Author Archives: Steve Mays

ChatGPT can now detect emotion

Posted on by

“Among other things, ChatGPT can now detect emotion in both the user’s voice as well as from their facial expression, just like a human can. It also makes unprompted jokes, the way a human would who’s trying to keep a conversation light, and it also lets you interrupt a response — so that you no longer have to confine yourself to the stilted my turn-your turn dynamic of a conversation with a chatbot.”

“If you had your eyes closed, you’d think this is a real lady fawning over a cute puppy, when in fact it’s an AI model that’s learned how to express relevant and appropriate emotion — in addition to making the same observations we would when we meet a cute dog for the first time.”

Two kinds of radio station

Posted on by

Last week the owner of Moberly, Missouri radio stations KWIX and KRES —Alpha Media— laid off all of their on-air staff. (Bob Priddy mourns)

The following is from a post and interview I did in 2007 with Dave Shepherd, the son of the man who put KWIX/KRES on the air.

Fifty years ago, Jerrell Shepherd mastered a form of broadcasting alchemy that turned small town radio lead into gold. It wasn’t much of a secret, however, since he readily shared it with countless radio station owners and managers who made the pilgrimage to Moberly, Missouri, in hopes of bringing some of Shepherd’s sales and programming magic back to their stations.

While most small market broadcasters were content to get “their fair share” of local advertising budgets (the bulk went to the local newspaper), Shepherd’s sales reps were trained to ask for it all and believed in their hearts they deserved it.

Mr. Shepherd’s approach to programming his stations was deceptively simple: report anything and everything that happened in each of the communities covered by his stations’ signals. The KWIX and KRES “Red Rovers” showed up just about every high school football game, junior high choral concert and chamber of commerce ribbon-cutting. And the Shepherd stations put it all on the air. Always with local sponsors. Lots of local sponsors.

The new owner, Alpha Media, owns a lot of radio stations including KBFF Live 95.5 FM in Portland, OR. Last June the station introduced the first AI-powered DJ, “AI Ashley.”

“Alpha Media’s EVP of content Phil Becker assured listeners that Elzinga’s job is safe and she’ll be receiving the same pay, telling TechCrunch that AI Ashley is a tool that will allow DJs to multitask like never before.”

I’d love to know what sort of prompt could result in an AI making a call and interacting with a listener as we heard in the clip above. As the program director of a small town radio station back in the 1970’s I was responsible for hiring and training weekend talent. I might have jumped at the chance to put an AI voice on the air.

Will the KWIX/KRES on-air staff be replaced with AI voices? If so, how will the station’s listeners and advertisers respond?

Target Practice 5.13.24

Posted on by

My friend George and I took our shotguns down into the woods for a little target practice. George is experienced with all type of firearms… I’m a novice. I recently traded my Remington .12 gauge for a Mossberg Shockwave 590 in .410 gauge and this is my first time to shoot the gun. It was a lot of fun. Video runs 3.5 minutes.

I learned a couple of things from today’s practice session. Most importantly, there’s an issue with the new shotgun. Very difficult to rack and jams frequently. It’s on the way back to Mossberg for repair or replacement. Secondly, the Hornady .410 Triple Defense (41 caliber slug + two 35 caliber pellets) has “stopping power” but far too easy for me to miss (in the middle of the night out of a dead sleep in a dark house). I did much better with the 12 pellet BBB Buck Shot ammo.

Osmo Pocket 3: Big Ass Rock

Posted on by

Trying to get the hang of the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 camera. The camera is on a selfie stick about four feet above the deck. I’m using the remote mic which works great. I try to stay out of the videos I shoot because I look older than Keith Richards. I like the distance I get with the Pocket 3 face-tracking. And the audio with the remote mic is exceptional.

At the 3:08 mark I refer to another rock formation on the other side of the house.

Personalized Spatial Audio

Posted on by

I developed an appreciation for good audio headphones during my time at KBOA back in the ’70s. Not so much for the music as much as wanting/needing to hear my voice as the listener was hearing it. Too close to the microphone? Too far away? Popping my “P’s?” I’ve purchased a lot of headphones over the years, always searching for the perfect set.

I used Apple’s wired earbuds during the iPod days and thought the music sounded fine. I never purchased another set of “cans.” I purchased my first set of Apple AirPods in 2016 and have been using them ever since. They fit my ears perfectly. So well, in fact, that I forget I have them in. Unfortunately, that means I don’t notice if one falls out which happened last week. The Find My app on my phone told me where I last had the AirPod but I never found it.

When I got my new AirPods my buddy George asked if i had configured them to take advantage of Personalized Spatial Audio. I vaguely recalled reading about this feature but don’t think I ever used it. As good as I thought the AirPods were before, this bit of tech magic was impressive.

(Perplexity) It uses the TrueDepth camera on newer iPhones to scan your face and ears. This captures data about the geometry and contours of your head and ear position. This personalized profile is then used to optimize how spatial audio is rendered through your AirPods or Beats headphones. It adjusts the sound to account for your ear shape and head size, providing a more immersive 3D audio experience tailored specifically to your anatomy.

Songs I’ve listened to a thousand times sound fresh and new. So, yeah, I’ve become one of those people walking around with tiny white things in my ears. More and more I’m using Siri to schedule reminders, send messages, check the weather, jot down a note… you get the idea. My phone stays in my bag more these days and when at home, I leave it on the table and interact via AirPods (as long as phone and pods are on same wifi network.

This will get even more interesting this fall when I take the Apple Watch (with cellular) plunge.

Religious service attendance dropping

Posted on by

More than three-quarters of Americans say religion’s role in public life is shrinking, per a recent Pew Research Center survey — the highest level since the group first started tracking such sentiment in 2001.

A separate Gallup survey published this week found that Latter-day Saints are the only religious group wherein a majority say they attend services weekly, at 54%.

30% of Protestants say they attend services weekly, compared to 28% of Muslims, 23% of Catholics and 16% of Jews.

If AI does nothing else for us…

Posted on by

What are you gonna do?

Trump Stand-up

The genius behind these is someone named Jabari Jones (YouTube). There’s an actor by that name but cannot confirm this is his YT channel. What can I tell you, I’m a sucker for crude humor.

Jerry Seinfeld: “The Scholar of Comedy”

Posted on by

Excellent interview in The New Yorker by David Remnick. Not sure if the piece is behind a paywall or not but it’s a good read.

“That’s the way you go through life. You only care about laughing and being funny.”

“And I don’t like old people, either. Even though I’m seventy—I don’t like old people. […] They don’t look good. Everything’s going. Everything’s deteriorating. I don’t want to see this. If you want to hang around, fine, but we’re moving on to younger people. I’m with you up to about thirty-eight. If you want to stay, you can stay, but I’m moving on.”

“There were no sitcoms picked up on the fall season of all four networks. Not one. No new sitcoms.”