# Do radio stations often do fake interviews? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539 "2009-08-06T16:27:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/21 "2009-08-07T02:53:20Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > It does? That’s news to me. Why? Not enough celebrity interviews! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/22 "2009-08-07T03:29:15Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > […] the celebrity’s part is prerecorded and the questions are edited in. The only one’s I’ve heard like this were ads for a Vegas timeshare called Tahiti Village. They’ve been used on radio for 50+ years. I once ran across a disc sent to DJs with the Lp from the movie _The Benny Goodman Story_ in 1955; the local jock “asked” Benny preselected questions, then played the answers. ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/23 "2009-08-07T04:16:03Z")
I give a lot of media interviews, and it’s not radio, it’s television which is totally artificial. I nearly always do radio interviews live, while the only time I do live television is for debates, which makes it easier for television to cut and edit. I’ve also become accustomed to being asked to walk and wave my arms and move my mouth as if talking while walking beside television reporters so they can air that footage during a voiceover to make them look like they’re real reporters gathering facts instead of a set of ambulatory perfect teeth with a blow-dry haircut. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/25 "2009-08-07T05:21:27Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Usually the clue that it may be fake comes from the delivery. People stammer and pause, even celebrities doing impromptu interviews, but these ones always seem to flow perfectly. The host knows exactly when to start the next question (like a nanosecond after the celebrity finishes answering) and whatever question he asks, the celebrity instantly has an answer. Keep in mind that it is pretty easy to edit audio. Just cut-and-paste to remove stammers and pauses. NPR cleans up all their interviews and they aren’t fake. So in general, this doesn’t mean much, although I agree that the celeb stuff on FM is mocked up. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/26 "2009-08-07T11:32:52Z")
Uncle Joe on KLOS does these fake interviews every week. It’s painfully obvious how fake they are. Uncle Joe will ask the questions in perfect fidelity, and then the answers sound like they were recorded in a drainage pipe. And of course no one ever says his name. I imagine the same interview is dummied up in many cities. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/27 "2009-08-07T12:48:37Z")
> [@kylie888](#): > > maybe sometimes they need to edit series of interviews.. > > but it’ll better to listen on the air if it is real and not fake.. Real is not always better, believe me. Some celebrities are just not that well-spoken, and spending some time editing is a kindness to them, because listening to the hemming, hawing, word-searching and other verbal doodads is painful. Some also forget where they are and what they’re doing and drop an F-bomb or worse, and that can’t always be bleeped out, even with a delay. So unless the interview subject is a known quantity who can be trusted not to screw things up, taping the interview, editing it, and broadcasting it later is much better. ---
**Author:** ![wakingdream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9f8e36/32.png) [@wakingdream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wakingdream)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/28 "2009-08-08T03:06:23Z")
Graham Nash had (has?) a show on XM where he did “interviews” with other musicians about their work. They were the cheesiest, obviously fake interviews I’ve ever heard. It was obviously Graham Nash’s questions edited over a prerecorded track with the artist telling stories. It didn’t even sound like the original track was an interview, more like a monologue with Graham Nash’s questions written to match what had already been said. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/29 "2009-08-08T03:13:38Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The same thing as above, only the celebrity’s part is prerecorded and the questions are edited in. The only one’s I’ve heard like this were ads for a Vegas timeshare called Tahiti Village. I had a g/f who worked for a video distributor. She got a press kit for _Edward Scissorhands_, and I made us each a VHS copy of the 3/4" tape. The actors were answering questions on a set, and the idea was that a TV station could edit in their own interviewer. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539/30 "2009-08-08T03:27:19Z")
Every now and then, on my way home from work, I’ll listen to the Michael Savage show. (Not because I’m a fan - I can’t stand the guy. It’s more for comic relief.) I notice most of his interviews are of the sort you’re talking about; the guest’s answers are prerecorded. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-radio-stations-often-do-fake-interviews/505539.md?page=1)