LINERS FOR SATELLITE STATION
QUESTION FOR DAN O’DAY:
I'm the program director of a radio station that uses a lot of
satellite fed music. The satellite service provides for call letter
drops and liners, etc...with the voices of the satellite announcers.
Should I use the satellite announcers to voice these liners or should I
use our station's image voice?
DAN REPLIES:
Assuming the satellite announcers do a decent job of it, I'd go
with them. Here's why:
- A radio station requires consistency of sound. That does NOT
mean using only one voice. But when someone speaks as "the voice
of" your radio station, the audience should be able to recognize that
voice.
- The operational goal from the viewpoint of the end user (the
listener) is seamlessness. You want everything to sound as though
it's happening live, in your studio, in the very town where the
listener is tuning in. But if there's a line of demarcation between
your jocks and the overall station sound, your seams are
showing.
But you should feel free to voice your preferences of announcers
for your drop-ins. If the service assigns the drops randomly to their
jocks, you might be airing too many "station voices." Or you might
be airing a voice that simply doesn't present your station the way
you'd like. Do not simply settle for what they "give" you.
(Remember, they're not giving you anything; you pay for it.)
"The best radio programming book ever written!"
This Business of Radio Programming.
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