earshotcreative: Recent Episodes
earshotcreative
International ambassador of radio Steve Martin created Earshot to promote great ideas and technique in creative radio. Promos, ads, S&P and imaging: we love it all and we share the best of it through the Earshot website and podcast. http://earshotcreative.com
Michaela Hallam, Debbie Dillon and Kate Dinsdale demonstrate how the BBC’s in-house creative agency approaches radio.
They play trails that promote Audio Description for viewers with restricted sight, their Wimbledon 2018 campaign that was much-loved by Chris Evans and the launch of the corporation’s ambitious project to aggregate music, podcasts and radio together in one place, BBC Sounds.
Kate, Debbie and Michaela describe how they achieve consistency of message while creating bespoke executions to fit the sound of each BBC radio service to maximise the effectiveness of their work.
You’ll also hear how BBC Creative works with independent production houses like Mcasso Music and Audio Always, and the team share tips for you if you want to be part of a future production with the agency.
Composed by Alan Coates and Kim Goody. Huge thanks to Alan for sharing this dub from the master. Check out Alan's business at http://www.sohosquarestudios.com
In this exclusive half-hour interview, ReelWorld Music Director Erik Huber discusses his approach to radio imaging production, how the craft has changed in more than twenty years of ReelWorld and his personal perspective on the Radio 1 breakfast project which his company won in a hard-fought open pitch.
Just weeks after launching its new breakfast show, station sound producers Ben Stones and Liam Hadley share the production secrets of Radio 1’s imaging. We hear also from host Greg James and ReelWorld music director Erik Huber who created the show’s theme.
From the Cash Call to the Bong Game® to the Real Radio Renegade, Jonathan Lumley from East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM in South Africa and international radio consultant John Simons from the UK reveal their favourite competition ideas, both as set-piece promotional moments and everyday benchmarks.
In conversation with Earshot's Steve Martin, they explain how their favourite competition mechanics work, the critical dos and don'ts for any promotion and how data from engaged listeners can help you demonstrate to advertisers the quality of audience you attract.
You'll also discover the 1% rule and why John's cousin hasn't been for dinner recently.
Gordon Lundy, Matt Shields and Gavin Pearson share examples of their imaging work and explain how they make it. Recorded before a live audience at Scotland's Creative Media Network student festival
Explore new creative opportunities in programmatic advertising and dynamic audio in the company of two highly knowledgeable and likeable pioneers in this emerging field. Steve Dunlop and Sam Crowther run A Million Ads, the London-based agency that leads the world in dynamic, personalised audio advertising.
With patience and clarity in this Earshot podcast, Steve and Sam take Steve Martin through this emerging growth area and how it works. They also demonstrate some new creative routes to more effective communication through personalisation with real-life campaign audio from their early clients. What's more, they do all this in a pub.
If you listen to online radio or streaming music services that carry advertising you may have already heard dynamically assembled ad spots that take account of the data advertisers know about you.
A short route to increased effectiveness or a little bit spooky? Download this edition of the Earshot podcast and hear for yourself.
Full details at http://earshotcreative.com/2018/01/earshot-podcast-a-million-ads/
Adam Burgess and Tom Cross are two thirds of the production house Contraband Media.
Together with Music Director Small Paul, Adam and Tom have built Contraband into one of the UK's leading independent radio imaging companies with market-leading clients here and in the US, New Zealand and Australia.
This year they were nominated in the 2017 Audible Audio Production Awards. Business advice for you if you fancy leaving your salaried job and setting-up your own production company or entering the freelance world.
How they made the transition from Tech Ops on Southern England's Power FM to Imaging Producers and then directors of their own business.
Production secrets of their branded song intros from BBC Radio 1, the Nick Grimshaw Breakfast Show openers and their Imaging Blueprint CHR imaging service.
Their work for Radio 1 is puzzle of micro-editing, pitch-shifting, tuned voices, soft synths and the cheekiest individual syllables smuggled from song lyrics.
