance to avoid it becoming cringey... personally I'm not a fan of when the 10 second announcements become mini radio show sketches, but don't mind a namecheck or warm greeting every now and then, just to prove it's all live.
I also wonder how much of it is consciously - or unconsciously - about building a case for live announcements? There are budget cuts happening all over the place, and automation is the normal route for most channels... it doesn't hurt to demonstrate the power of a human doing live announcements every now and then, otherwise how will people know what they'd miss without it? |
