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June, 1995 (continued): My second trip this month was to Lake of the Ozarks, where Don Hicks and the Missouri Broadcasters Association had me present Power Phones and Promoting Your Radio Station.

That was the easy part.

The hard part was emceeing the MBA awards banquet that night.

Actually, the REALLY hard part was putting on a tuxedo.

radio advertising graphic

Very few people have ever seen me wearing a tie, much less a tux. I am pleased (and surprised) to report that I actually managed to put on the tux without calling the front desk to ask that someone show me how to do it.

(At first I wasn’t sure what to do with the cummerbund, but finally I assumed I was supposed to wear it as a shoulder holster.)

Luckily for me, the MBA awards show was very well organized. There were audio or video clips for each nominee, and all I had to do was follow the script as I introduced each one.

Even more fortunate was the fact that the NAB’s John David — a former Missouri broadcaster — was in the audience, so I had someone to make fun of.

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DAVE FOXX REVEALS HIS VOICE IMAGING PRESETS

Z100/New York’s Dave Foxx was a featured guest speaker at this year’s International Radio Creative & Production Summit.

voiceover presetsOne question he always gets from production geeks — uh, dedicated professionals — is, “What are your presets?”

Here’s the answer…

We’ve just released a limited edition of the Summit 2009 Complete Audio Record. Lots of great tips from Dave Foxx, Nancy Wolfson, Christine Coyle…and some guy named O’Day.

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This should be so obvious. voiceover mic stands graphic

So why do most voiceover performers do it wrong?

Nancy Wolfson demonstrates….

Nancy was a featured guest speaker at this year’s International Radio Creative & Production Summit. We’ve just released a limited edition of the Summit 2009 Complete Audio Record.

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JOHN LANDECKER RADIO VIDEO, PART TWO

Landecker2 A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a brief video of John Records Landecker talking about — what else? — radio.

Here is the second part of that video.

The part you didn’t know existed.

The part that you’ll probably remember for a long, long time.

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Time for another look at award winning radio commercials — spotlighting the good and the bad from the  2007 Radio Mercury Awards

radio advertising graphic

This one was a finalist in the “Radio Station Produced” category.

“Food grows where water flows” — Great, now I’ll be hearing Edison Lighthouse in my head all week.

So, what do you suppose this commercial was intended to accomplish?

Well, the Call To Action is to visit their website if you happen to be hankerin’ “for information regarding the importance of adequate and dependable supplies of farm water.”

Exactly how many radio listeners do you estimate visited that website as a result of hearing this campaign? If you said “none,” you’re wrong.

I visited the website — after replaying the spot a couple of times to catch the actual URL — to reverse engineer this campaign.

The California Farm Water Coalition is a 501(c)(3) educational organization. In other words, one of those “special interest groups” we hear so much about. It attempts to influence both public opinion and politicians to agree with the Coalition’s point of view.

Unfortunately, often it’s more difficult to influence public opinion than it is to buy…I mean, “educate” elected officials. After all, you can’t promise lucrative consulting jobs to every voter who supports you.

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Pre-Emptive Notice: I don’t have an opinion about the California Farm Water Coalition, its members, its leadership, or its goals. This is a discourse about advertising, not about California water usage.
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The goal of this campaign appears to have been to enlist voters as Coalition supporters.

How? By motivating them to go to the Coalition’s website and become convinced that the Coalition represents Goodness, Fairness and Common Sense.

Except….

I’m the only listener who visited that website as a result of hearing this commercial.

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