We also enjoy an award winning radio ad for one of the most famous FMCG brands in Britain.
Three of the world’s leading entertainment radio imaging producers join Steve Martin to discuss their craft and play their work. The Reelmix imaging event was held in September 2016 in Miami, Florida USA by ReelWorld and the Mix Group.
See more information at http://earshotcreative.com/2017/05/earshot-podcast-david-konsky-victor-lisle-and-ron-tarrant/
Bauer Media is one of the UK’s leading commercial radio operators. Chris Ward is the Content Operations Director and Group Production Director for its Bauer City Network of around 50 outlets.
Every week this network reaches around 7 million listeners and generates more than 60 million hours of total listening.
Its stations are based in large cities across the North and Midlands of England, and Scotland. They operate under heritage brand names like Hallam, Clyde, Metro and Viking, tiered in three networks with local speech content among the tracks: Bauer City 1 operates a hot AC format, recently repositioned, and it drives the biggest audience, Bauer City 2 plays classic hits and Bauer City 3 is a punchy CHR network.
Chris’s team is largely based in Salford, near Manchester but he has a couple of team members in Glasgow and Birmingham too.
In this Earshot podcast, hear audio that communicates the new music positioning of the Bauer City 1 network, creative production to support S&P activity and examples of customised sung vocals on playlist tracks that Chris’s team uses on many of the network’s major promotions.
Psychologist Dr Becky Spelman and comedy writer John Vorhaus join Steve and Hayley to share their expertise in creative thinking and the processes that support it. Full details at http://earshotcreative.com/2016/12/earshot-podcast-john-vorhaus-and-dr-becky-spelman/
5 Live and 2FM imaging
Explore two strikingly different approaches to radio station imaging in this edition of Earshot.
Pete Maguire from RTÉ Ireland explains how 2 FM's new imaging completes a modernisation journey for the station and Paul Fernley of ReelWorld describes the search across Ireland for vocalists and voice artists led to a highly original and authentic sound for the national CHR brand.
Ollie Raphael of Delicious Digital demonstrates the thought and musicianship that his organisation put into new work for BBC Radio 5 Live. Hear how the new package unifies the network's wide range of news and sports programming and learn about Delicious Digital's approach to media branding.
Hayley Hayes is in the house too with Hayley's Homework, answering a listener's question from the previous edition.
Agency: Leo Burnett Creative team: Matt Collier, Wayne Robinson Creative director: Charlie Martin Producers: Serena Schellenberg, Adam Furman Post-production: Wave Studios Engineer: Ed Downham
This edition of Earshot is all about commercial production.
Our guests are Sara Hashem, senior creative producer from Maple Street Studios and Radioworks, a major London-based production centre for commercial work, and the Wireless Group creative team of Rick Loynes, group commercial producer and Dan Seavers, senior commercial copywriter, both based in Stoke on Trent, a city in the English Midlands.
In this show Sara, Rick and Dan explain how they work with clients on a national and local level, and the challenges they must overcome to deliver great work on air. They play spots they've made for clients from insurance companies to a local car dealership and reveal the audio that inspires them to stay creative and make effective advertisting.
We also hear from Clare Bowen with the latest on Radiocentre's lobbying work to change the regulation that governs the inclusion of the Terms and Conditions in radio ads. The radio industry wants to lose them because they are ineffective and add clutter to good creative work.
In this edition of the Earshot podcast, broadcaster and radio imaging enthusiast Stephanie Hirst explores the role of women in imaging with guests from opposite ends of the radio production spectrum.
Laura Mather is a multi award-winning imaging producer and the European Production Manager at ReelWorld, writing and producing creative audio for client stations worldwide. Kathy Clugston helps shape the sound of BBC Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra and the BBC World Service as a voice artist and newsreader on those networks.
Together they seek to identify the unique creative contribution that women make to radio station sound, promotion and imaging, ask why are there so few women in certain fields of radio production like imaging and to what extent does sexism exist in radio production?
