Danny Clisham

I post this with all due respect towards Danny and Rob Rieder. They are both arguably the best announcers in the air show world. However, I have to say that it was again disappointing to have to listen to them, particularly Danny, talk over the passes during the warbirds shows, particularly the Saturday bomber extravaganza. I was really hoping to be able to hear the sound of Doc and FiFi together as they flew over, but a continuation of the narration during this time made that near impossible. Can we please have something said to them or the powers that run the show to ask that during a pass they simply unclick the mic button?

Clisham brands himself and likes to be referred to as "The Skytalker" and "Hollywood". Lot's of luck in getting him to shut up for 10 seconds.

Agree, way too much talking and saying the exact same thing day after day, year after year. The long winded 'say Hi to Pietsch Aircraft Restoration...' live radio communication during the B-52 low pass was disappointing- I'm sure the airmen in the B-52 had something they wanted to say and ran out of time. +1 vote for less talking by Danny and Rob.

I purposefully found a spot south of the speakers specifically to avoid the announcers. While on the subject, it was 3:25 on the Monday airshow that Hollywood went to the Cold War trophy line. That's less than one hour into the first airshow of the week.

I'm still trying to figure out why the Blue Angels decided that "The Sounds of Silence" was appropriate for their act.

I too could live without the announcers. Most of what they say is incorrect or fluffed for the crowd. But the airshow isn't really for the pilots, it's for the general public.

I think the airshow is like going into a bar. If you go into a high quality restaurant its often quiet or some low even classical background music, and people can actually talk to each other. But if you go into cheap a bar/restaurant, many of them have music blaring so loud, either people dont talk or end up yelling at each other just to be heard.
Someone has sold the owners the fallacy that customers are going to spend more if you barrage them with noise. Its false , a bar in California tried it without the blaring music and found customers loved it, stayed longer, and spent more.

The airshow is the same, instead of letting people focus on the plane, its sounds and manuervers, someone gets on the loud speaker and blares out a lot of cr.p about how great the pilot or plane is and often how it is supposed to be the only one of its kind in the world. There are some acts that I might watch if they didnt have the used car salesman yelling at us. When the Blue angels started, I went into the building to avoid the noise but could still here their announcer going at it. Their act actually was not as bad noise wise as I thought it would be, because they make a lot of long passes , not just at show center like an acro box, so there is some quiet between passes.
The best acro act that I saw was a small plane with light green wings, dont know who, but it was well flown and not hard on your ears. The worst act noise wise, was the biplane with the jet on it. Id donate if someone took up a collection for him not to fly. I see the excellent flying of Aeroshell , it would be better without the whining prop noise from overspeed tips, just pull the rpms back a bit.
Like bars, I often find that the less the plane is, the more the pitchman yells about it.

If Danny Clisham and Rob Rieder are the best airshow announcers, there must not be any good ones. It also seemed that the speaker system was "improved" so that even the forum buildings were being blasted with their drivel.

Dear God, please let the EAA see that a speaker free zone (maybe near the forum buildings!!!!!) is a great idea that would result in less use of electricity and pain relievers.

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Originally Posted by FlyingRon

I'm still trying to figure out why the Blue Angels decided that "The Sounds of Silence" was appropriate for their act.

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I heard the first solo drives an Alpha Romero Graduate.....or he likes walking down escalators at LAX.

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Originally Posted by Bill Greenwood

I think the airshow is like going into a bar. If you go into a high quality restaurant its often quiet or some low even classical background music, and people can actually talk to each other. But if you go into cheap a bar/restaurant, many of them have music blaring so loud, either people dont talk or end up yelling at each other just to be heard.
Someone has sold the owners the fallacy that customers are going to spend more if you barrage them with noise. Its false , a bar in California tried it without the blaring music and found customers loved it, stayed longer, and spent more.

