By Matthew Broyles
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-874842.mp3
Dallas, TX –
INTRO: Aside from those seven words you're not to say on the air that the late comedian George Carlin made famous, there's one other thing broadcasting considers unacceptable. And commentator Matthew Broyles wonders why people have such a problem with it in general.
COMMENTARY: When the big switch from analog television to digital came earlier this year, I made a point to watch each station flicker out one by one. Some even played those little sign-offs they used in decades past. And then: Dead air.
I'm not sure when exactly the concept of it disappeared, but I'm pretty sure that I haven't seen dead air for at least a decade.
But why is that?
From what I can tell, the old dead air hours haven't filled up with actual programming, but with infomercials, which may as well be static. I know people up at that hour would like something to watch, but really, is an infomercial something?
It's not just television, of course. I play concerts online a lot, and when I stop to take a drink, there will be the occasional audience member asking, "What happened? Did he drop the stream?" Life has pauses, and I don't know that we're conditioned to allow for them anymore.
Actually I see the fear of dead air among all age groups. I know Boomers who never turn the TV off, no matter if people are over at the house for conversation rather than communal box watching. I know GenXers who can't drive without the radio on, whether there's someone in the car talking to them or not. I know Millennials who freak out when they're out of wi-fi range, even if they've got three friends there to talk to.
And that's just media. A few years ago I played a wedding out in the boondocks of central Texas, and it struck me that I hadn't heard a car for several minutes. Here in Dallas, that's unthinkable. There's always a man-made background noise in most people's lives, given that we're primarily an urban and suburban society. No dead air.
At this point, I'm unsure what to do about all that. The internet is a necessity for my career, radio gives me useful information about the world, and television educates my son. My wife's career depends on access to an urban area. Plus, I'm a musician. Even if the world around me is quiet, there's probably a tune floating around in my head.
But I think about those military vehicles that blast heavy metal music at the enemy in order to disorient them. I'm tempted to think we've sort of done that to ourselves as well. It's like when I hear complete silence from my son's playroom. I know that can't be good. We mistrust dead air. What's it up to? Why isn't there a sound? Shouldn't there be something there?
Perhaps it's the term itself. Before the growth of mass media, dead air was simply called "silence." Musicians call it "the space between the notes." On sheet music, it's represented by a little symbol called a "rest." I often set an alarm on my phone to remind myself to go to bed. Have we forgotten how to rest without some loud noise giving us a cue?
When I think about it, it's really our passivity in the face of constant sound that is alarming. We're always waiting for someone else to make the sounds.
It could be the more we rely on others to fill our lives with entertainment, the less we develop our own creativity. Why are we afraid of dead air? It may be that in that silence, in that rest, our minds have a chance to speak. Perhaps that's what many people are afraid of. But maybe, if I shut off my Twitter for a minute, and turn off my phone, I too can enjoy the sound of silence. Wait, I think I have that song on my iPod...
Matthew Broyles is a writer and musician living in Dallas.
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