A Disc Jockey that touches alternative rock melodies in Edmonton’s waves on Sunday night is presented and jokes that they regularly wonder about firmware updates.
His sarcasm, he says, also correlates automatically.
When he began to present, he says that the songs in his program would be cushioned during the transitions.
“Now, Remezula the traffic reports,” says Sarah, a DJ of AI during a weekly radio program two hours before presenting Welcome to the black parade by the American rock band My Chemical Romance.
Rogers Sports & Media says that Sarah began organizing on Sundays at midnight at Sonic 102.9 a few years ago.
Lori Beckstead, radio and sound studies at the Metropolitan University of Toronto, says that the computerized DJ is one of the few that have appeared in the radio stations throughout Canada and the world in recent years.
“We are at this stage in the world of technology that we can create voices out of nowhere, basically using the personality and sound human,” said Beckstead.
Rogers Sports & Media, in a statement, says that the use of technology is purely additive to the station.
“It is at a schedule that did not have a DJ before, so there are no personnel impacts,” said a spokesman in an email.
“We are using technology to explore opportunities to improve the listener’s experience on the radio during music programming.”
Rogers says that a human producer supervises Sarah’s scripts and guides the content throughout the transmission.
Rogers did not answer questions about the hiring of a human to organize Sunday’s schedule or if Sarah would be a permanent characteristic of the radio station.
Beckstead said that Sarah’s presence during a weekend broadcast not so late in Edmonton is discouraging.
“In a commercial company, the objective is to earn as much money as possible,” he said.
“I would appreciate the AI to do the jobs you can do, if we live in a society where humans who are displaced could have a basic level of income.”
Chris Byrnes, the owner of Byrnes Communications Inc., said that his radio presenters, Cleo and Layla, were one of the first to reach Canadian waves when they launched with a couple of Ontario stations two years ago.
“We cannot find anyone who works during the night … so we decided that putting a voice of the night was better than anything,” he said in a telephone interview.
“He is not taking any work.”
Cleo and Layla hosts from midnight to 5:30 am, he said, until a human takes over to inform thousands of local news, traffic and weather during the morning trip.
Initially they only played music and talked about the weather, said Byrnes, but now the station is announcing other programs in their scripts.
Once every hour, they choose a topic of a platform that scan social networks to see what people are talking about within the geographical limit of the station, he said.
Then, they execute it through their own computerized filtration system, eliminating misinformation or offensive information, before discussing the issue in the air.
They also look at the music record and look for information about artists before playing their music. Before presenting a Sabrina Carpenter pop star song, Cleo describes the artist as a former Disney Channel actress.
Station workers will listen to the programs again to capture errors, including the moment when one of the riders predicted Regina, the city in Saskatchewan, said Byrnes.
Over time, said byrnes, the station has played with how the riders sound like the rhythm of their voices and personalities.
“We can choose the voice we want,” he said. “Do we want it to be shameless? Do we want it to be sarcastic? We want it to be brilliant?
“We have played with that to get a voice that we think works.”
After two years of work, he described the riders as a “basic” sound.
Bynres said between 10,000 and 15,000 people listen to Cleo and Layla during the night.
Even so, he said that AI will not completely replace the talent in the air.
“But I think those who do not hug the AI will end up being replaced,” he said. “The reality is that we are all interacting with ia several times a day. Most of us don’t even realize.”
