Large Ham Radio
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Radio, especially the amateur variety, will always attract a certain type of DJ/Announcer, namely a Large Ham. At least in fiction.
Anyone put in front of a radio mic, even if he's never seen one before, will instantly switch into a confident DJ-persona, complete with nickname, Catch Phrases and a smooth baritone voice. Otherwise they might become an abrasive Dumbass DJ. Whatever style he chooses, there won't be a second's hesitation, confusion, dead air or any other problems you might expect of a Naive Newcomer.
If it's ham radio they're getting into, it's very likely they'll also immediately turn into a Soapbox Sadie Conspiracy Theorist convinced that the government wants to shut them down.
Another common variant, more popular in the United Kingdom, is the Tony Blackburn-esque (probably better known to younger generations as Smashie and Nicey-esque) cheesy 1970s pop DJ.
Not to be confused with Radio Voice. Closely related to Danger Deadpan, a similar effect caused by speaking over an aeroplane intercom. Compare Large Ham Announcer.
Examples of Large Ham Radio include:
Advertising
- Subverted in this Berlitz ad (which is actually a Norwegian commercial, not German).
Fanfic
- In the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic fanfic The Vinyl Scratch Tapes, the titular character is a radio Talk Show host. She's also a combination Cloudcuckoolander, Genki Girl and Jerk with a Heart of Gold who often makes Rousing Speeches about The Power of Rock.
Film
- I'll risk the cooties by adding: There's a character like this in High School Musical.
- The character of Jack Scott is endemic to the stage version. There's no such character in the movies.
- Lee Jordan of Harry Potter, who regularly loses control of his temper when commentating at quidditch, becomes incredibly smooth when it comes time to be the Voice of the Resistance.
- Pump Up the Volume
- Robin Williams' as Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning Vietnam is the film embodiment of this trope.
Literature
- Rose, aka Mother, the communications officer of Phule's Company. In person, she's so cripplingly shy that hardly anyone has ever managed to speak to her face-to-face, but over radio equipment she becomes talkative and even flirtatious. Apparently she had a stutter as a child and became afraid of the sound of her own voice, but later discovered that she didn't mind so much when she was speaking into sound equipment.
- Lee Jordan, the definitely-not-neutral Quidditch announcer from the Harry Potter novels.
Live Action TV
- The Big Bang Theory [context?]
- "Dr X," Ted's old College Radio alter ego on How I Met Your Mother. He's universally mocked for it.
- Hal on Malcolm in the Middle does this when he buys a ham radio.
- 3rd Rock from the Sun had (usually mild-mannered Cloudcuckoolander) Harry turn into an abrasive talk-radio jock when he and Tommy take over the college station for the holidays.
- In M*A*S*H, the outfit obtains a mess of swing records. Radar (the normally timid type) takes the records and creates a makeshift radio station over the speakers, with him as DJ. That is, before Colonel Potter makes him play "Sentimental Journey" over and over and...
- Sam spent one episode of Quantum Leap ("Good Morning, Peoria") as a DJ.
- Leo LaPorte demonstrated his "AM voice" (Large Ham Radio) and "FM voice" (Smooth and sultry) on an episode of The Screen Savers.
- WKRP in Cincinnati: Dr. Johnny Fever. [context?]
Music
- Peter Gabriel hams it up in in the song "On The Air". "Bozo is here!"
- The David Bowie song "DJ".
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"I am a DJ, I am what I play/I've got believers believing me!" |
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- My Chemical Romance's Danger Days has one of these providing narration.
Video Games
- Three Dog[1] from Fallout 3 is the very definition of this trope.
- And Best Friend Tabitha from the sequel [2] takes it one step even farther than that.
- Mr. New Vegas (Wayne Newton) is an inversion, speaking in a calm, friendly tone more appropriate to a DJ for a station that plays music from the 40s and 50s.
- Fallout 3 also features an aversion: if Three Dog[1] is killed, his replacement, Margaret, drops the news segments and prefaces the music with annoyed comments about just being a technician and the actual DJ having been killed. Apparently, just being put in front of a microphone is not sufficient for this trope to kick in in the Fallout universe.
- DJ Professor K. JET SET RADIOOOOOOOO!
Web Original
- Done in Homestar Runner, with Strong Sad, whose usual droning, whispery voice changes to a rapid-fire shock jock when on the radio, during one of the Strong Bad Emails.
- Which was entirely involuntary on Strong Sad's part. Here's the sbmail.
Western Animation
- Homer Simpson, as a ham radio operator.
- Timmy used magic to do this on an ep of Fairly Odd Parents. He had a magic mic that made anyone who spoke into it have a smooth baritone voice.
- Parodied in Phineas and Ferb, Isabella is given the chance to announce P&Fs Monster Truck Rally and does so in a deeper, louder, male voice with standard huckster dialog. In one deep breath.
- Double subverted with Family Guy: One episode had Brian end up with a radio show after criticizing the local Dumbass DJs. His show started off intelligent, NPR-ish, and performing poorly with listeners. After Stewie prank calls him a couple of times, the executives force Brian to add him to the show, at which point it devolves into exactly the kind of thing he was complaining about earlier, complete with Howard Stern-esque antics and annoying sound clips.
- Sealab 2021, "Radio Free Sealab": Captain Murphy starts a pirate radio station out of sheer boredom, adopts the DJ persona "Howlin' Mad Murphy", and conducts the usual on-air hijinx until the FCC blows him (and the rest of the station)up with a depth charge.
- In the Hey Arnold! Halloween special, this is apparently the case with the local radio station's DJ. Only when he's in front of the mic does he produce the deep voice required for his job.
Real Life
The voices other examples are parodying.
- Big radio personalities in general need to be self-promoters. Radio shows don't get the same kind of marketing push that TV shows and movies get, so successful radio hosts tend to be very comfortable with blowing their own horn.
- Gary Owens is the "announcer" voice for which everyone strives these days (unless he's trying to copy the In a World guy).
- Wolfman Jack.
- Casey Kasem.
- Averted by NPR, which has the exact opposite reputation of its hosts being very soft-spoken. As Family Guy put it:
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"This is NPR, the station where we talk very softly, directly into the microphone. Can you hear us? We're right inside your head..." |
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