imagingradio

So you work in a rated market that is now utilizing PPM, how do you brand that now that the diary from Arbitron  is gone? First you have to think like the listener (which you should be doing anyway), that means that from a listeners point of view, his/her favorite station is always top of mind. That being said, the branding of your station to reflect that is what is going to be crucial, especially as you move into the Fall ratings periods. I have found that by using real statements and real people to brand the station it helps with top of mind awareness.

The PPM is going to pick the station up no matter what you “say” so if they are listening at the office, or in the car or at the Megalomart you can bet that in order for them to “hear” you, you’re going to have to creatively entice them to listen longer and in more places.

Utilize your branding statement at concerts,  remotes, events and anywhere you want to gather audio to brand your station. Get a great digital recorder ( I suggest the ZOOM digital mic/recorder) and make it fun, keep a supply of station brika brak  on hand to give to them, and make it a “contest” of sorts, the most real audio will sound the best in post, but you’ll get great audio to use in other places as well.

PPM is our friend, the diary days will soon be over and you have to find better more creative ways to get your brand top of mind. I hope this helps you find your niche’ in a crowded marketplace.

I was taking a few days off to bond with my son, who is about to be 14 months old, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed our time together, bonding with a 1 year old is harder than it sounds, “why?”, well a couple of things
A)I’m not his mother
B)I’m not his mother
and
C)I’m not his mother,
that being said, he hung out, scratched, cried and watched baseball, football and golf with me while I took some days off, we both loved it, much to the chagrin of his mother, who only likes the playoffs, the super bowl and the Masters.. ahhh, this is going to be so cool, I can’t wait to introduce him to the world of Radio and Voice Over, maybe some imaging too..

Added new blog on kudl.com, you can visit it here…. http://blogs.kudl.com/taylor I’ve moved my smooth jazz show to sundays and rebranded it the Smooth Sunday Brunch, shortened by an hour and will focus on new music and the top 15 from Billboard Magazines Smooth Charts and SmoothJazz.com charts too. If you have a chance drop by the site, stream it on sunday mornings, or just leave a comment.

Somewhere between 1980 and 1993 I lost Steely Dan, but wait they were never really lost, they just took a break from each other. Fagen and Becker decided they had had enough of the touring, recording, touring, eating, touring, recording and I could go on and on but… Now they are back on tour, and after reading the article in today (7/31) USAToday about how they’re recreating entire albums in their new tour, I almost wish I had the funds to follow them as not a Groupie, but as a true connessouier of their music.

It mesmerized me as a young weed smokin kid of the 70′s and 80′s and their jazz infused classics “Aja” and “The Royal Scam” are mainstays in the in my vinyl library. You can learn alot about how we “image” radio just by listening to these guys make incredible music. If you are any where close to Chicago, LA, or NY you really must make it a point to see them live, your life will be better for it.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

I’ve been using FB and Twitter a lot lately, trying to find new ways to A)market myself and my freelance business and B)having way too much fun doing it. It’s highly addictive in my opinion. But I have come across some great tools on both of the these social platforms that I think can help in my daily grind to find imaging for radio and make it topical, memorable and functional.

I took my ZOOM to a high traffic area and just asked people in general, (anyone who would answer my questions and not think I’m some sort of wacko) if they used FB or Twitter or any of the other social networking sites lately, how they used it, when they used it and what they get it out of it.

You would be surprised by the answers I got, now take your own answers ( I’m not doing the work FOR you) and create some really funny or even topical imaging for your station. Be CREATIVE, it’s how the P1′s will remember you and I’m sure with PPM coming to your town soon, you need all the tools you can to make your station stand out from the rest!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Summer is by far my favorite imaging season, people are out and doing things, eager to help out with almost anything. Case in point, I had to have some dental work done in an emergency, I went to a dentist I hadn’t been to in over 3 years and found that they were listening to a station I image, I called the on air personality and told him “Hey, they are listening at Barry Road Dental Group, give em a shout”, not only did HE call THEM, they were ecstatic about hearing their names on the radio as well as their business. Now how does that help you image your station?. Well it does a couple of things, first if you need some great tape, they would be one of the first places to look, second: they will tell their friends about how they got to be on the radio at KXXX. You’re always going to get great 1′s and 0′s here (or for my old school imagers.. great tape ). Look around and listen around, if you hear your station on in a business, you really should be getting some tape, they listen because they like what your doing.

I am in the process of re-producing imaging for the Heritage AC station KUDL and have a new voice talent to break in again. My previous voice talents Jon Carter/Buffy O”Neil -Megahertz Studios were an awesome addition to our station and for 6 years they dominated, you can hear them on a lot of Entercom AC properties. Our new talent is Sean Caldwell and I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with him yet, but at first listen, I think it will be a great partnership. We have taken the station out of a Hot AC and moved it back a few notches to more of a Smooth AC hybrid. (my opinion). These guys are the pros and I suggest you check our their demos for more enlightenment if you’re planning on changing your stations voices

LiveLeak.com – Rap Chop Slap Chop Remix.

You’ll enjoy this I’m sure

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Ok, so I am not the defacto expert on anything, but I do know a little about mixing. I often get asked by clients who are trying to do quite frankly the impossible, they are trying (themselves) to either pull music or voice off of video or add music or voice to video using products that are not made for those applications. I am using two different versions of Audition 1.5 and 3.0. The 3.0 version will allow me to both remove audio and add audio to video files. I really want to tell them to “step away from the app slowly” and let a pro create or modify their projects. It will cost them less than they expected and more importantly it will be done right the first time. Something to think about isn’t it? I’d love to know what you think, or if you have a better tip,please share it so everyone can benefit.

I just signed a new client rooradio.com for imaging and was amazed by the amount of feedback I got concerning how well the imaging sounds online. If you image internet radio, the first things you should be concerned with is bit rate,stereo definitions and voice quality.
I send everything at 160kps stereo and depending on your clients (or your) streaming application this is probably the maximum you’ll want to set it at. Why? well anything more is a waste of bandwidth, anything less takes away the quality of production piece. You’re sweeps shouldn’t be more than 15 seconds anyway, and if they are, you should ask for a re-write. Music promos/sweeps on the other hand can be up to 30seconds but anything more takes away from the brand of the internet station.