The trend of AI is extremely hard to escape these days. You can't go a day on the internet without hearing another breakthrough it's created. It's swept across almost every industry, and now, AI in radio is here. Or to put it more frankly - it's been in the broadcasting industry for awhile now and we're just starting to see its effects.
From Spotify's AI DJ to Will.i.am's AI-driven radio app and that Polish radio station that shut down after replacing human presenters with artificial ones...we've seen plenty of good, bad, and downright scary cases.
Does that mean the human-powered broadcasting industry is over? Does it mean AI is coming for your broadcasting job and it's time to pack up your equipment and find a new career?
Don't fret. We believe the answer is incredibly nuanced.
In this Live365 broadcaster article, we're going to unpack the pros and cons of artificial intelligence in the broadcasting industry. How it's taken away radio jobs, how it's aided other audio jobs, and what it all means for you. Our aim is not to remove the concern you feel. (Unfortunately, AI in radio is too new for us to truly know it's long-term effects.) Rather, to inform you about how our broadcasting industry is changing – so you can stay on top of the trends and decide whether or not it's right for you.
How AI Can Replace Broadcasters
Synthetic Voices and AI DJs
Perhaps the most well-known (and controversial) way in which AI has hit the broadcasting industry is the use of synthetic voices. It's true: you don't need to have an entertaining human in a studio speak into a microphone anymore. Artificial intelligence is able to mimic human vocal patterns and deliver radio copy, news, weather, song transitions, and cheeky remarks all by itself.
For radio stations willing to lay off staff in order to save some cash, synthetic voices are a blessing, because they are available 24/7 and can fill in for human hosts during overnight or hard-to-fill shifts. Another capability? They are able to utilize voice cloning. This means companies can clone a human host's voice to create an AI double when they're not available in-person. For example, Portland's Live 95.5 famously debuted "AI Ashley": a cloned voice of a human host in 2023. While it's great that Ashley's voice can stay on-air while she's traveling or asleep, it does mean an up-and-coming human host willing to fill in for her just lost a potential job.
There's also AI-driven DJ mixers, which has thrown away the need for in-person music curation. New AI-powered software like DJ.Studio and Virtual DJ has automated and refined the mixing process. AI automixing can arrange and blend tracks automatically based on parameters like tempo, key, and energy. It also has the capability to seamlessly transition tracks and offer stem separation: the isolation of vocals, drums, or other instruments from a finished track in real-time to allow for complex remixes and mashups.
Even more – there are also personalized AI DJs on the market now. Like the aforementioned Spotify AI DJ, these systems can provide deeply personal commentary and context about a user's preferred artists and genres in-between songs. These special AI DJs – which also utilize synthetic voices – can analyze listening habits to generate customized playlists that mix user favorites with new recommendations. So unless there comes a day where a real-life human broadcaster can sit next to you 24/7 and access your digital music library, personalized AI DJs can perform a function human DJs can't.
Scriptwriting
To be honest, AI will most likely not be fully replacing radio scriptwriters. There's a level of human ingenuity and spirit AI simply can't replicate. But the technology has significantly changed the field, and we feel it's worth mentioning.
Just give AI like ChatGPT a couple commands, and it's possible to generate entire show scripts, prep notes and outlines, ad copy, promo spots, and news breaks instantaneously. Something that can take several hours is boiled down to seconds with various AI tools.
AI programs can scan social media and local news in real-time to create scripts that are highly relevant to a station's specific market or audience. This helps broadcasters create "live and local" content – even during those late-night unstaffed dayparts. Additionally, platforms like Audio.co and ENCO's Weatherology use AI to generate scripts for newscasts, traffic, and weather reports using synthetic voices. And for advertising, AI is able to generate multiple brand-aligned script variations. So if a sponsor is picky about how they want their copy read on-air...well, now you can quickly hand them alternate options if they don't like your first idea.
If we had to criticize all this AI scriptwriting help, we'd say it's concerning how much it's automated entry-level and technical work. In a sense, it's cheapened the job positions. While we don't think AI is capable of having scriptwriters fired (especially with the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike securing protections for film, TV, and radio writers' employment and credit), we won't be surprised if greedy companies use AI's resourcefulness as an excuse to lower pay and provide less benefits to human scribes. We don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for employers to tell writers to have AI do all the work, and then just let the humans edit its progress with "finishing touches." While the productivity is accelerated, the creativity and imagination – which many writers find worthwhile – is stifled.
Social Media Management
Let's not forget: running a radio station is more than just sitting in a studio playing songs. It also takes a marketing team to grow a successful broadcasting brand. That's where social media managers come in. They plan, design, and schedule posts across various social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, X, etc.) with the hopes of hooking in new audiences who will check out the station's pages.
Yup: AI can do social media management, too. Some AI software is capable of generating various content formats – including text, images, and even videos – based on brand voice, trending topics, and historical data. AI can also automatically convert long-from content into shorter reels and carousels. And with the power of smart scheduling, AI can analyze audience behavior and engagement patterns to determine the best times of day to post.
But that's not all. Besides various data analyzing capabilities, social media AI can utilize social listening: the ability to monitor conversations across social platforms, tracking brand mentions and gauging public sentiment to protect reputation and identify opportunities. There's also capabilities such as ad optimization (which can help improve ad efficiency), social media influencer identification (which automatically identifies relevant influencers to partner with), and brand reputation management (which provides quick responses to negative feedback and comments about a product).