Stephanie, Laura and Kathy also play some creative work they've made or which has inspired them, and we hear audio and comments from Jo Nicoll, who has made it to the top flight of UK commercial radio production as head of Production for the Smooth and Gold networks at Global Radio.
This all-female show is produced by Hayley Hayes and Sara Hashem at Maple Street Studios.
Producer and composer Mitch Von Arx shares his production work for the UK’s Kiss network and explains how he and his colleagues create that distinctive Kiss sound.
Mitch plays top-of-hours, Kisstory sweepers, S&P work for a film promotion, imaging for the ever-giving Father Kissmas and a mighty new year countdown piece that definitely deserves a second listen in the cool light of day.
Also in this edition, the best ad for a local camping store you’ll hear all year…. and it was made in-station too.
To contribute to the Earshot podcast email steve@earshotcreative.com
Full details of all Earshot podcasts at http://earshotcreative.com
In this edition of the Earshot podcast Richard Newby plays his work from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music and Global's Chill.
As one of the UK's most in-demand freelance producers, Richard works across all the major groups in the UK including the BBC, Global, Celador and Bauer.
In this Earshot podcast he plays his promos from the latest BBC Radio 1 brand campaign, an Iggy Pop flight of fancy from BBC Radio 6 Music, his original compositions for Global's Chill and Richard reveals the secrets of his vocal processor chain. Goodness.
We hear also from Ogilvy's Executive Creative Director in South Africa, Mariana O'Kelly about her Cannes Lion award-winning campaign for Lucozade, plus Hayley Hayes is with us, picking out some of your delightful comments about the podcast from the Earshot inbox. Butter us up and we're all over you.
There are few true ‘bibles’ of radio broadcasting craft. In this Earshot podcast, David Lloyd explains how he identified the need for a different kind of radio book and why he wanted to be the one to write it. He introduces a thoughtful approach to hooking and teasing, prioritises positive writing over fussy production and explains how radio promotions producers can make their work more effective with a focus on listener benefits. Colin Kelly’s with us too – he has just launched a children’s radio project for schools in Scotland. Hear the results of Scottish Schools Radio in the show, including one schoolgirl who gives Steve Wright a run for his money with her take on Factoids. And because it’s Christmas enjoy a couple of remarkable radio ads from the USA and Ireland. Presented by Steve Martin.
Guildford composer Ollie Melville-Smith creates a new package of jingles for his local station, Eagle Radio. Meet Ollie and the station’s breakfast presenter, Peter Gordon in the new Earshot podcast.
Made by Steve Martin to promote a special day of programmes on Radio Scotland's FM channel. Voiced by Rob Matheson, now a newsreader on Al Jazeera. It won some award or other.
Find out more about this campaign here: http://earshotcreative.com/2015/06/lucozade-campaign-syncs-outdoor-and-radio/
Find out more about this radio campaign here: http://earshotcreative.com/2015/06/lucozade-campaign-syncs-outdoor-and-radio/
Composer Les Reed explains the origins of the County Sound theme song and jingles. From a documentary produced by Steve Martin and Rob Wallace to mark 25 years of County Sound.
Imaging special edition. Two of the world’s leading station imaging production companies pitch their demos head-to-head. Wise Buddah’s Mark Goodier and Anthony Gay from Reelworld Europe explain how their organisations are tracking the changing needs of radio stations across the world.
Paul Plant introduces No Sheet Music – a new production library designed to lift the production standards of radio and more.
Tony Blackburn shares his enthusiasm for the radio jingles that help give his programmes such popular appeal. PAMS are his favourite.
Anthony Timmers invites you to attend the first Imaging Days event, taking place in Amsterdam on 8 and 9 September - apparently Amsterdam has the most imaging per square metre.
Colin Kelly on the BBC’s Commonwealth Voices – a pop-up station that explored the story of Glasgow and other Commonwealth cities during the Commonwealth Games.
…and a few other cheap thrills for anoraks.
