RadioJinglesVIP.com - Voice, Imaging and Production

Lady Gaga, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Usher, Justin Bieber -- these are just few of the most popular names who are staple in today’s pop music scene.

But whether you’re a mainstream or a niche radio station, the idea of having these big shot artists to endorse your radio station is just awesome.

Ever heard of big market stations with stars like Kay Perry saying “Hey, it’s Katy and you’re listening to my station … KIIS FM!”?

Imagine the impact it does to listeners. Imagine the benefit it creates for your station.

Getting these artists to endorse your station does not have to expensive.

In fact, you don’t need to really get those artists and have them visit your station, of course it can be done, but requires time, money, unless they’re in town for a concert, and you could get them to drop by the station and record some lines.

There are production companies on the web that did the job of recording artists for you, so you don’t have to.

Just search for the name of the artist on their database or you can procure a CD with all the latest artist drops on it.

There is nothing more convincing to your listeners than the idea of getting real artists to sell your station.

To help you find an artist, list click on the link below.

Download 350 Artist Drops Here

Despite the publicity and hype that it gets, Pandora, a web service that poses as an “internet radio” station, has a handful of incapability.

1. No On-Demand – despite its “customized radio” claim-to-fame, Pandora cannot really play a certain song by request, just like how you’d want a YouTube video to be played in a click.

2. Not More Than Four Songs By Same Artist – yep, your iPod is far better. Pandora cannot let you listen more than 4 songs from a certain artist within 3 hours.

3. No Playlist – you don’t dictate Pandora what to play based on your preferred playlist. They are the ones suggesting what you should hear.

4. No Replay – again, your mp3 gadget is way better. There is no replay, no rewind.

5. No Cache – if you plan on trying to hack and get the source file of their songs, Pandora won’t let you do that since it does not cache or save the streaming song unlike regular mp3 streaming on a browser. If you want to hear the music offline, you need to purchase.

6. No Unlimited Skips –yes, so if you don’t like a song, you just need to bear with it. They have no plans of ever implementing an unlimited number of skips.

So there you have it. Pandora is a great service though and I believe it’s a great thing for independent artists for their music to be discovered.

But if you are just probably looking for a real radio, you might just as well tune in to your favorite internet streaming radio.

Radio prepping is one thing that radio DJs, should not left out. Whether you are a pro or a rookie, there is nothing more horrible than being in a situation where you don't know what to say in front of the microphone.

Prepping is more than just getting something soyou can say something.

You need to consider that your content should be fresh, relevant, entertaining, funny and relatable. The way you present the content should also be right. Make it long and you bore your listeners.

The key to getting an exciting radio prep whether you are doing a morning show, afternoon drive or evening prime time, is mix it with live interaction with listeners and use audio clips to accentuate your content.

Also, it is great to pair your radio prep with online content, so you are also leading your listeners to your website, like announcing today's most viewed viral video.

Click here to view the 6 Free Radio Prep Tools

1. Twitter.com - with millions of people sharing content every day, this is one of the best places to know which topics are great to share on air. The trending topic feature is just found at the middle right section of the dashboard. Here you will list of keywords, names of celebrities or the latest movies being talked about.

2. Birthday Calculator - the website is http://www.paulsadowski.org/BirthDay.asp. It's great because you can ask for your listener's birthday, enter the data, and the site will give you a list of celebrities and known personalities that share the same birthday. Also, if you are a music station, there is also a feature where you get to know what song topped the charts during a particular date. Cool!

3. Today in History - is self explanatory. This is for the geek though. But still useful.

4. Interprep - is one of the most popular paid radio prep service out there, but it also gives you a free trial and free email updates.

5. Google News - this one is loaded with the most recent and most shared news articles on the web and the items are neatly categorized like Technology, Sports, Entertainment, and there is also a Local category.

6. Hark.com - is your destination for sound bites and audio clips. Want to get an audio by Steve Jobs, just search and you will find cool clips to go with the latest Apple gadget news.

7. Viral Video Chart (http://viralvideochart.unrulymedia.com) - aside from photos, videos are among the most shared content, so why shouldn't you. The site lists the top viewed and shared videos on the web.

