At last, an objective measurement to determine how much that boastful radio DJ really gets paid.
Recently a veteran radio personality hired me to critique his show.
His identity and the critique are confidential.
But he followed up with a few questions that are broad enough to share with you.
Beginning with this one.
Less Announcer-y
I told him his longtime radio training was holding him back; he sounds like an “announcer” rather than a human being. Very smooth, polished…but not human.
(Hint: People to relate to other people, not to announcers.)
His follow-up:
This is tough…been working on it this week and frankly, I think I talk in regular conversations this way (lol)…I have worked on sounding so smooth for so long…I think I talk this way now, I have total strangers tell me every day “you should be on the radio.” After your comment, I’m starting to think this may be a bad thing. Any suggestions???
My Reply:
It will take time.
The fact that people tell you you should be on the radio suggests that to them you sound like a “radio announcer” — which is what you need to evolve beyond. That deeply ingrained habitual smoothness puts up a barrier between you and the individual listener.
Suggestion: Record yourself talking on the phone for, say, two weeks.
I don’t mean you should wiretap your conversations. Just put a mic next to your phone and have it record you whenever you talk to a non-business acquaintance (family member, close friend, etc.).
Then listen to those recordings and see if your tone differs from the one you use on-air.
Before you listen to this commercial, take a moment to list the three most important things in your life. The things about which you think, “If I could choose only three things to be good, what would they be?”
Okay, now the commercial….
Vons is owned by Safeway Inc., which has an annual revenue of $40 billion (give or take).
Surely they can afford to hire only the best people to create the advertising for its various brands. So I’m sure that’s what they did: hire the very best to create Vons’ radio advertising.
The opening line of your commercial is “the commercial for the commercial.” This is your one opportunity to command the attention of the targeted listener.
Oh, boy, I can’t wait to hear what the (presumably) high priced advertising wizards behind Vons’ commercials do to grab the targeted consumer’s attention from the very beginning…
“Spring is in the air.”
That is how they begin the commercial?
With a meaningless cliche that has nothing at all to do with the advertiser and which could have been (and at this very moment probably is being) written by a 13-year kid as part of a class “write a pretend radio commercial for (Subject)” assignment?
“C’mon, Dan. Probably they cleverly connect ‘Spring’ to ‘Vons’ so powerfully that it all flows together naturally and irresistibly.”
Uh, well…Here’s the connection:
“And the only thing better than warmer weather is knowing that you can always save money at Vons.”
Let’s recap what we’ve learned so far:
1. The second best thing in your life is warm weather.
2. The best thing in your life is…
Your children’s health? Your own health? World peace?
Nah. The best thing in your life is knowing that you can always save money at Vons.
• They begin with a an irrelevant cliche.
• They quickly move to a lie: “And the only thing better than warmer weather is knowing that you can always save money at Vons.”
• They mention their “everyday low prices.”
• They mention their “Vons Club” prices.
• They list some of the foods they have on special this week. (And how many do you remember…?)
• They tout their flu shots.
And then — wait for it — before tagging the commercial with a bizarrely juxtaposed disclaimer, they end by…
Advertising a different supermarket chain.
Yes, Safeway owns both Vons and Pavilions. No, that doesn’t mean a commercial for one should be a commercial for the other.
Vons and Pavilions have different names because they are different brands.
Different brands make different promises to the consumer.
Different promises require different messages to communicate them.
By the way, in this part of the world Summer officially begins June 21. Gosh, I wonder how the Vons commercials will begin then?
