July 2006 RAP
July 2006 Highlights
Feature: Is Your Life as a Producer Limited?
by Steve Pigott
After recently recruiting a team of producers for Pure Tonic Media, an
unsuccessful "25 year production veteran" was hot on the reply button, with
a very interesting perspective: "radio production hasn’t changed; we’re
doing exactly the same things we were doing 20 years ago." This guy really
got me thinking on how people perceive the imaging on a radio station. Is it
just simply there as a function? Or is it there for a purpose? I’m thinking
the latter, but I guess there really is no right or wrong answer. More
importantly, is our life as an imaging producer really that limited? Is
there a time in years to come, when I’ll just be past it and give up?
Interview: Chris Nicoll, ZM Radio, Auckland, New Zealand
By Jerry Vigil
This month’s RAP Interview makes a stop for the first time in New Zealand
to check out a newcomer to the world of imaging. Chris Nicoll is only 23,
but has already nabbed some national radio production awards, has made some
impressive contributions to the RAP CD, and finds himself imaging New
Zealand’s top rated CHR format at ZM Radio. We get a look at New Zealand
radio, introduce Chris to the international world of radio production, and
get a remarkable sampler from Chris on this month’s RAP CD. This is one
imaging producer we’re sure to hear more from for years to come.
Technology: Audio Time Compression
By Steve Cunningham
For most of us, it’s only been available for about 15 years, but we all
wonder how we ever got on without it. It comes standard with almost every
audio editor out there, and it’s available as a third- party plug-in as
well. It makes our jobs infinitely easier and our clients appreciate it, but
our listeners often hate it and with good reason. It’s time compression and
expansion. It’s the ability to shrink a 32 second spot down to the required
29.9 seconds with a click and a drag. It’s the ability to fix a rushed VO
read, or to beat-match a song for a promo. It’s the ability to fit a
half-page of single-spaced legal mumbo-jumbo into the last eight seconds of
a spot, without making the talent sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. And I
doubt that many car dealer spots are ever completed without it. ‘nuff said.
Production 212: Making the Most of Leftovers
By Dave Foxx
No, I haven’t been watching too much of the Food Network. Have you
thought about the fact that whenever an artist shows up at your radio
station to do an interview, probably less than five percent of your audience
will hear it? Do the math. It’s a little discouraging, but this month I’d
like to help you remedy the situation and make your boss worship the ground
you walk on. Well… make him glad he hired you anyway.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks! - What's most important
when training new salespeople?
Q It Up: What’s most important when training new
salespeople? How do you "try" to win them over to your way of thinking and
doing things? Do they spend a day in the studio with you? Do you hand them a
"production manual"? Or do you just teach on the fly? Feel free to add any
further comments you may have on the subject!
Personal Computing: Sending Large Files Without Mucking
Up the Works
By Reid Goldsborough
What if it doesn’t arrive? E-mail has never been a foolproof way of
sending information, and lately it has gotten even hairier, with
well-meaning but overzealous anti-spam filters blocking legitimate messages.
If you’re sending something crucial, it makes sense to follow-up with a
phone call afterward to make sure it has arrived. This is particularly true
if you’re sending a large file or files by way of an e-mail attachment. ISPs
typically limit attachments in received e-mails to anywhere from 2 to 10
megabytes, which isn’t always large enough for presentation, photo, audio,
or video files.
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
People are surprised to find out that I’m still a radio groupie. "You
were in the business for years," they say. "You’ve jumped out, back in, and
out again. It can’t possibly hold your interest anymore!" They are
completely right, and at the same time unbelievably wrong. The wide-eyed kid
who worked a late night shift at a tiny mid-western station, the one who
puked between records and dreamed of being the next Rick Dees, died some
years ago. If I were to give myself any credit at all as an on-air
performer, I might have made an adequate goofy sidekick alongside the right
real talent, but I let that ship sail years ago when I made audio production
my life. No regrets, it was still a great ride, only an observation.
Radio Hed: Six Marketing Principles to Make Your Radio
Work
By Jeffrey Hedquist
Here’s a marketing approach to designing a radio commercial, based on
some important questions from my friend and insightful marketer Tad Hargrave
(www.tadhargrave.com). Using these marketing steps will help you structure a
commercial that works. You must help your target audience to understand: 1.
They have a PROBLEM. That’s either going to be: A current pain or something
they want but don’t have (which is a problem to them). It’s a need they have
that’s unfulfilled. It’s a result they want but don’t have. It’s a goal or
vision they’re working for. It’s a problem they want to solve.
RAP Forum: Listener Stop Set Defection and Commercial
Free Programming
By Jeff Ogden
The industry is trying to downsize the stop set time so listeners will
stay for commercials and not leave a station. A noble idea, but is a shorter
stop set an oxymoron when the station is doing commercial free hours, half
hour commercial free sweeps and long sets of continuous commercial free
music? Do we fully understand Arbitron and what these numbers really
represent to a client? Programmers create a format that produce ratings
based on the entertainment side of the station, not the revenue side or the
client’s commercial side.
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