Open-ended interview buffoonery
You may have seen the one-sided ‘Co-Star acting game’ record I used the other week to demonstrate the ultrasonic record cleaner.
The ‘open-end interview’ record featured in today’s video seems to be a very close relative, albeit one that wasn’t available to the public. In fact unless you were ‘in the business’ you weren’t supposed to know these things even existed. This was the DJ’s little secret, a record used for the purpose of deceiving their listeners.
This video seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to assemble an assortment of tech to create a temporary radio DJ set-up. All I needed was a total lack of live broadcast talent…and fortunately I’ve got that in spades.
I aim to record a Patreon update this week - and in that I’ll let you know how the results of Non-Enabled-Comments Gate. Take care.
Comments (106)
I approve the All-Green background 💚 with the obligatory scream 😱
Oh man, I laughed so hard watching this one, Mat.
“My music is free music.” Oh man, I was waiting for you to make a hilarious comment like “Not anymore Al… YouTube Copyright Enforcement has informed me that this music is definitely NOT free!”
I think you should have combined this with the radio tapes of "all the sexy ladies" you have in the studio with you... Forgotten the name of it now! Very entertaining 😂 Also I just realised... WTFM radio 🤣
Best interviewer ever 🤣. Be interesting to hear this being used back in the day.
Back in the day EPKs (electronic press kits) were distributed as part of a films release. Mostly on reused Betacam SP. Tapes. They contained the preview and some clips from the film, B-roll and then some interview bits where the question was written on screen inbetween the answers. so in theory you could film your film review host on a background that match the background the actor or director was sitting in and cut back and forth making it look like they were in the same room talking. Hopefully the tapes were not in too poor condition othervise there would be a difference in picture quality between clips. Not sure EPKs are made anymore, and definitely not on Betacam SP. Tapes, clips just gets distributed digitally.
Like the sight of an Austin Allegro Vanden Plas, a bad syrup brings great joy.
Great job, Mat. The rotation of the toupee reminded me of an episode of Dad's Army where Captain Mainwaring was trying to make himself look more youthful 😊
A good bad wig will never not be funny.
hahaha we never saw her again (yeah she probably called the police)
Absolutely brilliant! This really was great!! Mat as a radio DJ. Pitty that never happened…
“The BBC aren’t on the phone…. Again :)” love this video!
'I've got no intrinsic salt value' legitimately just made me spray tea everywhere. I'll be cleaning my laptop screen now, thanks Mat.
Can this please be an annual tradition?!!
I might do it again.
I've got my mother staying with me. I think she possibly heard me giggling from the other room! You've also reminded me of the early 90s when Larry Adler used to phone up Mike Allen's Nightline on LBC (when it was purely local) and just bang out a quick harmonica ditty through boredom.
I haven't heard that name (Larry Adler) in years. I'm not sure why I know it in the first place.
Pretty stressful week here, had reserved the video for a moment of calm, went for a shave and a shower... All set up and press play, oh good here comes good Ol' Mat and some tidbits of radio... Cut to the studio and... Well just that, they call them safety razors for a reason but I can tell you I spit my morning coffee through the nose. This made me remember my first and most intense connection to radio so far. I was about 6 and I we had this grundig yatchboy (been looking for one, so that's why I know the model) at the table. While having breakfast they reported some runaway terrorists after a bombing, or bank robbery... ( I was living in Spain at the time) got away on a blue talbot this and that. I went out of the building and this blue Talbot slowly comes to a halt a the traffic light. The plate matched (which are the chances of me remembering that. I don't remember my own telephone) I bolted up the stairs and didn't come out to play for days. Never told anyone For many years I convinced myself it was just one of those things kids do, but in later years I met a chap my age who actually lived in the same building as they did, two blocks away and confirmed. Looked the story up and yes. Anyway it really made my day. It was brilliant. Thanks and good night
Wow - cool story. I once saw an armed bank robbery in progress in Manchester on my lunch break while visiting Maplin. A group of shotgun wielding chaps ran out of the bank in front of me wearing masks and jumped in a car which squealed off. The whole thing looked like someone shooting a movie - it just needed someone to shout 'Cut, that's a wrap'. After buying my SCART leads, I just went back to work and carried on with my day. There wasn't really anything else I could do.
This was amazing!
I found these interview records on the Discogs Marketplace: https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1121597991 https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1741359637 https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1329437071 https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/745986563 https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1571639743 And I still have 50 more items to search through on there. (found AC/DC, many others) Oh, Paul McCartney, shipped from UK: https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1737252565
Right, no more videos this year please, end on a high!
