Monthly Archives: January 2015

The value of real radio.

January 26, 2015Commercialscreative radio, radio, radio account executives, radio production, radio sales, radio scripts, radio stations, script writing, scripts, targeted advertisingOvernight Radio

I enjoy satellite radio, I think it’s great. We have a lot of our radio commercials running there. It’s of great audio quality, and the choices are endless. On long trips, it really passes the time and i can really get deeply into it.

But in my day to day life, satellite radio plays a minor role. While it always has it’s appeal, to me, regular broadcast or terrestrial radio is my main go-to. The reasons are few, but important.

The first has been noted many times over…for good reason, it’s true. Over the air, broadcast radio is local. If satellite radio is full of stars, then broadcast radio is full of family. The jocks know your streets, your neighborhoods, they know who played who last night and what bands just rocked the downtown. They know the politicians, they know the big wigs, and they know the little guys. Even the ads you hear are from people you likely know either well, or just by acquaintance through their lovely establishments. There isn’t a comparable feeling for me when i turn to satellite.

The other reason is, it’s free. A compelling argument for sure. Something in this day and age is relatively poignant. Broadcast or ‘free radio’ wants you to use them, for not even a dime. Just turn us on and rip the knob off.

Yes of course, nothing is free…and to be surprised when a commercial comes on is to be naive. They have to make money somehow, but to me, this is a fair agreement and augmented by the fact that you can turn it off immediately or change the station if you are offended. Which happens all the time.

One might argue that in order to avoid the constant changing of the stations to avoid commercials, one might purchase satellite radio. A fair point. Unless you remembered my opening sentence about our spots running there.

So even though you are paying to avoid the commercials, there they are. They found you! AND you are paying to hear them.

There is no escape from commercials. We live in a commercial society. It’s part of being a capitalist nation in a capitalist western hemisphere. It’s we do…and by ‘we’, I mean everyone.

That’s why, for me…free radio is the better deal…it’s more upfront about what it is.

I liken it to television and movies. Television being radio (i know, getting a bit convoluted). But each and every night, I watch some TV. It’s part of my life. There are international channels, i know, but it feels like home.

Whereas with satellite radio, it feels like going to the movies. It’s super fun and it’s an event. But that’s all it really is, an event. Sometimes there is a great event, let’s say…Avatar…and that’s when movies shine and you think ‘how could tv ever compare to this?”. and it can’t. BUT the movies can’t sustain that. So it’s an illusion. Cause next week, “Weekend at Bernie’s 9” is playing.

It’s great to go out, but it’s nothing like the comfort of home. That’s what radio is. Home.

It’s the greatest selling tool ever. Who doesn’t love home?

When you sell radio, you are selling people comfort, you are selling them family, you are selling them what they already crave. Comfort. Otherwise known as radio (the free and real kind).

Buy North American

January 2, 2015Generalannouncers, audio production, Commercial, creative radio, jingles, radio, radio account executives, radio production, radio scripts, radio stations, scripts, targeted advertising, television, voice over artists, voice talentOvernight Radio

When times are tough, things contract. Paychecks get smaller and people start to worry. It’s only natural. It happens in every industry and it’s cyclical…every 8-10 years or so. It helps keep the economy in check.

There are things industries must do in order to stay alive during these periods. They include but not limited to: cutting expenses, changing existing contractual obligations, and yes, even cutting staff.

In an industry such as radio, we are not exempt from any of this, and of course, radio being a medium that has endured more change than any other medium in recent history, it should be old hat by now. Especially considering the connected world in which we live in. It would almost be unthinkable of a station that is not using some sort of outside talent, production, or some sort of third-party service to keep their business running. In fact, i recall back in my early days working as a producer at a rock station, learning about all the digital delivery companies they worked with, delivering mp3’s to the station before the widespread use of email…i know, i am very old.

Today is no different…we are a company connected to many stations around north america and the globe. We work in tandem with creative directors, sales reps/account executives, station owners and the like to keep their clients happy with their commercial production needs.

There is a tendency to cut off ties to your contracted business and try to do all the work yourselves in-house when things get tight, like say the recent great depression of 2008, of which we are still feeling some effects of today. There are some small reasons to do this and big ones…the big one of course, is to save money. We do the same thing. BUT cutting off a contract with something that helps bring in the much needed capital to keep the station running, a company such as us, is akin to stopping eating to save money. You NEED to eat to stay alive (you NEED to run commercials to stay in business), and you NEED to cook your food so you won’t get sick and die (you need to CREATE your commercials professionally so your business won’t die.)

Self interest aside, companies such as ours and others, are an essential part of the radio food chain. And to our clients credit during the recession, they understood that and kept working with us throughout the fallout. We could not be more grateful. And we know how hard it was for them, especially when added pressure of the ‘buy American’ movement came along as a result of 2008. Not only did these companies get pressure to drop ALL outside contracts, the ones that remained were pressured to be American-only…and i mean United States only.

It’s one of the reasons we increased our American voice talent roster recently. Since we have clients in the United States as well as in Canada, we have a voice-over team who reflects that, with careers and experience across both countries. Each voice talent has been well versed in local pronunciations for either side of the border and we can now claim to have enough American talent of origin to be considered properly under the “Buy American” movement.

Anything we can do to help our valued clients is what we will do…and one day i hope we can amend it to the “Buy NORTH American’ movement.