The trail the BBC always seems to roll-out whenever it's in a spot of public relations bother. Voiceover: Emma Clarke
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Jack FM in Bristol rebranded for the day to Jock FM in honour of Bristol Zoo’s star silverback gorilla, Jock, to celebrate the opening of the new gorilla house. Here's the on air audio.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/07/jack-fm-bristol-takes-gorilla-stunt-to-the-next-level
Pat Gill of Dublin’s market-leading FM104 is my guest in this edition of the Earshot production podcast.
Pat’s been at FM104 for eleven years and boasts a string of awards for his audio work. In the podcast Pat plays a bunch of FM104 production – from morning show jingles and music imaging to punchy and provocative trailers.
FM104 itself is living proof that market leading doesn’t have to mean narrowly-focused. The playlist is hit music with a few surprises but the station also broadcasts a comedy-rich breakfast show and a real appointment listen in the late night phone show.
I always love to meet creative people who are happy in their work and Pat is a wonderful example of that. Hear how enthusiastic he is about the station and his creative work in our half-hour converstion recorded in Pat’s production studio.
In this edition of our production podcast we welcome Nathan Freeman of BBC Radio 6 Music and winner of the 2013 Creative prize in the Radio Production Awards and James Espley of new national rock station TeamRock Radio. Both are nominated in this year’s Radio Academy Awards with their respective teams and, as you’ll hear, producing some great work for their different styles of music radio. As well as playing some of their recent trails and imaging elements, Nathan and James explain how they come up with the ideas that convey their promotional messages and share great production tips that we can all learn from. They also look to Australian radio and cinema for their creative inspiration as you’ll hear.
Find out more: http://earshotcreative.com/2014/02/new-sound-imaging-for-bauers-place-portfolio/
Gerald Jackson:
BBC Local Radio's Gerald Jackson celebrates 45 years of production and has recently been awarded for his outstanding contribution to BBC Local Radio. Radio production, music and technology have played leading roles throughout Gerald’s 45 years in BBC Local Radio.
In our podcast, Gerald steps us through the history of BBC Local Radio promotional production and explains how, today, he manages the audio image of the across the 40 local stations.
Eloise Whitmore:
Beds, water parks, mics on poles and motorbikes: the newly-honoured Radio Academy producer of the year shares some of the secrets behind her award winning approach to dramatic sound design.
Chuck Knight:
Philadelphia’s market-leading B101 runs voiced “song tags” off the end of every song it plays. With its PD we discover what audiences insights led to this innovative technique and hear how song tags have changed the sound of the whole station.
James Stodd from the South Coast’s Jack FM and The Breeze, Richard Culver from BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 2‘s Chris Reay play the audio that gained them and their teams recognition this year in the UK’s leading radio awards.
In conversation with ambassador of radio Steve Martin they also explain the creative processes behind their audio, the challenges that make their work so enjoyable and they reveal where they find some of their creative inspiration.
If you’re looking to learn from the industry’s brightest, there’s nowhere better to start than with James, Richard and Chris.
For the first show in the new run we’re at Vox, the annual conference for voiceovers, to explore the critical relationship between voice artist and radio producer.
Steve Martin asks voiceovers and producers about the changing nature of work in the radio production and advertising sector. You’ll also hear Sara Hasham on directing technique, John Myers on the Equity ratecard, Andrew Wright on production workflow, Steve Barreton on setting up microphones and a huge number of voice artists including Chas Rowe, Chris Stevens, Della Phillips, Emma Hignett, Gayanne Potter, Louisa Gummer, Piers Gibbon, Hannah Patterson, Mike Cooper, Noni Lewis and Ian Brannan.
The Earshot Creative Review podcast plays great radio production with the people who make it.
This festive edition comes direct from the Hippodrome Casino in London’s Leicester Square where some of our closest friends have gathered to enjoy some fun audio together and talk about radio production.
