Maybe I was not paying close attention, but it seems that I heard a computer generated voice on 970 one morning as part of the local content of "The Dennis Miller Show". Could I have been mistaken?

Yes, I heard it too, and I think it's awful. Just another example of automation taking over from live voices on the radio.

Was its on-air name "Otto"? ;o)

Oh-oh! Does this sound like the synthesized voices that went on the air at NOAA weather radio stations a few years ago?

ha, ha

it's am Emerson/Riley gag

the newsbot 2000

Heh..

Just wait until it gets hacked!

100,000 watts of, "You Fu**ers all Suck!"

Yeah, can't wait.

Seriously, there is a serious trend toward producing digital works that are as compelling as those done with warm bodies. It's getting difficult to differentiate the two sometimes, particularly where they are mixed!

I have a problem with this as I really don't think real entertainment can come directly from computers. That may change when we get artificial intelligences, but for now, it's driven by somebody some where.

So, the net result of this stuff is that we continue to dilute the value inherent in people. That dilution, IMHO, is one of the primary drivers for the ongoing format churn we are seeing. Post it up, get people interested because it's different. Maybe not all that much different, but different enough to talk about some.

Then, run it until the gig is up, then do it again.

The net result is fewer content creation efforts per listener served per day = higher overall margins.

Bummer.

Foxbat is correct-it's just Rick Emerson and Tim Riley having a bit o' fun. It's SUPPOSED to sound gawdawful.

They did the Presidential speech from "Independence Day" with the News-bot and it was awesome!
Maybe.... Just maybe someday they could replace Rick with the News-bot....
I'm just sayin'.......

I heard the tail end of this " newsbot" the otherday driving the slog up to Seattle.
It sounds real to me, as CBS just cut a bunch of people, and what better way to save money then by having a computer generated voice delivering the news? I've had a theory for a while that if the technology ever REALLY got good, even VT'd positions might be taken over by computer generated voices. Maybe this is a sign of things to come?

It's a JOKE, folks!
I swear, this is like trying to tell a "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke, and getting a "I think it's awful that people don't care enough for their livestock to keep them properly penned up. Why isn't somebody looking into this problem??" type of response.

Well, my post still stands. It's just early. Just wait. Somebody is GONNA TRY IT.

Well, once again-it is a COMPUTER generated voice, reading real stories and weather ( not fake stories). How is that a joke? NOAA does the same thing, and that's not a joke. It dissemenates in a computer generated voice sometimes life saving messages.

"Just maybe someday they could replace Rick with the News-bot...."

That would be great.

Talkbot 1972.

I'd rather hear a computer doing rip-and-read from Google News at the top of the hour rather than NO news because SuperMegaCorp is too cheap to pay someone to do real rip-and-read.

Interesting...

The Newsbot is very soothing.

ALL HAIL NEWSBOT!!!!

From my mole at CBS I understand that Newsbot was seen at a Genoa with the EAS Tone Generator.