The 26th Radio And Production Awards
Drum roll, please! Ladies and gents, here are your finalists of the 26th Radio And Production Awards! R.A.P. Gold Members will be receiving ballots and casting the votes for their favorites in each category, and the winners will be announced in next month’s issue of Radio And Production. Congrats to all who got to the finals! Lots of familiar names and a few newcomers as well. As always, the competition in each category was tight with several entries missing by the slimmest margins.
Q It Up: Do you have copy deadlines for the salespeople?
Q It Up: We last asked this question 10 years ago and it’s interesting how some things have changed and others have not. We also received some responses from folks on the imaging side as well, giving some insight into the turnaround times when the station is the client.
Production 512: Click… Poop/Flush… Click
by Dave Foxx
Let’s pretend for a moment that I am handing you a small stack of old vinyl records, some LPs and a few 45s. On top of that, there is a 10-inch reel of quarter-inch Scotch-444 mylar tape, a grease-pencil, several razor blades, an Editall block with some splicing tape and let’s throw in a couple of Tomcat carts. Then I tell you to make a promo…oh, and “Make it real creative!” Ha!
The Commercial Chronicles: How Things We Never Thought Would Change, Changed
by Dennis Daniel
Back in the day, when I had a smokin’ radio career, I used to always say that it was a solid, lifelong type job because… “radio will always be radio.” Meaning, as long as you have ears and an imagination, radio can work its magic. Twas ever thus for decades! From its humble beginnings to the entire radio era of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s… where you would see the entire family gathered around the box, to the modern era of listening just about anywhere… Radio would always be radio. And with security like that, one could feel comfortable in their life’s work. I mean, look at how many people maintained radio careers for countless years. It was instantaneous. It was portable. It was FREE! It was diverse. Never, in my wildest dreams, could I ever have conceived of what would eventually happen to my beloved radio.
Radio Hed: Two Paths to a Successful Commercial
by Jeffrey Hedquist
How do you create an effective commercial? Do you just start writing and see where it goes, or do you have in mind where you want the spot to end and then choose a place to begin so that you can take the audience there? Both work. The process and the outcome may differ, depending on you, the time you have available to create, the market, and the advertiser.
"....And Make It Real Creative!”: Speaking of (and to) Voice Talents...
by Trent RentschWhile I’ve done my share of voice-over, in the past few years I’ve found myself on the other side of the fence, casting voices for a wide variety of audio and video projects. One of the more interesting casting projects lately entailed casting around 50 characters for a computer game called “Knee Deep.” It was our first game project, with a short turn around and thousands of lines of script, but before we could begin, my partner in crime, Chadd Pierce and I, coordinated literally 100s of auditions for the guys at Prologue Games to review.
Are Sponsored Radio Promotions All About the Client, or the Station?
By Juliette Nicholls
I like to think it’s both. Well… that’s the idea, isn’t it? Promotional trails and audio combine a client with the endorsement of a radio brand. That’s why a client is so specific about which brand they pick – its target age group, gender and personality. Will it be music-loving Radio X, youthful Capital or female-focused, family-friendly Heart? The client and the station ideally appeal to the same audience, thereby providing content and prizes that are right for them and ultimately, keeping them listening.
Personal Computing: Microsoft Pushing Windows 10 Hard
by Reid Goldsborough
Do you like Windows 7? Many people do. In organizational settings, some custom programs are customized for Windows 7. A small percentage of printers and other peripherals work with it but not its successors. With some people, it’s just inertia. If it ain’t broke, why fix it? But Microsoft doesn’t want you to use it anymore. It wants you to upgrade your Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems to Windows 10, and it’s pushing hard. Despite its lush profit margins and storehouse of cash, Microsoft wants to save money by not having to support earlier operating systems.