Canada’s Jamie Watson blew the room away during the State-of-the-Art Station Imaging panel at this year’s International Radio Creative & Production Summit.
His stuff is so original and varied that it’s impossible to select a “typical” piece to share with you. But here’s one of his….
If you hurry and order the entire Summit audio package in time, your three bonuses will include an entire CD filled with stuff from our Imaging panel that wasn’t played at the event.
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Dan: Well, since noone else has commented on these yet, I’ll speak up. Thanks for some “eye-openers”.
My initial reaction to those examples you’ve posted so far is “that’s different”. My second reaction is “why is that different…why am I not going there?”
Any hint as to a handy “trigger” that sets the mind in motion in some direction that (‘scuze the cliche) “breaks paradigm”?
I’ve frequently used your idea of listening to music and write – whatever comes to mind, just write. And while few of us could pick up a guitar and pen an ode to our prostates, most of us would love to be able to react to the challenge for a different concept without thinking “Yeah, sure…let me pull another winner out of thin air that doesn’t sound like the one I came up with last week!”
I’m convinced that “an unending well of imagination” lurks somewhere, because my sales staff keeps coming back to me, relentlessly asking, and receiving what they need. But when does that well run dry (or how do we keep some wellspring refilling it)?
In part, your examples provide a little extra depth in that well showing us that if someone else can think it, I can, too…I think.
I have to say this, although I know some readers will think I'm shilling for my own products: We do offer a lot of professional-level materials specifically for station imaging. And people attend our annual Creative/Production again & again partly to get (or get recharged) that inspiration you're referring to.
At each Summit I teach a new batch of QuickStart Copywriting techniques. You might want to check out the Complete Audio records of previous Summits.
That said…
your examples provide a little extra depth in that well showing us that if someone else can think it, I can, too..
Exactly correct. You just need to:
* Learn a wider variety of writing techniques.
* Constantly remind yourself, “If this promo sounds like a typical ‘radio promo,’ it’s not good enough.”
* Stop writing in the same way, in the same place, with the same methods you always do. An expression that applies quite well here:
“If you keep doing what you always do, you’ll keep getting what you always get. So if you want to get something new, do something different.”
If you always begin your journey from the same starting point, you’ll likely repeat the journey you’ve taken a thousand times before.
But if you begin from a different place (physically or otherwise), even if you arrive at the same destination your journey, by default, will be different.
Stop thinking about “promos.” Think about stories. Stories that reflect and/or relate to your listeners’ lives. (Not stories that will impress other radio people.)
A quick guide for you:
1. What’s the one message I want to communicate?
2. To whom, exactly, am I speaking?
3. What’s the human story behind the message?
4. What is it about the message that the targeted listener should care about?
Now you’ve got your message, your story (the human story behind the message, not necessarily the story as you will tell it), and your target audience.
Just sit back a moment and note what ideas pop into your head.
It all starts with knowing what message you want to communicate. If I’ve scored 2 tickets to a great concert and want to invite a friend, THAT’S the human story: My friend and I going to that concert.
But there are many ways I can deliver the message, “Hey, I got two tickets to the concert!”
On the other hand, if I don’t know why I’m calling him in the first place, it’s awfully tough to figure out what to say.
Jamie’s just recently started in our market when they got a new PD for a station that was not grabbing great numbers. The previous voice god was just a voice, or as I call it, a “talking head” all the time, same read on everything they do.
I love how they transitioned to Jamie..the literally had the former liner guy do a read..then midway through cough, hack…and then keel over. and kept playing it to recap the listeners.
To further get someone’s ear, they sent a guy out to interview people and audition them to be the “station voice” (it was actually the PD doing the hits!) it got my attention and was a nice build up to start with jamie’s stuff.
He sounds good. I’ve said for many years that a voice actor is better then a talking head at the local station level. Now some management are finally catching up to that way of thinking.
Amazing how far a little “theatre of the mind” goes — especially in a business that pays so much lip service to it but rarely practices it.
I and my wife do a cheezy music podcast targetting LPFM’s/internet stations for a few years…so far, I’ve been on a flying saucer, smuggled across the US/canada border riding in a semi tractor trailer, in a laundromat, in a outdoor skating rink, at a parade, and more recently, on the beach where I walked in the water with mike cables dangling.
It’s all about how to sound design right. it can be very tedious, and as such take time to do. I was very frustrated on more then one situation in radio production with lack of time to do what I wanted and know I could do, but I know the restraints. Now I can do what I want. Far more fun. I often go out and mic stuff myself. Stock isn’t cheap, and I have better control and direction to what I want. some free sounds website are also a valuable resource that i’m guessing not many professionals get into as much as they should.
Radio and production is a hobby now, but with professional experience and high standard, I’m ahead of most hobbiests playing around.