# Police Radio Sounbytes in Entertainment **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-radio-sounbytes-in-entertainment/217828 "2003-12-09T02:04:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BlueMit11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BlueMit11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMit11)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-radio-sounbytes-in-entertainment/217828/1 "2003-12-09T02:04:23Z")
My brother and I first noticed this phenomenon when we realized that the same police radio soundbyte that is used in one of the GTA games we were playing was also used on a TV show (I think maybe Law & Order). We then noticed it in movies, more TV shows, etc.-basically everywhere we heard a soundbyte of a police radio. What’s the deal? Is there some kind of bank of sound effects that EVERYONE in the entertainment world uses or something? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-radio-sounbytes-in-entertainment/217828/2 "2003-12-09T05:30:51Z")
Basically, yes. There are numerous sound-clip libraries out there. The studios buy what I recall to be farily pricey subscriptions to the services and get boxes of CDs stuffed with clips. The descriptions get pretty funny - one I had included about 75 door closing sounds. (And this is just the close and latch - nevermind squeaky hinges. That was another chapter. Hollow core wood Solid wood Solid wood with tight weatherstripping Old six-panel door with loose latch Kitchen cabinet with self-closing hinges Kitchen cabinet with spring latch and so on… With that many door closings, yeah, you’d think they could get more than one or two police radio calls in the collections.