RadioJinglesVIP.com - Voice, Imaging and Production

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.