December 2006 RAP
December 2006 Highlights
Feature: So You Wanna Start Your Own Business!
by Yaman Coskun
It is important to keep the purpose of this article in perspective. It is
to start a fire in your heart to launch your own gig. It is to inspire. Not
to disillusion you about our industry. This article does not in any way,
intentionally or unintentionally, depict, accuse, imply or single out any
particular radio group, its operators or affiliates. What I refer to in this
story as "talent genocide" is merely my personal emotional reaction. It is
also my motivation in starting my own gig. It is not a reflection of RAP’s
opinion nor the opinions of any of my colleagues respectfully employed by a
radio group. The current trend of talent layoffs is a common business
practice in radio, or in any large business environment for that matter, of
adjusting numbers to protect the bottom line. It is business. Nothing
personal. The main concern for many of us is not the "business decisions"
but how they are executed. It is very unsettling to watch humans, with
decades of fine service, being discarded with less respect than one given to
a piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe. But, I regress, and of course,
that’s not what this article is about.
Interview: Chad Michael Snavely, Family Life Network,
Bath, NY
By Jerry Vigil
After several fascinating stops around the globe, this month’s RAP
Interview brings it home for the holidays, and what better place to stop at
Christmastime than at Family Life Ministries, where Chad Michael Snavely is
the Morning Show/Imaging Producer for the FLM network of Christian formatted
stations. Chad is also the VP/Senior Producer for Christian Concert Spots,
and is the Imaging Producer for Spoken Word Images, a Christian voiceover
and production company headed up by VO artist Pete Bunch. Chad shares some
insights into imaging Christian radio and lots more in this month’s
interview. Be sure and check out his sampler on this month’s RAP CD for an
earful of great production!
Technology: The Producer's Lapdance
By Don Elliot
Simplify your life – become a minimalist — BTW, this expression was NOT
invented by Clear Channel… it has been around in directing circles for years
when getting talent to perform to the director’s wants and rants…. less is
more!!! Even when it means spending a little dough (uh, tax-deductible, so
what do you REALLY care?), I will give you the Elliot Rule-o-Thumb for
"expenditure worthwhile-ness" — if the benefit is greater than the cost,
then it’s free… right? That’s just NOT too hard to understand!
After this article began to get its legs, it unintentionally began to take
on the feel of my having a road warrior mentality. But then I realized that
this is what we have all become, in a sense, even when we are only moving
into a studio down the hall to start or finish a project. Ever made a cross
country move in a van? Ever moved just down the block or down the hall? You
STILL had to pack and relocate — both examples a major pain! Therefore, the
thrust of this piece is about how to simplify your life and live happier and
longer as a production guy in a business that eats its young, netting you
more longevity (who wants a SHORT-gevity in the first place?), and keeping
you in a mental position where you will still actually enjoy what you do!
Production 212: When Less Really IS More
By Dave Foxx
The jury is still out, I think, on whether the much-touted "Less Is More"
campaign is delivering what Clear Channel wanted, better rates for shorter
commercials – allowing for more selling opportunities. Please understand, I
don’t mean this as a criticism at all. (Honest, I really like my job!) I
know that revenue is up and that’s certainly a promising sign, but I’m less
sure that it will ultimately change the radio landscape that much. One VERY
positive side effect of this policy however, is what it has done to
production — especially on the imaging side. No more long, rambling promos
full of movie drops and non-essential "scenes" and stupid jokes. No more
seemingly endless beat-matches and best of all, a realization that you don’t
have to say everything in the promo. Having to compress the message
time-wise has really made producers, both inside and out of Clear Channel,
realize that most of that was pure crap. Almost none of it was funny and
very little of it had anything to do with the promotion at hand. Promos are
sounding bright, tight and to the point, more than I’ve ever heard on just
about every station I’ve heard over the last several months.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks! - Political Ads,
Anyone?
Q It Up: Political ads. Don’t you wish you had them year
round? Right. How do you handle these special advertisers? When they want to
come to your studio to cut their spots, do you treat them differently from
the average advertiser? Do you restrict them to certain days of the week to
come to the studio? Certain hours of the day? Do you require absolute
deadlines for reserving studio time? Are there special considerations when
they use station announcers on tags or other parts of the spot? Do you
restrict high-profile personalities from appearing on the spots without
talent fees? What are your station’s policies regarding political ads?
Please feel free to share any further thoughts on the subject.
Radio Hed: Clich-Busters
By Jeffrey Hedquist
Hear that sound? It’s happening every minute throughout the country. It’s
the off switch on your listener’s attention. All it took were the first
words of a clich, and…there it is again. We may wince when we hear those
over-used phrases that are devoid of meaning, but not our listeners. They
simply ignore ‘em. And they ignore the message.
Notes Off the Napkin: Dialing in Dialect
by Andrew Frame
I got the e-mail one morning, sent by my mate in Dublin, and addressed to
our entire talent network: "I need an ‘urban’ or ‘street’ read on these two
scripts, can anyone help out? Reply directly to me..." Then, to me
privately, a follow-up e-mail added, "Over here, we’d just say ‘black’, but
I don’t know how that goes over on your side of the pond anymore."
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
Because you’ve been so good this year, hanging in there with some of the
nonsense this column has delivered the past 12 months, I’ve decided to stuff
your stocking to the brim. Nothing fancy, just some odds and ends, useful
items, and… well, maybe just a LITTLE more nonsense.
The Monday Morning Memo: I Did Not Die Today - An
Introduction to Chaotic Ad Writing
by Roy H. Williams
I am, for the moment, alive and well as an ad writer. But I feel I’m
being stalked by iPods, cell phones, instant messaging, and increasingly
fragmented media choices. And they’re all gunning for my life.
Over-communication rides rampant across the mindscape of America, putting
greater-than-ever pressure on ad writers to create ads that produce results.
Today I will teach you how to write such ads.
Feature: What is Best in Life?
by Ed Thompson
My favorite line from Y Chromosome Theater comes from The Dino Di
Laurentis classic, Conan the Barbarian starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and
James Earl Jones. It’s the scene after the warlords have won another great
victory, and after much drinking, the question is asked, "What is best in
life?" Conan of Cimeria answered, "To crush your enemies, to see them driven
before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women!" Had I been born in
Iron Age Europe in the cold Norselands of my ancestors, an answer like that
might stir the warm places of my heart. But, I am a mid-Twentieth Century
man, in his mid-forties living in the early Twenty-first and I ask… "What is
best in life?"
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