Clare Bowen of the RAB plays comedy radio ads that really sell, comedian Jake Yapp reveals what happened in the studio when he auditioned for the voice of cheese strings, Matt Deegan from Folder Media shares one of the latest “D Love” digital radio ads, producers Tim Johns and Chris Wood compare their experiences making trails for BBC Local Radio, Steve Martin plays an ad he heard on the radio in Liberia, competition finalists Mark Hulmes, Sefa Nyki and Jumoke Ogunkoya look back over the Hobsons Voicesearch 2012 challenge and voice artist and producer Helen Quigley shares her tips for the winner.
You’ll also hear audio from Gremlins Audio, a Church, a fish and chip shop, Jake Yapp’s radio show and Armstrong & Miller.
And we announce the ultimate winner of the Hobsons Voicesearch 2012, our competition to find and reward new British voice talent. Jumoke, Sefa, Mark and Scott have all faced studio challenges with us and our friends at Global Radio, the BBC and Reelworld but only one will land a twelve month professional representation contract with Hobsons. Listen to the podcast to discover who it is.
Vote for the Earshot Creative Review in the European Podcast Awards http://www.european-podcast-award.eu/uk/start/vote-and-win/business/type/player/uid/6724/podid/6724.html
Last in the present series.
Our audio podcast takes us South of the equator for a taste of AC and CHR imaging in South Africa. Our guest is Brionne Olsen, current imaging producer at national CHR station 5FM and formerly of regional AC brand, Jacaranda 94.2.
Meet two of the finalists for best station promotion in this year's BBC Local Radio awards.
Chris Wood produced an energetic and multiplatform campaign for a local music festival in Oxfordshire while Richard Latto steered a sensitive course through coverage of the Titanic's 100th anniversary on BBC Radio Solent. Hear them describe how they approached these two large-scale local projects and the resulting creative production.
And in the Hobsons Voicesearch competition, Jumoke, Sefa, Mark and Scott continue their quest to win a year's professional representation with Hobsons. This time they each voice an insurance ad at Global Radio.
Please for for the Earshot Creative Review in the European Podcast Awards.
That's enough competitions.
Radio Advertising - Some secrets of great radio advertising with Clare Bowen, head of creative development at the UK Radio Advertising Bureau and Lenja Papp, European radio writer and consultant.
Discover why Lenja wants to seduce - not shout in any language, how the comedy of Ricky Gervais, Karl Pilkinton and Stephen Merchant can address serious medical matters and how the RAB is working to improve the creative quality and effectiveness of radio advertising in Britain.
Hobsons Voicesearch - Meet Jumoke, Sefa, Mark and Scott: the shortlisted candidates in our competition to find and reward new, unsigned UK voice talent and hear them face a real-life studio challenge at the BBC with producer James Stodd.
Today BBC Radio 2 airs its new jingle package. It’s the first time in fifteen years that Britain’s most popular radio station has commissioned a completely new package. The new work comes from London-based production house Wise Buddah who won the pitch after a long and competitive selection process. It is the result of considerable collaboration. The package includes performances from some of the BBC Radio 2 presenters including Clare Teal, Beverley Knight and Paul Jones. It also features the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Community Gospel Choir. A few days ago, locked behind two levels of BBC security and sworn to total secrecy, Chris and I opened some drinks, discussed the package then played all the cuts back-to-back. Perfectly normal behaviour for a beer & jingles lock-in, as you’ll hear in this month’s podcast.
Guests this month are Dan Mumford, Manager of Station Sound at BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1 Xtra and Absolute Radio Senior Producer, Brian Murphy.
You'll hear an "awesome foursome" promo from the winning BBC Radio 1 Xtra station sound entry and the Geoff Lloyd "complaints" promo from Absolute Radio that was awarded the top prize for Best Single Promo or Ad.
This month we also discover how Absolute Radio is promoting online listening, hear the demo of Radio 1's new imaging from Pure Jingles and why Radio 1 went overseas for it, and Dan Mumford reveals who does Fearne Cotton's segues. Clue: it's not Fearne.