The airshow is the same, instead of letting people focus on the plane, its sounds and manuervers, someone gets on the loud speaker and blares out a lot of cr.p about how great the pilot or plane is and often how it is supposed to be the only one of its kind in the world. There are some acts that I might watch if they didnt have the used car salesman yelling at us. When the Blue angels started, I went into the building to avoid the noise but could still here their announcer going at it. Their act actually was not as bad noise wise as I thought it would be, because they make a lot of long passes , not just at show center like an acro box, so there is some quiet between passes.
The best acro act that I saw was a small plane with light green wings, dont know who, but it was well flown and not hard on your ears. The worst act noise wise, was the biplane with the jet on it. Id donate if someone took up a collection for him not to fly. I see the excellent flying of Aeroshell , it would be better without the whining prop noise from overspeed tips, just pull the rpms back a bit.
Like bars, I often find that the less the plane is, the more the pitchman yells about it.

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You are probably referring to Kyle Franklin flying the new Kitfox Speedster. I got pretty excited about this until I contacted Kitfox and they proclaimed it was not designed with aerobatics in mind and that they should only be done by a professional like Kyle. I was sure hoping for the kit equivalent of a Citabria or Decathlon.

I have two issues with the announcers.
1) Shut up and when you do talk say something new and informative. ( my English teacher would probably say that is two issues)
2) "Cold war trophies"
i can even give a little bit when they would be announcing at a generic airshow at a military base, to hype it up for the general public. Oshkosh is a pilots gathering, and the majority should not be treated like we haven't seen and heard that incessant blabbing a million times before.
Flame away, but a general overhaul of the airshow is in order IMHO
Rick

The only thing that was worse than the announcers was the blaring weather reports in the campground at 0700.

Definitely agree about the announcers. Go for it Saturday and Sunday when the general public is there for an air show if you have to, but cut it way back during the week. As an engineer, I kind of find Sasquatch (the prop/jet biplane) interesting. It would be more interesting if a private party built it. But that's what I find cool about Oshkosh. Always something for everyone. Especially enjoyed Randy Ball in his Mig17 last year.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Agreed re Danny, the cold war trophies line is just plain wrong and generally laughable. Several other mistakes throughout the show too. Please let us listen to the aircraft not some inane drivel.

Raymond Baxter was a very well known UK airshow commentator - little 'showmanship' but lots of class

I think he blew a gasket during the Friday airshow. He went from just hyperbole to just spouting gibberish. Apparently, he's one of those who believes that it's not allowed to simply stop speaking when you don't have anything to convey. It's not necessary that all the "air time" be filled with words.

Contrast that style with the guys like the Blues or even some of the other propeller acts that provide their own announcers. Say something and then let the music and the sound of the engines fill the time.

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Originally Posted by gbrasch

The only thing that was worse than the announcers was the blaring weather reports in the campground at 0700.

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Campground? Only weather report I heard was on the flightline. And I know I heard P-51's before 7am too.

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Originally Posted by krw920

Campground? Only weather report I heard was on the flightline. And I know I heard P-51's before 7am too.

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The weather reports were quite audible (if not completely clear and understood) all the way out to 27th and Cottonwood. The WX reports are one thing... the yodeling, though... oy.

There were SEVERAL times during the week that I just wished the announcers would shut the hell up. Pardon my indelicate language, but I came to OSH17 to see AND hear a pair of B29s and a whole flock of B25s, not some nut going ballistic and screaming over the mic.

Announce stuff. I get it. But when a plane enters the box, can it.

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Originally Posted by SteveCostello

There were SEVERAL times during the week that I just wished the announcers would shut the hell up. Pardon my indelicate language, but I came to OSH17 to see AND hear a pair of B29s and a whole flock of B25s, not some nut going ballistic and screaming over the mic.

Announce stuff. I get it. But when a plane enters the box, can it.

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Your language is far from indelicate. Instead, saying stfu is somewhat indelicate but is nevertheless what everyone here is really thinking and wanting to say. I said it before, I'll say it again, the same bad, inaccurate, xenophobic scripts with the same rah rah, wave the flag tone of voice identically retold year after year after year after year.

Do these guys get paid by EAA or a sponsor for announcing? If so, it's a horrible waste of money. If EAA wants these voices then all they have to do is replay the tapes from the previous years and pay a much cheaper use royalty or residual only.

I will add myself to the list of people who would like a lot less "announcing". I am not what you would call particularly PC, but I thought the whole "cold war trophies" schtick was more than a little obnoxious the first time around. It hasn't gotten any better with age.

As for the airshows themselves... meh. Some people like them, some don't. I like some parts of them, and watched a lot more this year than before. Mostly it's an opportunity to enjoy a little less crowding in the exhibit hangars and other places.

