July 2000 RAP
July 2000 Highlights
Feature: Myths & Mandates
By Michael R. Lee, Ph.D.
Now that the dust is about to settle on the mega monster
radio consolidation of all time, now that radio revenues
are at an all-time high and individual station prices
have approached $400 million, its a good time to look at
where we are and where were going.
Interview: Keith Smith, Production Director, K-Earth,
Los Angeles, California
By Jerry Vigil
This months RAP Interview offers a long-overdue visit
with another one of LAs extremely talented imaging
producers. Keith Smith took the Production Directors
helm at K-Earth nine years ago. In that time, he has
worked with some of radios most legendary on-air talents
and has taken the imaging of the Oldies format to a new
level. In the LA imaging wars, Keith has shaped a sound
for K-Earth that penetrates this super competitive
market with a resonance that stacks this Oldies station
up against some of the best imaged contemporary stations
in LA, and with his help, K-Earth continues to rate as
one of the countrys top Oldies stations, book after
book.
Radio Hed: Flip Cards
By Jeffrey Hedquist
Heres a variation on brainstorming. Assemble a series of
cards (your brainstorming group can help you develop
these) with one topic on each. Regular 3 x 5 file cards
work fine for this. One set of cards describes
relationships: mother and son, talent agent and star,
insurance salesman and prospective purchaser, garage
mechanic and car owner, music teacher and child prodigy.
You get the idea.
Test Drive: The Digi 001 from Digidesign
By Steve Cunningham
Its the non-linear editing giant. Its the
eight-hundred-pound gorilla of digital audio. Yup, its
Pro Tools from Digidesign, and until recently, it was
expensive. A full-blown Pro Tools system was a
year-worth-of-mortgage-payments expensive. But thats all
changed with the introduction of the Digi 001 recording
and editing system. Today, if you have a fast computer
and a little less than a kilobuck, you can run with the
big dogs.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks -
Do You Have Enough Voice Talent at Your Radio Station?
Part 2
By Jerry Vigil
This months Q It Up is part 2 of our question that takes
a look at the voice-talent pool in radio stations today,
or lack thereof.
Q It Up: Tell us about the voice talent bank at your
radio station(s). Do you have enough voice talent at
your disposal? Do you go outside the station(s)
regularly for voice talent? Do you have a budget for
hiring voice-over talent? Give us a brief rundown of how
you manage the voice-over talent, or lack of, at your
station(s). Any further comments on the subject are
welcome. If youre an independent producer, feel free to
offer your thoughts on the subject as well.
...And Make It Real Creative
By Trent Rentsch
Even the most jaded cynic has something in their past
that has touched them profoundly, that has made them
feel a part of something important that they will carry
with them their entire lives. The right word, the right
sound can stir those emotions, making that person smile,
laugh, cry remember.
The Monday Morning Memo: Why Most Ads Don't Work
By Roy H. Williams
Most advertising isn't working like it should. And in
most instances, the blame lies entirely with the
advertiser.
Most advertisers insist on repetitiously cramming the
name of their company, the name of their product, their
business hours and their street address into every ad
they buy. Such ads do a great job of answering the "who,
what, when and where" questions while failing to answer
the customers question, "Why?" The simple truth is that
most advertisers sound like a mob of two-year-olds in a
day-care center, each one jumping and crying, "Me! Me!
Me! Watch me! Look at me!"
|