It seems amazing that you could use one of those and get away with it - I suppose a really good DJ may manage to make it sound like a conversation, but I'm skeptical to be honest! Love WTFM! Especially the selfie half way through 😄
Unfortunately, the quality difference between the record and your voice is hearable on YouTube, but I get on AM radio it would be more convincing on those days ;-). I like the NAB carts. Is it normal ¼" tape? Then you could record them on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, but messing around with the tape would not be that easy. Me myself would try to modify the cart player to record, but I guess that might be way above your electronic skills...
I don’t really want to record any NAB carts - The whole thing was just a comedy ‘bit’. I’ve got a (mono) cart recorder that I’ve shown before in ‘The cart machine’ video.
I'm not knocking Mat's skills, but I'd love to hear Sergei from KLAK "interview" Al Green. 😂
WTFM! :-)
I didn’t get that till I watched it again lol and I didn’t even notice Als changing hair!! I just thought Al the ‘pot’ plant as he sounded stoned lol
This is just painfully slow - in the original version! :D Love your new hairstyle!
Ah I thought the ‘Judy’ bit seemed to have been shortened
WTFM LOL 😂
It's the hair that sells it.
Just checked the link for Zack Gobshite. You could be twins. 🤣😂
Another fine video, matt. Keep them coming. They are always worth waiting for.
One of your best videos ! I was laughing so much.
This was a great video even got a few giggles out of it!!! I have never herd of this type of media but makes sense now!!
I first heard about pre-recorded interviews when Britney Spears record label sent one to Australian youth/alternative radio station TripleJ, who are very much not in the target demographic for her. They made a complete mockery of it by making up funny questions to go with the pre-recorded answers.
😂😂 I’m sat trying not to lol loudly lol as I’m on break. That was hilarious 😂😂😂😂 Al the pot plant 👀😂
A USB stick landed on my deck when I was crossing the ocean. I liked the video on it so much I had to like comment subscibe and become a patreon.
This was very entertaining. Love the deadpan delivery and random Jingles thrown in.
Laughing so hard that I’m crying. I lost it when he said from above and you asked, upstairs? So funny.
Seeing a Techmoan video open with an outdoor piece to camera never fails to perk me up.
It reminds me of Techmoan By The Sea.
I feel dirty watching this
Very, very funny indeed. Some feedback, for what it’s worth: I did find it ‘dragged’ on a little too long though. At a certain point, the message/intention is clear, and there’s no real point in going on any longer. It didn’t help that Al certainly isn’t very humble either ;). What an annoying guy that is, my goodness. I absolutely love your videos; this one didn’t ring my bell though.
Each to their own - I’ll never make a video that everyone likes - and I’ll never try to.
Nice work. I wonder how many people watching the video don't realise that Ramsbottom is a real place. I'd heard of these things before because one features in an episode of the BBC drama 'Shoestring', which featured Trevor Eve as a private detective, somewhat implausibly based in a local radio station, with his investigations used as material for programmes. The plot revolves around a faded celebrity going missing and extracts from one of these interviews being used to give the impression that he is safe and well. One of the station DJs recognises the recording and reluctantly breaks a trade secret by playing the original interview recording to Shoestring.
Loved the wig! 🤣 Out of curiosity, have you thought about posting new videos on a more “content friendly” platform, or would having only old videos on YouTube prevent you from reaching more people (via the dreaded algorithm)?
Posting on anywhere other than YouTube seems to garner the same audience as putting a video onto a USB stick and catapulting it into the ocean.
This was a treat!
Somehow this reminded me a bit the interviews Moby did with himself :)) https://youtu.be/4LourlKYddo&t=18m5s
Loved this. It was a great video. In a similar vein, a friend who worked in radio told me about about a 1990s radio automation system used to give the impression the station was staffed overnight. It computer controlled a large CD changer, tape and carts for ads, news and DJ announcements. Fantastic until the whole thing got out of sync and the announcements and songs started bearing no relationship to each other!
More common now than then. Many shows are "voice tracked" where the "DJ" records all the parts between the songs in advanced, then the system plays all the parts as if it's live. Not new either - we had a station in Upstate Vermont that was doing this in the late 1970s ... I don't know if it was computer based or not but I sort of doubt it. Probably a tape carousel.
Brilliant. Genius! And the random jingles just made it!
WTFM broadcasting from Upper Ramsbottom. So funny 😁
I'm in tears here, that was brilliant.
“Your local radio DJs little secret…well one of them”. HaHa!
Upper Ramsbottom shouldn't be a'feared of content matches, 'cause Al's music is 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘.
In the '90s, I had a Ren & Stimpy CD that had an open-ended interview with, yep... you guessed it... Ren & Stimpy. I have no idea where that CD went, but it was literally minutes of fun.
omg, this needs to be found
Excellent Matt.
