Rich Van Slyke
by Rich Van Slyke
Great radio stations have great branding. Great branding is what helps your listeners remember where to get what they want. Recalling your station is crucial. Whether your ratings are measured by a diary or PPM, the stations that win are the stations people remember to listen to everyday. Our job is to remind them to listen… with great branding.
If you’re talking branding, you’re talking station imaging. Besides the music, your station voice is the sound your listeners hear most often. The sound that lets them know they are listening to their favorite station… a powerful tool for recall. What if I said my name in your ear nine times an hour? Would you remember it? Like a branding iron applied directly to your brain.
Because it airs so often, we must produce great imaging! That means going beyond average to achieve excellence. Most liners are flat, boring, and easy to ignore. Do you know what excellent imaging sounds like? Often, it’s when your voice guy or voice gal really sells the message. That doesn’t mean talking loud or puking. It means voicing with feeling. Instead of reading all words with the same inflection, highlight KEY WORDS to really communicate. And then, surround them with great production that compliments and underscore the message. This will make your station sound better and increase your ratings. And it’s easy! Would you like a free mp3 example? Email me right now at richvs@bellsouth.net and I’ll be happy to send it to you. Here are some suggestions for getting the most out of your station voice and imaging producer.
1. Write your scripts in lower case. Because WHO THE HELL WANTS TO HEAR EVERYTHING AT FULL VOLUME!!
Use capitals only to PUNCH a word. Lower case makes it easier to read and understand. Use italics to stress words.
Here’s an example: “40 minutes of Non Stop Rock, with no commercials, starts… NOW!”
2. Send an audio example with the script. Say you have a produced promo that needs to be updated. Send your voice the produced promo so they can hear how the updated line should sound to match the read on the original promo. Or if there’s a certain inflection needed for a line, instead of taking a long time to explain it in writing, it may be faster to record the line and send the mp3. Or leave it on voicemail. When I hear you read a line on my voice mail, I understand exactly what you’re trying to get across. Example: Please voice this line: “Bad Bulldog Logic.” Big and bold but with a touch of humor. Listen to the attached mp3 with my voice saying the line the way we want it.
3. Explain the meaning of local words and phrases. Here’s a line from a promo. “We’ll be lookin’ for love with the ladies on Charles Street!” (Charles Street is where all the hookers hang out.)
4. Ask for fun out-takes. Put it right in the copy. Voice talent might assume you want the line read as written with no ad libs. But very often, PDs want extra out-takes and funny ad libs. Your voice talent can add more to the line, but needs a prompt. So put it right in the copy like this: “Midgets, latex gloves and blow up dolls! Welcome to Lancer’s happy place… (throw something crazy in here)… Lancer on Rock 100.7”
5. Include production notes like (pause) and (MUSIC CLIP) and (drop). I will read a line differently if I know what follows the line in the promo. If it leads into a song hook, I’ll make it go up at the end. “This is today’s hit music… (Daughtry CLIP).” Or if it goes into the station name, I’ll go down. “This is Today’s Hit Music. Y103.”
With a few simple script writing tricks, you’ll inspire your voice talent and producer to create imaging that sells your station with emotion! According to research, it’s the emotion that helps people remember you. This, is….”Excellence!”
Rich VanSlyke is a voice guy/imaging producer/whack-a-mole expert for stations all over the place. Reach him at 770-962-4788. Or richvs@bellsouth.net. Hear his demos at www.richvanslyke.com.
