The Human Zoo (radio)
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The Human Zoo, a radio program on Talksport, was presented by Tommy Boyd, with his engineer Asher Gould acting as co-presenter. It was broadcast from May 2000 until Boyd's dismissal in March 2002 and took its name from a 1969 book of the same name by Desmond Morris.
Format[edit]
The program followed a 'phone in' format, where callers were unscreened, went straight to air, and were free to discuss whatever they wanted as long as broadcasting regulations permitted it.[1]
An important part of the production of the program was the need to prevent a broadcast of offensive or illegal material by callers. This was achieved by a facility known as the dump button, a method often employed in phones in radio for this purpose. The station's output was broadcast several seconds after it was produced in the studio, allowing for a small amount of time for the station to be silenced after unwanted comments had been made by the caller(s).[2]
The Human Zoo encouraged a very wide variety of callers to contribute, including some who called in to give short performances, play pieces of prepared audio, or just shout out catchphrases.
Demise[edit]
Boyd was sacked from talkSPORT in March 2002 after failing to use the profanity delay to "dump" a caller's remarks that the British Royal Family should be shot.[3][4]
References[edit]
- ^ Mahoney, Elisabeth (2001-03-02). "Radio review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
- ^ Hodgson, Jessica (2002-04-12). "DJ fired after royal death threat". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
- ^ Hodgson, Jessica (2002-04-12). "DJ fired after royal death threat". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
- ^ "DJ sacked over radio republican". The Telegraph. 2002-04-13. Retrieved 2024-03-30.