So there you have it, I am sure there are plenty ways to get content online and share on air. There are also paid services that have already consolidated the items so you don't need to open several sites.

The downside however with paid tools is that it will take a while before fresh content is uploaded. But the decision of course is all yours.


The bottomline, whethere it's free or paid, radio prepping is always a must.

The imaging is what tells your listeners who you are. The logo, though, gives your potential listener an impression of what they should expect from you.

The color/motiff, choice of typeface, the graphics/images tells a lot of story.

If you are a Top 40, Rock, Urban or any upbeat format, you are better with vibrant and screaming colors like Red, Black, or Yellow/Orange. Color theming is very important, as there are certain colors that only work certain hues.

For example, yellow and black , an ideal color for Hiphop stations, is a great color theme. The text color can be yellow and the background is black.

Stay away from colors that are contrasting or do not compliment each other. Like using a blue text over a red background. Otherwise,  your logo would really hurt on the eyes.

Typeface or choice of font is important as well. Choose something that speaks for your station's format. Go for bold and thick font faces for upbeat formats and use Serifs for light programmings like AC, Gospel or Jazz.

Using symbols, characters or icons can really help sell that logo. Again, it should be relevant, like using Santa's red hat for an all-year Christmas station.

The use of icons has been prevalent also not only to radio stations but on different brands. Z100 New York lately updated their station logo because of social media. Now you know how Facebook and Twitter can crop your profile images into tiny graphics, to the point that they're no longer legible. So, Z100 changed it's logo and even had a version of it that has only the letter "Z".

Perfect to use as an icon for social media, or even as a favicon for the website.

In these days, where you can create graphics online like this website pixlr.com/editor, anyone can create nice logos. But it isn't just about aesthetics, functionality and effectivity should also be considered.

Tell us your thoughts about effective station logos. Comment below. Or Submit your station logo here

Every month, we're free stuff here at RadioJinglesVIP.com. Of course, Halloween is fast approaching, so we've come up with a bed you use for Halloween productions. Please find our free stuff at the free jingles page. Click here

• 1 FX
• 1 Stager
• 1 Sweeper
• 1 Halloween Bed

Jingles, sweepers, idents, or IDs – there are different ways to call them, but they all function similarly, and that is to present the station’s image or personality in 10-15 seconds and even lesser.

The life span however of a jingle is as short as its running length. Within 5 – 10 weeks of airing, your jingles will wear out. The burn out effect may not be felt immediately. But think of your jingles as printed ads on a newspaper. If the advertiser puts the same advertisement design, copy, and position, the reader will more likely to get used to it and will skip reading the ad.

Unless there is a way, your listeners however cannot skip listening to your jingles or promos. But frequent playing may cause your idents to become forgettable. The tendency is that, subconsciously, they may not be able to notice the jingles playing in between songs.

Jingles do not only remind listeners of what they are tuning into, they also inject excitement to them. “Forward momentum” is a very common phrase radio owners always want for their jingle imaging. Something that will keep listeners hooked and will make them look forward to what’s playing next, even if the station plays the same set of songs as last week.

Before solving this problem though, it is best to point out the reasons why jingles get burnt out. Actually, jingles are meant to burn out. It’s just that program directors are so madly in love with their jingles, they don’t want it replaced within 10 years. The PD must learn to let go. Jingles are just like the No. 1 song on the chart. Within weeks, its popularity will eventually fade out.

Stations may have spent so much on their jingles, so they hold on to them for so long. Budget is always an excuse however in getting new idents.

The worst thing is when a radio station does not have a fully functional PD or imaging director. Or more focus is being put onto music programming and creating contests and promos.

The most successful radio stations in New York, Los Angeles and London constantly update or replace their jingles. Why, because they want their station to sound as fresh the songs they play.

Now that we’ve pointed out the problems, here are ways to address the issues.

Station managers must give their PDs or Imaging Directors the chance to exercise their creative skills. Other than constantly dictating them to play your favorite jingles, give him the chance to come up with something new.

