View the voice over self-directing video here.
A Loyal Reader Writes:
“On my radio show (on a country music station), I like to talk over familiar music so I can embellish the break with something relative to the topic I’m discussing.
“For instance: talking over a bed with the music for ‘Crazy’ by Patsy Cline while discussing crazy subject matter.
“I just had an aircheck session, and the boss says not to talk over music that is familiar to the audience.
“Here is what he said:
“ ‘Please discontinue using familiar song beds underneath your talk. These beds should be low and unfamiliar so there is no competition in the listener’s mind between what you are saying and the music bed.’
“Although I respect his opinion, my response is: We talk over an intro of a song and that is familiar to the listener, and they still hear what we are saying. How is that any different?
“What is your philosophy on using familiar music beds to talk over?”
First, my compliments to your PD for being one of the few who give regular aircheck critiques to his staff.
Second: He’s correct.
When you “talk up a vocal” — talking over the instrumental intro to a song — you are using a brief segment of music that very quickly will lead to a payoff for the listener. That payoff is the rest of the song.
Ideally, your words help increase the emotional impact of that song.
More often, of course, jocks use the “intro” or “ramp” to squeeze in verbiage required by their PD: station liners, promos, etc.
Those rarely help increase the emotional impact of that song, but there still is a payoff when the instrumental intro ends (again, the song itself).
Sometimes you can hijack the excitement of the music to help increase the impact of your verbal message.
Quick Question: Who’s the better writer – you or Willie Nelson?
You might be a terrific writer; I don’t know.
I do know that Willie Nelson is.
And when someone to whom “Crazy” is a very familiar song hears an instrumental version of it, guess what they do?
They mentally sing Willie Nelson’s lyrics.
Radio Rule #1: Don’t talk over a vocal.
Radio Rule #2: Don’t talk over an instrumental that is more likely than your words to command the listener’s attention.
Radio Rule #3: Even if you can “hit the post” perfectly, no one wants to hear you talk up the vocal to Chicago’s “Color My World.”
This is the fourth of a 6-part series of Secrets of Radio Advertising.
When To Use The Advertiser’s Name In The Commercial
I have heard “experts” declare that you must use the advertiser’s name at least twice in the first ten seconds of the commercial.
Ridiculous. Stupid, even.
Here’s exactly when to use the advertiser’s name in the commercial:
After you’ve interested the target audience in the problem your client promises to solve for them.
Until the audience is interested in what the advertiser is offering to do to add to their lives, they have absolutely no interest in knowing the advertiser’s name.
Why is the following a stupid radio traffic report?
“There’s a six-car pile-up that has slowed traffic for several miles on Highway 101 just north of Riverside.”
It’s stupid because no one pays any attention to the details if they don’t already know the location applies to them.
First you identify the location, then you identify the problem.
But most radio commercials include the name of the advertiser in the very first sentence:
“Sears proudly announces its big annual white sale….”
Remember what Robert Collier said about entering a conversation the consumer already is having?
How many of your listeners already are having a conversation — either with someone else or with themselves — about Sears?
Here is one of the most controversial statements I make during my radio seminars:
“You should give your name frequently during your show.”
Pretty shocking, huh?
By frequently, I mean:
- Every ten minutes or so (if you talk a lot)
- During every break (if you’re a music jock)
And oh, the turmoil that results from this simple suggestion.
“Every ten minutes??”
“Every break??”
Shocking! Outrageous! Not in our market! Not in our culture! Not in our format!
How egotistical! Conceited! Self-centered!
“Okay,” I reply. “How often do you think a personality should give his or her name?”
And the answers (depending upon format, country and culture) are:
A) Once every hour (at the “top” of the hour)
or
B) Once per show (at the beginning of the program)
Either of these choices would be (I am told) much more modest and unassuming.
To this I reply:
Giving your name only at the beginning of your show (or only at the “top of the hour”) is conceited. It is egotistical. It is rude.
Giving your name only at the beginning of your show is like hosting a party and introducing yourself only to the very first people who arrive. And then for the rest of the evening, you don’t bother to introduce yourself to any other guests, because “they must know who I am.”
Frequently identifying yourself to your listeners is courteous.
It’s thoughtful.
It’s generous of you.
It shows that you are concerned with their comfort.
There always is someone who has just tuned in…and if you’re personable and interesting, that person will want to know who you are.
Listeners need what has been called “the confirmation experience”: Have they found the right station? The right host?
Remember, they don’t have any visuals with which to identify you; all they have is your voice. And even loyal listeners often have trouble identifying your voice.
Don’t believe me? Have you ever had the experience of a friend or relative — or even a spouse — compliment you on something they heard you do on-air…only to have you tell them, “That wasn’t me”?
Well, if people who know you sometimes can’t identify your voice, imagine how difficult it is for people who have never even met you.
Road Signs
Imagine that you drive 100 miles to work each day.
There are hundreds of signs along the 100-mile route: speed limits, exits, mileage markers, road identifiers, advertisements, etc.
The first time you make that drive, you notice almost all of them…because you’re anxious not to make a wrong turn or miss an exit.
Now imagine you’ve been driving that route every day for several months. How many of those signs do you consciously notice?
Maybe one or two.
That’s because once you know exactly where you are and where you’re going, your mind filters out the extraneous information.
It’s the same thing on a radio program. The only listeners who consciously hear you identify yourself are those who aren’t sure (or have no idea) who you are.
The ones who do recognize your voice, who already know to whom they’re listening, don’t even hear your name as it’s given frequently during your show.
“Announcers” May Remain Anonymous
Note that in this discussion we are talking about personalities, not “announcers.”
An “announcer” is someone who only does exactly what s/he is told to and never brings any of his/her own personality to the airwaves.
If all you ever do is read the liner cards and deliver endless, monotonous backsells (“That was ______, and before that we heard ______, and before that we heard ______….”), then telling people your name once a week is too much.
Expect Complaints
The Bad News: If you work at a station where hosts don’t already give their names frequently, you very possibly might hear some complaints about your giving your name more frequently.
The Good News: Those complaints won’t be from your listeners. They will be from one or two other staff members at your station. They have been in radio forever — possibly at this one station forever — and “that’s not the way we do things around here!”
Unless you have reason to believe that those two people fill out ratings diaries or are hooked up with Portable People Meters (which of course they shouldn’t even if they get the opportunity), ignore them.
First, let’s listen to the radio commercial.
That’s a typical example of an agency that is intent on “branding” (which, for Pepsi, makes sense) but doesn’t understand how radio advertising works.
The Rationale: Pepsi’s Slogan of the Moment is “Live For Now.” So let’s give a bunch of amusing, quirky examples of how listeners could be “living for now.”
The Reality: The amusing, quirky examples were communicated only with words, not with word pictures. As a result, even now you’re having a hard time remembering more than one of them.
(The one you might be remembering is “China,” because possibly you envisioned a little village when you heard “tiny province in China you can’t even pronounce.”)
They wasted 30 seconds trying to prove how clever they are, while the audience is left with nothing.
And the Guitar Center tag? Well, I’m guessing it’s part of the spot because in the U.S. you don’t hear many 45-second commercials.
If indeed it’s part of the Pepsi commercial, the 15-second plug for the music contest wipes away any hope of anyone remembering the point of the 45 seconds that preceded it.
