June 2000 RAP
June 2000 Highlights
RAP Interview: Mike Daly, KOGO/KSDO/KPOP, San Diego, CA
- RAP Awards Winner on Imaging San Diego's Talk Leader
This month’s RAP Interview checks in with another of this year’s RAP
Awards winners. Mike Daly, a.k.a. “Flounder,” picked up the winning trophy
and the 1st Runner-up award in the Best Promo category for Major Markets.
Not a bad showing for market #15! Mike is one of radio’s hottest young
imaging producers. He learned from one of the best, Eric Chase, who learned
from one of the best, Joel Moss. Mike handles the imaging for San Diego’s
talk monster, KOGO-AM, among other duties for the Clear Channel group. Many
of his song parodies and bits have been heard around the world. Be sure to
check out Mike’s demo on this month’s RAP Cassette for an entertaining
sample of news/talk imaging in the 21st century.
Feature: The Nature of Sound
by John Pellegrini
All of my life, I’ve been fascinated by sounds. I can remember lying in
bed late at night, as a child of 3 or 4, listening to the train whistles
that ran near our house. The big old diesel horns that had only one tone are
my favorite, not those multiple tone horns you hear today. We lived in
Whitefish Bay, a suburb of Milwaukee, and the old Milwaukee Road passenger
rail service line was two blocks away. Loud and different sounds always got
my attention. I can also remember one day, walking home from school, hearing
a load roar, and looking up, I saw a plane with a triangle shaped wingspan.
My father later told me that it was called a delta wing jet fighter named
the F-15 Tomcat. I can remember sonic booms shaking the house. I can
remember how excited I was the first time I heard the new “warbler” sirens
on the police cars, which up until that year, I’d only heard on TV cop
shows. The loud diesel engines on trucks, the daily noon air raid siren
test, all big sounds. Big sounds meant big things were happening.
Test Drive: The Tascam CD-RW700 CD Rewritable Recorder
by Steve Cunningham
This month we look at another standalone CD recorder, this time from the
folks at Tascam. The CD-RW700 records and plays both CD-R and CD-R/W discs.
It is what I like to call a “prosumer” unit in that it straddles the divide
between professional and consumer products. So while the analog ins and outs
are unbalanced, the converters are 24-bit, and there’s a RAM buffer to
ensure that the beginning of your recording is captured. The latter are
definitely pro features. With a suggested list price of under $700 and a
street price under $600, it is also one of the least-expensive CD recorders
available. The 2U rackmount CD recorder ships with an infrared remote, and
even includes rack screws.
The Monday Morning Memo: Advertising or Public
Relations?
by Roy H. Williams
Advertising professionals can depend upon the client’s ad budget to help
them grow that client’s business, but a public relations person can depend
only upon his or her personal credibility with journalists in the media.
Advertising can be purchased by picking up the phone and calling a media’s
sales department. Public relations, however, is the subtle art of being
noticed by the journalists in the news department. Let me say it a little
more plainly: Advertising is exposure that you can buy. PR is the exposure
that you get for free. (Except that you have to pay the PR people who can
get it for you for free.)
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks - Do You Have Enough
Voice Talent at Your Radio Station? PART 1
This month’s Q It Up question takes a look at the voice-talent pool in
radio stations today, or lack thereof. We were pleased to get plenty of
response from the RAP Network from all over the world, including Canada,
Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Ireland, and New Zealand; and
we’ll offer the responses in two parts, with the rest in next month’s RAP.
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 you’re an independent producer, feel free to
offer your thoughts on the subject as well.
Way Off the Mark - Copy Reversals
by Mark Margulies
Here’s what you WON’T get in this article. You WON’T get a lot of gooey
talk about how
positive advertising is the only style to use. You WON’T find a lot of fluff
about the fact that you have to frame everything you say in a positive way
in an ad. And you WON’T find an overabundance of overused, so-called “power
words.” What you WILL find are some ideas I’d like to share with you this
month about what some people call “negative copy.”
...And Make It Real Creative
by Trent Rentsch
I really had no business touching the plumbing in the first place. The
mammoth wrench I was assaulting the pipes with had been purchased because of
two generally male misconceptions. First, the bigger the tool, the better.
Second, no matter how ignorant I might be about the task I’m about to
undertake, it’s just not right to ask the guy at the hardware mega-store
what tools I might really need. As I tried to maneuver the obviously
over-sized implement around the maze of cleaning supplies under the sink, I
silently blamed the contractor who built the house for making the vanity too
damned small (in typical male fashion).
RAP Forum: What's Really Important Anyway?
by Craig Jackman
I’m sick of hearing it from Sales Reps, and I’m sick of hearing it from
Program Directors and Promotion Directors. I’m sick of hearing it from
clients. I’m sick of hearing it from Writers or Creative Directors acting as
mouthpieces for Sales Reps, Program Directors, Promotion Directors, or
clients. I’m sick of hearing, “Drop whatever you’re working on; this is
important.” Or even worse, I’m sick of hearing, “This is really special;
make sure you put a little extra into this.”
Tips & Techniques: (To sales departments
everywhere--give this one to all your clients.) How to Write an Effective
Radio Commercial for Your Small Business
By Rusty Faust
Many people say that the best advertising they have is by “word of
mouth.” Your customers have such a positive experience with your business
that they can’t wait to tell their friends all about it. I have four words
for you: “Don’t count on it!” Don’t let the success or failure of your
business hinge on the handful of people your satisfied customers will talk
to. Spread the word to thousands of potential customers at one time on the
radio. Here are a few tips to help you translate good word of mouth into a
great radio commercial.
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