Luckily, imaging directors can now be outsourced. They do the job for you, they write the copy, come up with the right voice(s) for your station, get the jingles produced for you, and will take care of the updates. These third-party imaging directors are experts in their fields and have been working for years in radio, so you can definitely count on them. Outsourced or not, the benefit of having an imaging director, is that there will be someone look after your station’s jingles.

Budget is indeed a hot issue. But just because your jingle package cost you $8000, doesn’t mean you will be using them exclusively for the next 10 years. They is to mix and match. If you’re not budget ready yet to buy a new jingle package, give your existing IDs a twist. Remix them with new liners, or new FX on the background.

If your existing package is too precious for you to let go, then make it a point to decrease the frequency of airing those jingles. The idea is to supplement your old idents with new ones, so that there will be more IDs rotating on your playlist.

Sung jingles aren’t the only ones that easily get burnt out, even the spoken jingles; which is why the simple slogan-plus-station name sweeper won’t work all by itself. There are different ways to put more excitement in between the songs. Stuffs like power intros, music promos, beatmixes and power outros are very popular these days on top radio station in the US and UK.

Burning out of jingles can’t be prevented though, because eventually they will wear out. The idea is to extend their lifespan by rotating a variety of idents and to make your station sound fresh by coming up with new and creative ways to image your station.

Imaging or branding, it’s a vital part of the station’s operation. Imaging does not just tell your listener who you are as a station, it creates a picture for the listener, so they themselves can tell who you are.

The best analogy is an artist’s signature in a painting. The signature at the bottom of the painting is like your station’s identity. The signature tells who paints the painting. But see, imaging does not just include the signature. It also covers the whole painting, including the frame. It’s how you present things.

So you present your station as a “hit music station”. So what do you do, you use a slogan that goes “today’s hit music” or “the number 1 hit music station” or “where hit music lives”. This part is the signature of the painting. But it can get lost over time, if you completely rely on it. Listeners will get used to hearing this.

In fact, your listeners won’t even care of you really are the number 1 hit music station.

Let’s try to recall a famous restaurant chain in your place? Why do they always get flooded with customers? They got good food, check! But everyone else in town sells good food too. But why do people always prefer that place?

It’s because of the experience.

Experience is what most famous restaurants in the world use in their branding. People already know what a restaurant sells and what their food tastes like. So if you come to think of it, restaurants are actually selling experience.

Your station should be doing similarly. Your imaging should be telling your listeners that they are better off tuning in to your’s. Produce station sweepers and jingles that do more than just telling them facts.

It does not actually matter if you hired the most expensive voice or used the most cutting edge production library out there. The importance of station imaging is its function. If it does its job in drawing and keeping listeners, you know, that you are the winner.

The word FREE - these days actually means "you gotta try our not free premium products". But free is not always that bad. Especially when you're planning to put up a new site, be it a hobby site or an e-store, in such a rush. But you don't want to either hire web programmers or buy expensive website making softwares.

Here is a list of free website services that you might want to check out.

Webs.com

Wix.com

Weebly.com

Moonfruit.com

Site.google.com

Yola.com

DoodleKit.com

Jimdo.com

110mb.com

Wetpaint.com

Signing up is fast. These websites offer pre-made templates and a web editor which doesn't require HTML knowledge but it helps if you have some basic.

It's amazing to know how these services have helped individuals launch their own internet ventures. I remember my days in the late 90s when there are so little services like them, you had to take crash course on HTML and code the site yourself. Geocities.com is one of those pioneering, which of course, is no longer functioning.

Those services may not offer the same bells and whistles as those of fully customized website, but it's a good start. Everyone has to start somewhere, and those who start small usually end up big.

Ricky Roo is the Creative Services of KDWB, Minneapolis, St. Paul. Recently, Novell of RadioJingles.co.nr had a chat with Ricky. Get to know more about his rise to the industry top, from his humble beginnings as a club DJ, and a class band member and trumplet player in school.

Be inspired with this exclusive interview only on RadioJingles.co.nr. This November 2, 2009, log on to www.radiojingles.co.nr.

Read our previous feature of Ricky here

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