Outstanding Mat! I genuinely cried with laughter. Brilliant!
Too funny...between you and Al "green"!
This was awesome, thanks for the laughs!
It's been done for TV as well - the interviewer voice is heard but easily muted ready for the local TV station to put their own interviewers voice over the top https://youtu.be/knps19hTY8k
The “interview” with Al Green was an absolute riot, I was chortling throughout. Mat, if the YouTube thing ever comes to an end, you’ve definitely got a career in sketch comedy!
I feel like everything I've ever known is a lie.
Hilarious, thanks for cheering me up!
This was really well done - thanks. Rich dude no iPhone? WTFM? https://wtfm.com
I should probably have checked if there was a WTFm - but it wasn’t planned.
LOL, It has been a while I haven't laughed so much. That was hilarious! 🤣
When you looked back and said "boring", I completely lost it.
This video is brilliant !!!!
“No intrinsic salt value” gave me a chuckle. Another great one!
Mat, that was a stupendous performance, real comedy gold. Okay, it sounds like I'm putting you on, but that was a terrific bit you did there. Reminds me of a scene from the movie American Graffiti, when Richard Dreyfuss goes to the radio station hoping to see Wolfman Jack and exclaims, "The man is on tape!" I certainly hope you weren't dealing with a broken freezer full of popsicles when you recorded this.;-)
Very kind of you to say so. I never know if everyone’s going to be in the mood for my nonsense.
Now that I've seen the video, I'm quite concerned about the 'fertilizer' 😉those Al plants have been getting. And those radio DJs, they're such cheats; I didn't know they wore blonde wigs, read from their mobile phones and took selfies while supposedly working, and avoided paying Al Green's interview fee! 😅 Mat... you're such a crack-up, this has made my blue mood turn sunny ☀️ thank you very much. Awesome!
Oh, and I'm convinced that this DJ is related to Zack Gobshite (who will speak for money), the resemblance is uncanny: https://ibb.co/HpQHQh6
I collect these. I have a Lou Reed one that I one day am going to write questions around that match his answers to make a ridiculous fake Lou Reed interview. My fave in my collection is one with Peter Frampton where he practically apologizes for doing the “Sgt. Pepper” movie.
I should have guessed you’d be the chap who’d know all about these. Any idea how common they were? The reason I ask is that I didn’t see too many megastar names popping up whenever I looked for them - it seemed more of a b-list kind of a deal.
Matt, nice to see you outside at the beginning. You have a good strong stand, a good strong, solid stand. Glad to see you didn't fall over. Your videos are always so sharp and snappy, with a good voice style. I broke out laughing when you paused, took your headphones off, turned your hair around, put your headphones back on, and continued.
I had to do the first bit outside so there was a good clean transition to the “DJ’ bit. I managed to find a window in the rain. Looking at it you’d think it was a lovely day - but that’s been the only non-rainy hour I’ve seen all week.
That was funny!
Blimey, Tony Blackburn will have to watch his back!
Mat's hair during the interview is more convincingly real than Blackburn's.
😂😂😂😂😂
Mat, I've always thought you had a good strong solid stand.
That was very funny never knew these things existed. Like the record player could do with one of those. Guess you would have a very clean record otherwise give the game away . The beatles one is on youtube ( https://youtu.be/vyh6hOUk_G0 )
That was hilarious.
Very funny Mat
I was listening to old radio broadcasts the other day and I was somewhat dubious about their celeb interview, I wonder if it was one of these open ended records. Unrelated, I'm glad you returned to using the final Techmoan LED image on your end credits, as it felt a bit of an abrupt end without it
Thanks - you had me in stitches! I particularly liked how Al Green's hair style kept changing! 😀
They were ‘All Green’.
When I did college radio, we found a promotional record with holiday music sung by Tony Bennett (?), which went into an interview with the artist (both sides of the interview). We played it during a show that covered the local holiday parade, "threw to" the parade, and acted like Tony was actually at the event.
Decades ago I worked in radio. I think I might still have a few open ended interview disks in my collection/accumulation. You've prompted me to go looking when I get home from work.
Let me know what you find.
Seamless, (the interview, not the hairline).
haha, very funny! :) Come to think about the Cheech and Chong masterpiece: "Wake Up America": https://youtu.be/FjqfNNe9Ysk?t=141
Very funny. You may have a future in radio.
Radio? He should own SNL.
Actually can't stop laughing. This is some of your funniest work!
Thumbs up for the wig. Looks much more credible
What wig?
Wow this is incredible! Lol! I never knew of these!
Calvaire, was he High or something ?
Definitely sounded a bit ‘tired’