[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'188322\' date=\'Jun 16 2008, 08:35 PM\']No, it's just that newer game shows and game show openings are designed without needing an announcer. Much like newer primetime shows have short intros, themes, etc... if any theme at all.
I'd want to say that maybe one reason announcers are going by the wayside is perhaps union-related? (IIRC, most if not all game shows shot at the facilities of the Big 3 nets all had announcers and now that more and more shows are shot at neutral locations, it's not a required union issue, no???) [/quote]
There are 2 reasons for the change, neither relating to the union nor the facility rented for a show.
First, like the observation you make about short intros/themes, the idea is to engage the viewer at the very top of the show before he can find and click the remote. The entrance of the host to the sight of flashing strobe lights and the sound of a screaming crowd, like a rock concert, is thought to be most engaging in those vital first seconds.
Second. $$$$$$... one less employee, especially one due residuals when the show is repurposed in perpetuity in formats and delivery systems not yet invented, on planets not yet discovered.
Now as far as the network or station announcers go, they have become extinct because voicetracking technology has become so economical and easy to do, as well as the cost of farming out work to "independent contractors" who pay for their own benefits & insurance and are not on the official company payroll -- just like how it is in radio. I'm sure that Mr. West can give us the definitive answer(s).
Right, and thanks! Oh, the now defunct staff announcer/booth announcer gig. Pardo, Reig, Dirk Fredricks, Fred Foy and dozens of other guys spending a shift sitting around, watching TV in the union required Announcers' Lounge for 28 minutes between booth VO duties, when not assigned to record promos, spots or other needed tracks during their shifts. I had a few months of that when I was hired by a now defunct shopping channel that provided a Winnebago for 3 announcers a day, each doing an 8 hour shift, to waste 28 minutes between plugs for what's coming up in the next hour and/or the weekend-long "fiesta of fine jewelry"
The technology allowing for voicetracking did ultimately lead to the demise of the booth announcer gig, but only after a couple of decades during which the unions lost power and made concessions. My buddy Johnny Donovan at WABC radio in New York benefitted when ABC finally exerted enough pressure at contract renegotiations with AFTRA that resulted in numerous staff announcer positions being eliminated. The concession was that one staffer, Johnny, has a full-time job, ostensibly for life, even though he doesn't even go in to the station every day.
Contrast that arrangement to when, in the 1960s, all the WABC jocks were categorized as staff announcers paid on a scale arranged when ABC radio presented individual programs. Four times every hour Dan Ingram was paid as if he had served as the announcer for another 15 minute radio show.
Randy
tvrandywest.com
