A sound bite refers to a shortened bit of audio meant to be easily extracted from a larger work. While the sound bite is short, the goal is to have the sound bite sum up the message of the larger body of work. A sound bite could be likened to a research paper’s thesis statement; the thesis embodies the overall idea of the paper, while the rest of the paper expands upon this theme. Sound bites should be short and to the point, as well as being easily remembered for repetition by the general public.
The Phrase Finder website states that the term sound bite came into the American vernacular around the 1980s, as this is the earliest printed reference to them. The Washington Post states in June 1980 that sound bites should be around 30 seconds to hold the attention of consumers. From this point, the notion of the sound bite spread from being mainly news exclusive to encompassing other media areas such as entertainment gossip and movies.
Sound bites are used to spread certain clips around the media more quickly and easily. News outlets often resort to sound bites to make stories more memorable and to condense a speech into the most important parts for viewers or radio listeners. Sound bites are also used in entertainment media, capturing small parts from celebrity interviews and playing them repeatedly. Politicians use sound bites in political campaign advertisements to gain supporters. In some cases, sound bites may be taken out of context and twisted to mean something entirely different from the original idea.
Former President Ronald Reagan coined several different phrases thanks to his skill at creating sound bites. For example, “Win one for the Gipper,” became widely known thanks to a sound bite. When first walking on the moon, Neil Armstrong created the sound bite, “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” During the OJ Simpson trial, attorney Johnnie Cochran produced the sound bite, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” Former President Bill Clinton, when questioned about his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, was quoted as saying, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” a sound bite repeated numerous times across media sources.
With the Internet representing a new media format, the use of sound bites has altered somewhat. Internet users create soundboards based on sound bites from celebrities, political figures and movies. These soundboards can be used for prank calling people or simply playing clips at random. Soundboards can be found all over the Internet, from subjects such as Michael Jackson to Arnold Schwarzenegger.