April 2006 RAP
April 2006 Highlights
The ballots are in, and your votes have been counted! This year's
competition was another close race with ties in four categories. Please join
us in congratulating the winners, runners-up and finalists of the 16th
Annual Radio And Production Awards!
Interview: John Silliman Dodge, Bellevue, Washington
By Jerry Vigil
John Silliman Dodge is a busy man in radio land. In our last visit with
John [February 1996 RAP Interview], we focused on his programming gig at
KidStar radio, which blazed the way for Radio Disney. But there’s much more
to Mr. Silliman Dodge. His 30-year career spans and integrates music, media,
marketing, and management. He’s a graduate of Ohio University’s School of
Telecommunications. He’s been a Julliard School of Music student, a
recording artist for ATCO Records, and a Creative/Production Manager for
KISS-FM in San Antonio as well as WROR and WBOS-FM in Boston. As Program
Director, John pioneered the new school of commercial classical programming
for WCRB-FM in Boston. He’s been a producer with Microsoft’s Digital TV team
and a feature writer for several trade magazines. Today John actively
consults the broadcasting industry in areas such as high performance
announcer training, Web content, database and e-mail strategies,
programming, marketing, high-impact audio production and creative
copywriting. He’s also an announcer for Sirius Radio in New York. This
month’s RAP Interview gets a much closer look at John as we catch up with
his last ten years, which include the making of a CD of his own original
songs. We’ve included one of those tracks on this month’s RAP CD.
Test Drive: Sony Oxford Inflator & Transient Modulator
Plug-ins
By Steve Cunningham
For me, some of the best-sounding effects are discovered more-or-less by
accident. Perhaps I’ll apply a seemingly ill-suited plug-in to a VO track,
and what comes out is very different, and in a Good Way. This describes my
experience with this month’s plug-ins from Sony, the Inflator and the
Transient Modulater. Both are part of Sony’s Oxford series of effects, named
after the effects in their Oxford digital consoles.
Feature: Sound Thinking - A Good Writer's Three
Questions
By Tim Miles
Last time, we discussed the three values inherent in every gooder writer:
curiosity, knowledge, and courage, and their symbiotic relationship. An
overwhelming curiosity drives you to learn more about your client and her
business. That knowledge – combined with a better understanding of
advertising – grows your courage to do the right thing without compromise.
That courage – combined with the results you see doing it the right way –
leads to more overwhelming curiosity about other businesses and other ways
to do it right.
Radio Hed: Surprise Me
By Jeffrey Hedquist
Six lanes of honking mediocrity block the inner state. Give me a 150 mph
idea-dozer to plow through the boredom. In a blogcast podlink satlink day
shred world no download, plugin solutions need apply. The news is hard. The
work is worth it. The blood is real. Hey You! Wake up!
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks! - How do you backup
your work?
Q It Up: How do you backup your work? Do you carry an
external drive in your briefcase? Do you backup to a network drive? Do you
have offsite backup? How often do you backup your workstation files and
other important audio? What about your computer’s "system" files; are they
backed up regularly? Perhaps you have a horror story about NOT backing up
your work that will help scare others into the good practice of regularly
backing up! Please add any thoughts and suggestions on the subject.
...And Make It Real Creative: A Tale of Two Mascots...
By Trent Rentsch
If you’ve ever been to a Disney theme park, it’s hard not to get caught
up in the "Gee Whiz" of it all. I know I’ve mentioned before that my wife
took me there for the first time in my late 30’s, and spent the first couple
of hours in the Magic Kingdom reminding me not to fall off curbs. We’ve been
back several times since then, and while I’m no longer so wide-eyed that I
trip every few feet, there’s still a 10 year-old inside me who’s pretty
damned giddy for the entire stay.
The Monday Morning Memo: Counter Branding
By Roy H. Williams
When your business category is dominated by a single brand and all the
other brands put together don’t equal them, it’s time to create a
counter-brand. Counter-branding – business judo – is rare and dangerous. But
when you’re overwhelmingly dominated, what have you got to lose?
|