I enjoy the airshows more than I thought I would. Seeing old warbirds fly isn't something I get to see or hear very often, and I really enjoy that.

The aerobatics stuff can get a little repetitive over the course of the week, but at the same time, the things that some of these folks are doing with their aircraft is really incredible. Almost seems like they are defying the laws of physics with some of these maneuvers.

The night airshow is a mixed bag. I think Aeroshell does a great job. The night wing walking was impressive. The technicolor Sonex or the jet glider... eh. Don't get me wrong, they are really neat, and I appreciate the artistry and challenge of night aerobatics. But man... either the songs needs to be shorter or more high energy. If it wasn't for the rain on Wednesday night, I might have fallen asleep. I'm going to go with shorter, as there are only so many times one can do chandelles with sparkles on the wingtips before it gets repetitive.

I actually enjoyed the morning antics on the intercom and the weather report and the dawn patrol always brings a smile to my face. I am glad we still have the WWII planes around but could live the rest of my life without seeing another P51 Mustang, T28, T34, etc. fly. I find the warbird part of the show terribly boring.

A couple of points
1. Cold War Trophies. Absolutely agree. Embarrassing and wrong. If I ever met the announcer I would really give him hell for it. No one I can imagine who ever served during the Cold War would describe it that way. Personally, as one who did serve then (and was on the border when the wall went down) I find it offensive.

2. One of my wife's favorite features of AirVenture is the Merlin alarm clock. In years past this was about 0615. I noticed they were a little later this year. Son of a gun, who in the world would come to AirVenture who doesn't like airplane noise in the morning? Why did you come? What did you expect?

3. I don't like the jet biplane either. I think it is stupid and possibly immoral. But you know what? Most people who come to AV are not pilots. (More attendees than the pilot population). They seem to like it, so I will bear it...barely.

4. Many people don't come for the week and many of those want to see an AirShow. So we have an AirShow every day. Believe it or not, the warbirds part is different every day. Again, some who participate in this forum would rather Warbirds just go away, but year after year, the surveys say that most of the people coming through the gate come to see the Warbirds. They may come down to see homebuilts, vintage, and ultralights, but most of them come to Warbirds first. (Full disclosure: I fly a Warbird and flew in the show on two days.)

Danny's completely over-caffeinated. I thought he was going to explode on Friday. I agree that the announcers need to shut up when the planes are doing their fly-bys. I would also like it if most of the performance music went away. Most of it adds nothing to the performance except incoherent noise.

There certainly is a lot of theater from the announcers. I was extremely disappointed on Saturday. While much of the commentary is what I've come to expect, there was some pretty condescending comments about women. While the average, older pilot / member may not notice there were a number of women around me that didn't appreciate their humor or sexism.

The announcers do what they were hired to do - fill time and make the show interesting for the non-traditional EAA crowd. The EAA powers that be have seen and heard the announcers multiple times and if they wanted the announcers to change their game, all they would have to do is ask. In other words, I don't blame the announcers for doing their job.

On the other hand, EAA management could step in and create a show or two a week (say, Tuesday and Thursday) with minimal blabbering over the PA during the airshow. That would appease the hardcore aviation folks who don't need the narrative and would like to hear the aircraft, but would leave the other days for the blabbering announcers and their target audience.

Agree with the rest, the propanganda is a bit much. The best air show announcing I've ever heard was at Old Warden Aerodrome in England, quite during passes and detailed technical information at other times. Bring everyones's knowledge up, don't dumb it down assuming the general population will think it's boring.

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Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

The announcers do what they were hired to do - fill time and make the show interesting for the non-traditional EAA crowd. The EAA powers that be have seen and heard the announcers multiple times and if they wanted the announcers to change their game, all they would have to do is ask. In other words, I don't blame the announcers for doing their job.

On the other hand, EAA management could step in and create a show or two a week (say, Tuesday and Thursday) with minimal blabbering over the PA during the airshow. That would appease the hardcore aviation folks who don't need the narrative and would like to hear the aircraft, but would leave the other days for the blabbering announcers and their target audience.

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I would really love to see this happen. I thought I was the only one, but I have been known to trade a view of the runway for a spot where the nonstop blathering is more easily ignored.