January 2002 RAP
January 2002 Highlights
Feature: One Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures
By John Pellegrini
Siren picture the word. What do you think of when you see the word siren?
Police car? Ambulance? Fire Truck? Rescue Squad? Civil Defense Emergency?
Air Raid Warning? Or how about those mythically beautiful creatures that
tried to lure Odysseus to his death?
Whoever said a picture is worth a thousand words is a deranged lunatic. As I
wrote in "Show Vs. Tell," a picture is just about useless without words to
tell you what it means. However, a single word or combination of words can
offer up thousands and thousands of mental pictures. And each picture is
different to each human who perceives it because each of us has a different
mental image of what the word is describing.
Interview: Ned Spindle - Q101, Chicago
By Jerry Vigil
If you like theatre of the mind production and the freedom to get a
little crazy with your ideas, the Alternative Rock format is a good home for
you. Leading the rock race in the country's 3rd largest market is Emmis Q101
in Chicago. The man keeping the station on the imaging edge is Ned Spindle,
another one of those guys that found out people actually pay you "for
goofing off and having a wandering mind."
Feature: The Best Workstation
By Dave Foxx
A favorite recurring topic among broadcast producers concerns digital
workstations. Which one is the fastest, easiest to use, allows the greatest
flexibility, makes the best sounding production? I've heard SAW owners say
they envy the Pro Tools users and Pro Tools users say they envy Audicy
users. Of course those were far fewer than the SAW users who say SAW is tops
and Audicy users who claim their system is best. The simple fact is, they're
all the best. Now, before you English majors get on my case to explain how
superlatives work, let me tell a little story. It might seem a bit off
topic, but the payoff makes it work.
Test Drive: Ozone from iZotope
By Craig Jackman
I like compression. I like compression a lot. Its an effect that makes
what I do sound better, although its all too easy to overuse. Even though I
like compression, I've never really been head over heels in love with any of
the compressors I've used - hardware or software. Of all of the ones I've
used my favorite is the Waves C4 multi-band compressor/limiter. As the final
touch on a mix that has to blast through the clutter, its one that I've
reached for. When I heard that the ingenious young people at iZotope were
working on a multi-band compressor/limiter with EQ called Ozone, I was
looking forward to seeing what it could do. In case you've forgotten,
iZotope is the company that makes Vinyl, the free software plug-in that
emulates a turntable. Handy for CDs and turntable-less studios and its the
most enjoyable bit of code I've come across in a long time.
Radio Hed: The Straw Man Cometh
By Jeffrey Hedquist
Create a straw man. Invent a competitor, create a fanatic, a lunatic, an
eccentric, a devils advocate, an overblown skeptic, or an out-of-control
situation to position the advertiser as hero.
Don't make the examples so unbelievable that the audience discounts the
point you're trying to make. Example: if your client owns a car wash, don't
create someone who sandblasts his car whenever it gets dirty. Maybe have a
conversation with someone who collects a years worth of dirt on his car and
views it as art, or a great procrastinator who waits for a rainstorm to wash
off the accumulated dirt.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks - Handling Last Minute
Digital Deliveries - Part 2
By Jerry Vigil
Q It Up: One of the advertiser benefits of digital
delivery systems such as SpotTaxi, SpotTraffic, DGS and others, as well as
direct email and FTP download, is that the advertiser can get their
commercials to the radio stations, literally, at the last minute. Newspapers
and TV stations can take advantage of this and provide timely and topical
commercials produced only a couple of hours before they're scheduled to air.
And for any advertiser, its possible to make "instant" revisions. These
"benefits" however, can sometimes have a negative effect on your production
department as it scrambles to handle last minute production orders. There's
also the increased chance of spots being missed because the commercial
arrived too late, which can result in lost revenue as that avail disappears.
If you use these digital delivery systems, how much are you and your
department/station(s) affected by this last minute capability? If this
creates problems for you and your station(s), how do you deal with them?
Please add any further comments you might have on the subject.
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
Animosity is an ugly thing on many levels. Working together becomes
difficult, communication impossible. Yet here we are, on the same team, all
trying to make the radio station a success, working together like one big
dysfunctional family. Little wonder that a salesperson might make a claim
that a client can use the latest Britney song on their commercial without
paying royalties. Odds are said salesperson was never told the rules, what
with the lack of communication in the building.
Personal Computing: Keeping Hackers Away With Personal
Firewalls
By Reid Goldsborough
On any given day hackers try to breach my Internet-connected computers a
half dozen or more times, looking for a "server" to use to launch attacks
against others or trying to plant "trojan" or "zombie" programs on my PCs to
take control of them. I'm not alone. If you have a full-time Internet
connection, you're probably being probed continually as well. The media has
had its hands full lately reporting high-profile computer break-ins. You'd
think we were in the midst of an all-out info-war.
The Drawing Board: Build or Kill Creativity
By Tim Hopwood
Creativity is a funny thing. Some people can sit down with a pad and pen
and "decide" to be creative. Soon after their pen touches the paper, they
have the makings of a great spot. I have worked with many production talents
who can work in this magnificent manner. I have often wondered what makes
these guys different from the guys who constantly run into creative
roadblocks. Do they think differently? Did they inherit a "creative gene"
that others were not fortunate enough to endure? Wait a minute -- maybe they
ate their vegetables as a child -- instead of secretly slipping them to
Duke, the family dog. Everyone thinks differently, but that doesn't mean you
cant be creative -- even if it doesn't come when you call for it.
Monday Morning Memo: Sneak Past the Security Guard
By Roy H. Williams
Doubt is what happens when the security guard of the rational, logical
left-brain isn't sure whether to accept an idea or not. But unlike his
left-brain counterpart, the right-brain doesn't make judgments at all. He
isn't concerned in the least about the plausibility of an idea; that's the
left-brains job. So when your idea is rejected at the door of the
left-brain, just knock on Righty's door. Hell let anyone in. Once inside the
mind, your idea can scoot over to the logical left-brain on the waterslide
of symbolic thought.
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