Continuity announcer
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A continuity announcer is a broadcaster whose voice (and, in some cases, face) appears between radio or television programmes to give programme information.
Continuity announcers tell viewers and listeners which channel they are watching at the moment (or which station they are tuned to), what they are about to see (or hear), and what they could be watching (or listening) if you changed to a different channel. For example, on the British television network BBC One, the announcer might say "You're watching BBC1. In a moment it's the News, while just starting on BBC2 is the first in a new series of 'Owl Watching for Beginners'". At the end of programmes, they may read out information about the previous programme, for example who presented and produced it. They also play any music during the interval, and give details of programmes later in the day. If there is a breakdown they make any necessary announcements and often play music for its duration.
Continuity announcements typically take one of two forms:
- Out-of-vision, where only the announcer's voice is heard, either over the end sequence of a programme or on-screen graphics. With appropriate training in sound and vision mixing, this can be achieved with a single person acting as both voice and controller.
- In-vision, where the announcer seen delivering the announcement on-screen. This typically requires a number of people in a small studio, including sound engineers, vision mixers, and occasionally camera operators. Modern installations with motorised cameras can reduce this to two — the presenter, and a technical assistant to perform the "backstage" functions such as adjusting the camera and mixing.
In the 1950s when television started to spread in Europe, having in-vision announcers was the standard. Since then, there has been a move from in-vision to out-of-vision announcers. The BBC started using out-of-vision announcing in the 1960s. By the end of the 1990s, having in-vision presenters was very unusual. As of 2006, few channels use in-vision announcers, notable exceptions being Northern Irish UTV and Swedish SVT1 and TV4.
With most radio stations now broadcasting only music, few networks retain continuity announcers. Exceptions include talk stations such as SR P1, BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service: in the case of Radio 4 they have the extra tasks of reading the Shipping Forecasts and gale warnings. Many double up as newsreaders.
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[edit] In different countries
[edit] United Kingdom
In the UK, there has been a marked change in the role continuity announcers play on the main terrestrial channels. In the past, announcements pertaining to the present on-screen programme would be all that was broadcast, either briefly over the ending credits or on a still caption after the show had finished. In more recent times, with the increase in the amount of satellite and cable programming, there is now a policy to have announcements over the end credits of almost every TV show or movie. This purpose being to stop viewers from changing channels immediately and to inform them of their viewing choices. However, the main strategic intention is to keep viewers watching the same channel for as long as possible.
The BBC has not had in-vision announcers for evening programmes since the early 1960s (BBC children's TV had in-vision continuity until 1965 and has had it in a very different, much more informal form (CBBC) since 1985), but in-vision announcers used to be the norm on ITV when each region had a distinct identity. Now there is only Julian Simmons on the Northern Irish UTV service, although many other UK channels[citation needed] and the services of other countries use them exclusively.
The advent of new technology has changed how the voices work. On ITV each region would have a team of announcers broadcasting just to that particular region. Since 2002 this framework was replaced with a single team of ITV1 network continuity announcers in ITV1-branded regions. Each announcement is delivered live from London with regional announcements recorded in London and sent electronically to the specific transmission centre. Recording is how the majority of TV channels have their continuity announcers organised, with only a few still retaining live announcements.
[edit] Canada
In Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has used in-vision announcers to 'host' broadcasts for an entire evening for the past few years. The host will appear before a program to describe the episode you are about to watch. When a program has completed and the credits are rolling, the announcer will describe upcoming episodes of the just completed program and intoduce the next program at the top of the hour. The evening's host will change every day. Usually, the host is appearing in a major upcoming program the same week, giving the appearance that the host is promoting not only the next program in the evening but his or her own upcoming show. Sometimes CBC Radio newcasters or program hosts will appear as the evening TV hosts. CBC Radio One has used continuity announcers in recent years. Originally, a number of staff announcers shared the duties, however, since 2004, the service has employed actor Shauna MacDonald as its continuity announcer. Her identity remained a secret for more than a year leading her to be dubbed "Promo Girl".
OMNI Television in Toronto has used in-vision continuity announcers for the past 10 years or so. These "interstitial" segments fill in the time left in programming due to the different break structure of American TV programming, that cannot be filled by commercials in Canada due to Canadian broadcast regulations regarding the number of minutes of commercials allowable per hour. The segments range from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and in addition to announcing the station and the programs coming up, the announcers will talk about other programming, station contests, quirky news or celebrity gossip.
Other Canadian stations will fill this time in by a news update or a teaser about news stories.
[edit] See also
See bumper music for a similarly functioning idea used in talk radio in the United States.
