June 2005 RAP
June 2005 Highlights
Feature: How to Get That "Pukin' DJ" Sound Out of Your
Voice
By Susan Berkley
Well, perhaps I’m being a little indelicate here, but you know the sound
I’m talking about. It’s the sound that screams "I’m in radio," and it’s a
problem if you want to make some serious money in voice-over. Not the kind
of pocket change you make doing spots for local clients. I’m talking about
the good high paying regional and national stuff that comes through ad
agencies, casting directors and talent agents.
Interview: Rich Boerner, Ronn Lipkin, Rob Frazier,
KLSX-FM, Los Angeles, CA
By Jerry Vigil
A few stations are lucky enough to have one amazing person in the
production/creative department. Several names come to mind. You know who
they are. But how many stations can claim a trio of super talents? And how
often do you find three talents of this caliber all focusing their creative
genius on just one radio station? It’s a recipe that’s working well for KLSX
97.1 FM Talk in Los Angeles. Don’t let their 15th ranked 12+ numbers fool
you. They’re ranked amongst the top five billing stations in LA. They have
been consistently ranked #1, 2 or 3 in the Infinity cluster for the past two
years. Last year, the station billed 37 million. And they do it by relying
30-40% on local business. Rich Boerner, Ronn Lipkin, and Rob Frazier. Check
your back issues for background on these gents. We interviewed Rob most
recently in July of 2003. We visited with Rich ten years ago in March of
1995. And it was over twelve years ago when we checked in on Ronn in January
1993. The trio picked up RAP awards in all three categories this year,
adding to an already overstuffed trophy case. It’s perhaps radio’s most
powerful creative team, and this month we check it with the three R’s to
find out a little more about what makes this team work so well at generating
amazing amounts of direct sales revenue.
Test Drive: Networking and Wormholes
By Steve Cunningham
Grab your pocket protector, put some tape on your eyeglasses, and prepare
to geek out. This month we’re gonna delve into the world of TCP/IP and
networking. I’ve been fooling around for awhile now with a plug-in called
Wormhole that lets you play real-time audio from one software editor into
another over a network, and lemme tell ya, this is getting good.
Production 212: Brand vs. Position
By Dave Foxx
Three months ago, I spoke at a regional broadcasters convention in West
Virginia and have since been reviewing that material on these pages. This
month, I conclude with brand versus image. This was really the meat of my
presentation, and one I hope I can speak to it clearly, because there are a
lot of misconceptions about both. I know a lot of people think branding and
imaging are the same thing, but those people are wrong, and while the
difference might seem slight to some, it’s important to approach each of
them with a special mindset to make sure you’re going to get the results you
intend.
Radio Hed: Ask, Don't Tell
By Jeffrey Hedquist
Would you walk up to a stranger and boss them around? Probably not. So
why do our commercials often consist of commands, not invitations? With only
:30 or :60 to establish a relationship, why spend so much of it demanding
something from the listener? Didn’t your momma teach you no manners? I think
we just forget.
Feature: Less is Less
By Michael R. Lee, Ph.D.
The most famous phrase of radio in the new millennium has nothing to do
with "more music" or "more money" or even "better radio." No, radio is now
immersed in a movement and controversy that has been self-titled as "Less is
More." It’s hard to figure out where to start in assessing this campaign.
Perhaps the first thing to point out is that, grammatically, the correct
phrase should be "Fewer is More" when it comes to commercials. But that too
would be misleading in that radio is not so much about running fewer
commercials as it is about running shorter commercials. That would make the
most accurate phrase "Shorter is More." Certainly it leaves something to be
desired in the way of being catchy or inspiring.
Feature: A Labor of Love
By Bob Barnes
Bigger is not necessarily better — especially when it comes to sound
effects libraries. Most of the SFX collections marketed today are created
primarily to support the film or video media. Many are huge, full of
superfluous sounds, and cost hundreds—sometimes thousands—of dollars. A lot
of these behemoths are ill-catalogued or over-catalogued making effects hard
to find. The catalogues are the size of telephone directories and some list
multiple libraries published by the same company—you’ll often find the
effect you need in the catalog, but it’s in a library you don’t even have!
(I once located "bag pipes" which when auditioned was the sound of someone
placing metal pipes into a paper bag! Weeks later, I found the "bagpipes" I
was searching for in the same catalogue but in a subdirectory under "Music
Cues.") What’s needed—especially for the commercial radio producer—is a
small library of intensely useful, easy to find, identifiable sounds. Oddly
enough, just such a library was created by the legendary recordist Jac
Holzman (yes, the Jac Holzman of Jimi Hendrix and Doors fame) nearly 50
years ago! And, while most of the sounds remain highly useful even today,
it’s difficult to find the library in its original, unspoiled edition.
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
My old college buddy Jack was a handy guy. If anything in someone’s dorm
room, apartment, or rental house/trailer broke down, Jack was always the
first call. There were two good reasons. First, campus services and/or
landlords always seemed to have at least 2 weeks worth of projects they HAD
to finish up before they could even consider fixing your "little problem."
Second, if Jack fixed something, you knew it was fixed and would stay that
way. Clogged plumbing, broken windows, beer bottle-shaped holes in the wall…
any college habitat calamity you could imagine (and many you can’t), Jack
would make right. It was no surprise to any of us that Jack started his own
contracting business after college, even less of a surprise that he was
quite successful from the very beginning. And when word got around that Jack
was building his dream house, all by himself from the ground up, we all knew
it would be a thing of beauty. But then, we all thought we knew everything,
being fresh out of college…
Feature: Meet the New Boss (Not the Same as the Old
Boss)
By Edward Thompson
It had been in the works for months. The big media company for which I
work merged with another big media company to form an even bigger media
company. Not so unusual in the two decades since deregulation. One by one,
these companies gathered up stations like Easter eggs, putting them in their
basket until some markets only had two or three companies that owned all the
stations. Lots of good radio people lost their jobs. Others didn’t. The fact
that I didn’t lose mine during this merger doesn’t imply that I’m better
than the folks who did. It just means that I haven’t had to go get a "real
job."
The Monday Morning Memo: The New Branding
By Roy H. Williams
Most branding campaigns are costumes worn by advertisers to the Media
Masquerade Ball. They were the hot ticket during the pretentious Baby Boomer
years when blue ribbons were awarded to those with best costumes, but look
around and you’ll see that we’re moving into an era of transparency. The
only thing offensive these days is phoniness.
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