Just like with scriptwriters, it's unlikely AI will fully replace social media managers. We'd say its data analyzing capabilities and power to perform mundane tasks is quite useful. But its ability to design text, images, and videos is what frightens us a little. After all, does art and content have the same impact if it's entirely created by a soulless machine? Also, are responses to dissatisfied customers genuine if they're essentially coming from a robot?
AI's social media capabilities has been a boon to some employees. But do some digging on the internet, and you'll find that some social media managers have already been losing their marketing jobs due to AI's capabilities.
Radio GPT
We can't publish a piece about AI in radio without briefly mentioning Futuri Media's Radio GPT. It's an AI tool that combines different technologies to “host” a radio show. Basically, it combines the aforementioned synthetic voice, DJ'ing, and scriptwriting capabilities of AI to create entirely new radio shows on a station.
Radio GPT uses GPT-4 technology to create scripts and digital content based on what's trending in a local market. Even more – it can produce content for the station's website and social media channels in real time.
Stations can select from a variety of synthetic AI voices for single-, duo-, or trio-hosted shows, or train the AI with their existing personalities’ voices. Programming is available for individual dayparts, or RadioGPT can power the entire station itself.
Why hire employees when you have AI that can do everything for you?
How AI Has Helped Broadcasters
Cleaning Up Audio
There are now several AI tools that can help sound editors and audio engineers perform complex audio processing tasks in a shorter amount of time! Features like noise reduction, dialogue isolation, reverb and echo removal, audio quality enhancement, and even filler word removal (such as "um" and "ah") are all possible with the click of a button thanks to various AI programs.
Some popular AI sound editing software that has popped up over the last few years include Adobe Podcast (Adobe Enhance), Riverside's Magic Audio, Descript's Studio Sound, and Aphonic. There are also numerous other specialized plug-ins, such as Waves Clarity VX and Acon Digital Dialogue Extract, that provide specific AI-powered functions for dialogue cleanup and noise suppression.
Assisting Scriptwriters
"But wait a minute...didn't you just talk about how AI has cheapened the role of a radio scriptwriter?"
Yes, but we'd like to think of this point as a "glass half empty, glass half full" kind of situation. With the right intentions, AI has the power to greatly assist scriptwriters instead of taking away their power.
We've all experienced the struggle of trying to break through writer's block under a tight deadline. For a radio scriptwriter who needs to send in a first draft of an ad break to a demanding client in a short amount of time, AI can be used as that little spark which ignites a flame of creativity.
AI tools can be used as brainstorming boosters, generating creative plot ideas, segment topics, and compelling headlines for various radio formats. Speaking of formats, AI can be used to explore new formats scriptwriters have not played around with before. By analyzing listener data and trending topics, AI can suggest new show concepts, listener call-in topics, or curated playlists that are likely to resonate with a station's target audience.
AI also offers a great amount of editing assistance for completed drafts. Instead of going back and trying to find mistakes yourself, programs like Grammarly offer grammar, style, and rephrasing suggestions. And for scriptwriters who also have to perform transcribing duties? AI is able to automatically transcribe interviews or live segments – saving hours of manual work so blog posts, show notes, and social media captions can be created more easily.
Data Analysis
Perhaps the most useful and practical way AI can be used in radio is through its various data-collecting capabilities. AI algorithms can analyze listener data (history, location, and feedback) to suggest smarter playlists, recommend songs, and tailor content to overall audience preferences. And all that leads to potentially more engaging show experiences.
With audience insight capabilities, AI can identify engagement patterns, predict trends, and understand audience sentiment. For a broadcaster, all of this data can better inform programming decisions and content strategy. AI can also give radio station owners ad attribution analysis (so individual listeners can have more targeted ads that WON'T annoy them), analysis about radio frequency (RF) patterns so that network connection is clearer, and data about other competing radio stations. And as we mentioned before, AI can provide key statistics about social media platform engagement, too!
With all of its data analysis capabilities, AI is like a compass that can help broadcasters steer their station in the right direction. There's no need to do the guesswork anymore, and it saves your business from so many failed attempts and time-wasting mistakes. We're sure AI's suggestions in this department aren't always foolproof, but we feel it's better to get highly-educated suggestions and insightful data than having to take leaps with future programming decisions.
The Takeaways
With AI, it's not a matter of how skilled the software is and if it can outperform you: it's about how you choose to use it. Broadcasters who use AI to replace jobs and pit humans against each other may save some money in the long run, but are doomed to run into controversy and infamy. At Live365, we believe using AI correctly means having it ASSIST in your productivity rather than taking away from your work ethic. It's all about collaboration, not replacement!
Go ahead and let AI aid in your brainstorming. Let it help you save time in cleaning up audio. Let it provide you with useful data that can aid in creating influential radio shows. But don't let it take away your job title. Or, if you're an employer, don't let it take away the jobs your company offers.
There is a right way to use AI. Its purpose is to help your role, not take over it. The beauty of AI is that it's primarily designed to aid with mundane, tedious, routine tasks...so that it gives you more time to focus on the creative, meaningful, fun stuff.
Whether you choose to utilize AI in your future broadcasting endeavors or not, we hope this piece has given you some resonating insight about how our radio industry is growing into the future. And hopefully, it's made you feel a little less frightened. Happy broadcasting!
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Article Image: A humainoid AI robot works in a radio station studio. (stockasso via DepositPhotos).
