HELLO IS THIS THING ON?
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Hello is this thing on?
You know the sound. That screaming high pitched noise that makes you cringe - the sound of the microphone giving feedback. Whether it’s a school p.a. system, the microphone at a press conference or the mic at a radio station or TV news desk, or even live on stage at a concert or stand-up comedy club - the screech has been heard, the shoulders crunched, the eyes, squint and the holding of the ear with with a “Yow….!”
Some people don’t give this much thought. But there is a reason for this beyond the technical – it’s just a matter of being reminded… “are you listening?”
Sure, we could have softer and gentler reminders than that, but it’s much like the morning alarm clock going off – are you going to wake up if you hear smooth jazz or are you going to wake up if the alarm is blaring an unwelcomed and noisy buzz?
But are you really listening at all?
In a noisy world, where everyone is talking and we’re being delivered hundreds of messages a minute, the art of listening goes beyond what we think we hear. Sometimes the real message is in what is not being said. Our world operates in “select” delivery of information – a censored and pre-meditated/pre-marketed version of the information we receive put in a nice and neat little package.
If you ever listen to a telemarketing call really carefully, you’ll hear something kind of interesting – that the conversation you are about to have is not only manipulated and well-crafted to slant a certain direction so you give the appropriate answers, but you’ll also hear how you are being rushed to answer the questions. Let’s be honest –if they truly wanted to hear your opinion, they’d take the time to hear it now, wouldn’t they?
In the world of public relations, publicists are used to hearing the word ‘no’ a lot from media, in the same breath they also deliver that word to sales executives asking for the ‘advertorial.’ And in a world that is designed to sell magazines, newspapers and get ratings for TV programs, the word ‘no’ takes on a specific shape… and a specific sound. If you combine reverb in an echo chamber with microphone feedback, perhaps you’ll know what this feels like.
More recently with the economy, a new battle has emerged. You have the Indie group vs. the mainstream corporate conglomerate group. And with many jobs being lost or downsized in the market – those who have the tuning fork pressed firmly in the arm on the funny bone are realizing business segregation is both a blessing and a curse.
The high-pitched microphone feedback is really saying that perhaps the ivory tower is shining a blinding light. The reality is that business hasn’t necessarily ‘changed’ … in fact it is just the market that’s changed. But the way of doing business is as same as it ever was ‘no’ still means ‘no’ and feedback sometimes screeches. The only difference is that now many are armed with shining their own light and are plugged in.
Screeeeeeech.
© Media Monster Communications, Inc.
