Randi West and Steve Goss make the short cybercommute to Toledo each weekday.

Technology allows them to stay in Cincinnati and Atlanta, respectively, while they appear “live” - or so it seems - on Toledo radio stations. West is heard from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on WVKS-FM (92.5). Goss covers the 3-7 p.m. shift on WRVF-FM (101.5).

Their voice-tracked shifts are designed to give listeners the impression that they are live and local. They are neither.

West and Goss seem to operate under a “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy regarding their whereabouts. When West told WVKS listeners that they were welcome drop off goodies at the station on Halloween, she certainly made it sound like she was in Toledo.

Whether the Clear Channel-owned stations are engaging in a form of deception or the practice can be brushed off as “theater of the mind” is fodder for debate. But there's no disputing that voice-tracking - the modern-day equivalent of saying it's taped - is going to play an influential role in radio's future.

Clear Channel is the industry leader in voice-tracking, which allows on-air talent to be heard on multiple stations across the country. As you might expect, improving the bottom line is at the heart of the strategy. Instead of having a traditional DJ on the air, a radio station can save more than $50,000 annually for each shift that is voice-tracked.

Voice-tracking is different than syndicated programs. Music countdown shows by Rick Dees and Casey Kasem are syndicated, as are talk shows by Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura. If a program is syndicated, you will hear the same show whether you are in Toledo or Tacoma.

In contrast, a voice-tracked show is prepared specifically for that market. The voice-tracked DJs - known in the industry as “cyberjocks” - can give you the local weather forecast or tell you about weekend activities around the region, but they may not have a clue of what's really going on locally because they may be hundreds of miles away. They are only reading what has been sent to them via e-mail or fax.

West, who at one time worked in Toledo, is believed to voice-track shows for at least 10 Clear Channel stations across the country - conveniently, most use the “Kiss-FM” brand like WVKS. Among the cities where she can be heard: Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Jacksonville, Fla. Considering she juggles so many weather forecasts each day, a short-term memory would serve her well.

Former WRVF air personality Kim Carson said those who voice-track shows for out-of-town stations generally do two or three. Thus, West's daily feat is of almost mythical proportions.

Carson said - half-joking, half-serious - that one Clear Channel employee thought the company might be using West “as a guinea pig, to see how much she could take before she cracked.”

Clear Channel's local management declined to be interviewed for this story.

Voice-tracked radio shows follow a cookie-cutter format.

“You can set your clock by it,” Carson said. “You hear the same thing at the same time every hour.”

After the third song of each hour, for example, the voice-tracked DJ may give you the weather. After the fifth song, you may hear a list of weekend activities.

But there's a tell-tale sign that a radio show is voice-tracked: “You'll notice that you never hear the time,” Carson said.

Voice-tracking a radio show is relatively simple. The computer does most of the work. All of the songs, in the order they are to be played, are set up on the computer. The computer allows the on-air personality to play only the final 15 seconds of a song and then interject something like, “That was the new song from Mariah Carey ...”

Goss tries to inject as much local flavor as possible into his afternoon-drive show on WRVF. In systematic fashion, his recorded voice tells listeners about Toledo's weather and events going on in Toledo.

All the while, he's nearly 700 miles away in Atlanta hosting his own afternoon show on WPCH-FM.

Jerry Del Colliano, founder of the trade publication Inside Radio, said the radio industry is making a mistake by relying more and more on voice-tracking.

“It's short-sighted. It's about as short-sighted as everything else we do in radio today,” he said. “If you have fewer personalities, you give people fewer reasons to listen to the radio.”

Tim Roberts, operations manager for the seven Cumulus stations in Toledo, is convinced that local programming will prevail over voice-tracking. Live programming creates an environment where listeners can form a bond with the on-air personalities. An obvious advantage: The on-air personality is accessible to the listener, whether it be for song requests or to answer program-related questions.

With voice-tracking, there is no spontaneity. Any attempt at personality-driven radio is fabricated. Regardless, West and Goss - both of whom have engaging personalities while on the air - are ratings successes in their respective time slots. Each of their shows ranked third in Arbitron's summer survey.

Carson has experience in voice-tracking for a Clear Channel station. While serving as host of The Quiet Storm each weeknight on WRVF, she voice-tracked a similar show for KLYF-FM in Des Moines, Iowa. She did it for two-plus years, earning an additional $5,000 or so per year for the nightly cybercommute to Iowa.

“When I was on vacation for two weeks, I was still on the air [thanks to voice-tracking],” Carson said.

For now, Roberts said, Cumulus has no plans to voice-track programming in the Toledo market. “Our company has been built on the premise that local radio is the way to go,” he said. “There is great local talent in our cluster in Toledo, and we're very proud of that.”

Roberts is a radio veteran, having spent 20 years on the air before going into management. He is philosophically opposed to voice-tracking. “I think it costs a lot of people their jobs,” he said.

But, at the same time, a strong case could be made that voice-tracking is a smart business decision. It's hard to ignore a carrot that dangles an annual savings of $50,000-plus per shift .

Carson said the average radio personality on the air between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. in Toledo earns between $40,000 and $60,000 annually (morning-drive hosts typically earn more). Plus, she said, there's a potential bonus of roughly $3,000 for each of the four ratings periods. More savings can be realized in benefits - such as insurance, a 401(k), vacations, and sick days.

Not all voice-tracking on WRVF is done by out-of-towners. Mitch and Mary Beth have two voice-tracked segments during their weekday morning show - 5:30 to 6, and 9 to 10. They made their debut on WRVF in July. For the previous 14 years, they had the No. 1 morning show on WKKO-FM (99.9).

Despite having the reputation of “Cheap Channel” in the radio industry, Clear Channel spared no expense in making Mitch and Mary Beth the highest-paid morning tandem in Toledo and then put them on the No. 5-rated show. At WRVF, they have more than seven fewer “live” hours on the air each week and get paid more than their previous job.

Carson said she did not receive a merit raise during her five years at WRVF. She now works for WDMN-AM (1520), which is owned by Cornerstone Church.

“I wasn't making big bucks [at WRVF], by any means,” she said. “I could have gone to McDonald's and earned just as much. But I wouldn't have had as much fun.”

According to Carson, it was Clear Channel's belief that the money she received for voice-tracking in Des Moines constituted a raise. Never mind that she put in the extra time to do the voice-tracking. Sure, it was more money, Carson said, but it was also more work.

Meanwhile, voice-tracking has enabled Mitch and Mary Beth to work less and receive more pay than their days at WKKO. All for a station which is expected to climb no higher than No. 2 in the competitive morning-drive time slot.

“That makes all the sense in the world,” one radio personality said, facetiously, while on the air a few months ago.

But voice-tracking does make cents - billions and billions of cents - for Clear Channel, which owns about 1,200 radio stations nationwide and generates $5 billion in revenue annually.

And that's the bottom line.

First Published November 20, 2001, 1:45 p.m.