Seven Steps to Better Radio Station Imaging

by Dave Foxx

1. DELETE every third word of your copy. If you can remove 1/3 of your words, your copy is too verbose.

2. PRODUCE the music track separately from the voiceover.

3. USE effects only to accentuate the music.

4. SHORTEN the distance between the idea and the expression of the idea. Rather than having one person write the copy, another voice the copy, and a third person produce it, cut at least one of those people out of the process. If you can write, voice and produce the promo, you’re in the best possible position. If you can write the copy, coach the voiceover, and then produce the spot, that’s almost as good.

5. FILL the creative well. When you’re not on the job, you’re still on the job. Regardless of what you are doing in your off-hours, always observe human nature. Those observations are the well from which you’ll draw your creativity when producing promos.

6. GIVE yourself enough time to finish a project without interruption. For the first 4 hours of your workday, hang on your door a sign that says “Radioactive: Do Not Enter.” Let everyone know that you mean it. Other people can bring you their problems and requests during the second four hours of your workday.

7. KNOW when you’re finished. When you’ve achieved your goals and it sounds really good, STOP. You’re done.

Dave Foxx will conduct a live teleseminar, fielding questions from radio station imaging people around the world. Here's all the info.

RADIO PRODUCTION LEGENDS PRAISE DAN O'DAY

Okay, look, the registration fee for this year's International Radio Creative & Production Summit increases on June 1. If you've thought about attending, register now and save a bunch of bucks.

Here are three guest speakers at last year's Summit, caught by our hidden camera, lavishing praise on the Summit and its host, Dan O'Day.

SOMETIMES LESS ACTUALLY CAN BE MORE

I'm not fond of cliches, and I don't believe that "less" always "is more." But in my files I found a couple of really nice promos Chris Ward created a while ago for Severn Sound. As good as they are, I think they would have been even better with a single line omitted from the finished product.

Here's one of them:

What line do I think is unnecessary? "Sing it, guys."

With Chris's permission — he's now the station producer at Real Radio Wales — here's my edited version:

What do you think? Was it stronger without "sing it guys"? Even more tellingly, was it weaker without that line? If removing any element of a spot doesn't weaken the spot, that element shouldn't be there.

Chris says, "Having listened back to the promos, I do agree with your analysis. The line 'sing it guys' wasn't necessary, it dilutes promo and, to be brutally honest it makes it slightly 'cheesy.' I remember at the time being a big fan of using the 'stop down effect' in promos, but it wasn't necessary in this instance and seems to have been used for the sake of being used rather than to enhance the promo.

"The promos were produced in a very short space of time and put straight to air. Whenever I produce something I like to script and produce it, leave it for a few days and then come back to it. In this instance, however, that wasn't possible. I think had I done this I would have not included the 'sing it, guys' line."

Here's another "A/B" example for you:

The edited version:

Despite my opinion that it's better without "sing it, guys," the promo is strong enough to be effective with or without it.

ASSUME THE (RADIO STATION) POSITION. ONLY ONE.

Sunday morning, 11:30AM. The DJ is adlibbing his way through a break, being careful to work in two required station positioners. Twice during that break he refers to "Your Official At Work Station" — on a Sunday morning.

How smart is that, having your weekend jock promote the station as the Official At Work Station? Not very.

The Rationale (I assume): That's how they want to be branded, so they say it all the time. Maybe some weekend listeners will be influenced to listen to them on weekdays, too.

The Fallacies:

1. Most people hearing that message are not, at that moment, At Work Listeners. The station is referencing an experience they are not having.

It's like a sports station boasting in January about being "The Official World Series Radio Station." Well, that might be true. But it doesn't make sense unless it's October, not January.

2. In fact, for many listeners it's an experience they'd rather not think about then. Few are thinking, "Gee, I wish there were something to take me out of my weekend mood and make me feel like I'm back in the office!"

But It Gets Worse.

The break — which included two references to "Your Official At Work Station" — ended with the jock declaring this to be a "Work Escape Weekend." Uh, at, um, y'know, Your Official At Work Station.

WHERE SHOULD OUR STATION PROMOS APPEAR?

A reader asks:

What do you think of running station promos first every time in each commercial break before any commercials?

Warning: My response will upset many program directors and consultants.

Current conventional wisdom holds that it's a good idea, because it accords your station promo the coveted First Position in the stopset.

The two spots most likely to be remembered are the first and the last in the break. In Learning Theory, these are known as the Primacy and Recency effects.

The first one has the advantage of being heard before the listener potentially is turned off by a bunch of commercials. The last (the most recent) has the advantage of not being followed by any other commercial message to compete with it for the listener's attention.

Personally, I think running the station promo first does a disservice both to the station and to the station's advertisers.

1. Reserving the single best commercial position for the radio station sends a sad message to the advertisers: "We're more concerned with our results than yours."

How many magazines reserve the back cover or inside front cover for their own in-house ads? No, those prime spaces go to paid advertisers.

The smart radio station charges a premium (15% to 30%) to guarantee first or last placement in a commercial break. Just as magazines charge premiums for their most valuable ad pages.

2. You condition your listeners to expect a bunch of commercials whenever they hear a station promo. Your promo becomes their cue to mentally or physically tune out.

To make matters worse, most station promos properly end with the station's name. So the Conditioned Response is for listeners to associate your station's name with commercials.

Traditional Top 40 radio programming (my own training ground) stressed the importance of immediately following your call letters with music. This long has proved to be a very smart, effective strategy. Regardless of your format, it makes the most sense to juxtapose your call letters with the primary entertainment or information product for which listeners tune in.

Third, a good station promo is entertaining and involving. But if you follow today's "conventional wisdom," you force your listeners instead to think of your promos as "just" commercials. Honestly, how would you rate the average commercial on your station? Worth tuning in for? Or just clutter?

Rather than compete with your advertisers and reduce the image of your own promos, I recommend not including your promo anywhere in your stopset. Instead, run it solo elsewhere in the hour. You'll shorten your commercial breaks, allow your sales department to charge a premium for First Position, and greatly increase the probable impact of your promos.

(I'm reminded of some programming genius who was quoted in a trade publication several years ago as saying that to make his station's long commercial clusters seem shorter, he "breaks them up by including a couple of station promos." Uh-huh.)

Finally, an anecdotal report:

Here in Los Angeles, years ago, I often listened to very good morning show. The station that broadcast this show:

1. Was the worst-produced major market station I've ever heard.

2. Began each (very long) stopset with a station-produced promo.

As soon as a stopset began, I'd automatically turn off the radio not because I wanted to avoid the commercials (commercial creation is one of my specialties, and I would listen to all-commercial radio if I could) but because I couldn't stand to sit through 30 or 60 seconds of mindless, artless, inane, station-produced drivel.

In this case, the fact that every commercial break began with an embarrassingly bad station promo conditioned me to tune out the entire stopset. So I never heard any of the paid commercials on that station.

Do you suppose the advertisers would have been pleased to learn that the station inadvertently yet actively encouraged people NOT to listen to their commercials?