Our producers' inspiration comes from Dollar Shave Club and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and... "from the mountains to the sea"... we mark the lost art of the local radio station song.
This was a preliminary demo commissioned by the BBC from Jam productions and Steve England for the original Radio 5 AM station in 1992. The project was not completed, largely because the BBC announced its intention to replace Radio 5 with 5 Live shortly after this was delivered. The rest is history. Many of the cuts are resings from Jam's New York Fan package. This was more of a mood board for the tracks and vocal approach than a firm direction for the final cuts. It also reflected a growing realisation at the station that sport was the central focus of Radio 5's audience, even if the schedule was more eclectic. Jingle aficionados will note that the vocal sound was weighted male and included a mix of UK and US vocalists. Trivia fact: the late Caron Keating was the station controller's Goddaughter.
Copyright: Jam Productions / Steve England / BBC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_5_(former)
Bernard Achampong of BBC Radio 1 Xtra, Neil Cowling of Fresh Air Production and Chris Howell from Eagle Radio.
This month we meet three radio producers whose recent promotional and imaging work has been recognised by this year's Sony Radio Academy Awards judges. As our guest producers wait to discover whether their nominations will be converted into coveted awards we hear their nominated audio and the stories behind its development.
Bernard Achampong is station sound producer at BBC Radio 1 Xtra and his station is nominated in the Best Station Imaging category. Neil Cowling runs Fresh Air Production which has produced two entries for the BBC which are nominated in the Best Promotional/Advertising Campaign category. He's up against Surrey and Hampshire's Eagle Radio where Chris Howell has earned a nomination too.
Play the podcast to hear exerpts from the BBC Radio 1 Xtra imaging entry, Fresh Air Production's work on the BBC Comic Relief and Wimbledon campaigns, Eagle Radio's anti-car crime campaign for Surrey Police and a whole bunch of other audio that has inspired and excited Bernard, Chris and Neil to make great creative work for their clients, employers and listeners.
Composed by Tim James. Produced by Steve Martin. Copyright BBC.
The brief was make the station sound friendly, welcoming and good company for a 55+ local audience. We made versions for BBC Radio Wiltshire and BBC Radio Swindon.
Listen carefully to the travel news bed at 5'09". It features a sample from the theme to The Magic Roundabout - a cheeky reference to Swindon's famous road junction of the same name.
Freelance producer and leading member of SoundWomen Kate Cocker, GMG‘s Chris Stevens and Stuart Barrett of BBC Radio Manchester run some of their favourite production work and discuss it with Steve Martin.
Composed by Anthony and Gaynor Sadler, Published by Montgomery Music Ltd, Copyright BBC. Produced by Steve Martin at BBC Broadcast Ltd.
This is an extended mix of the "River" music produced for BBC Radio Ulster's weekend output.
Each programme owned a different mix of the theme which flowed from show to show in sympathy with the changing mood of the day.
Nigel Williams looks back at the first 25 years of County Sound, Surrey and Hampshire's original radio station. The documentary was commissioned by UKRD from Steve Martin who co-produced it with Rob Wallace. It was broadcast on County Sound on 4th April 2008.
This is a 25 minute snip of conversations I shared at the Radiodays Europe conference with various creative, production and imaging people. Play it and you’ll hear:
Lee Harris, the top-of-the-hour morning news voice on New York’s all news, all the time station, 1010 WINS. Lee describes how the station carefully modernised its imaging, partly in response to insights gained from PPM audience data. Worry not – the famous teletype effect is still there. It’s the soul of the station.
Wise Buddah‘s Russ Williams and Dave Albers of TopFormat updating us on current imaging trends in Europe and the latest work they’ve been creating for their respective clients.
The guys from myradiofashion.com who were in Copenhagen with a selection of radio-themed merchanside, mostly t shirts. If you like their stuff then you can get 30% off any item before 31 March 2011. Just use the exclusive discount code “earshot30″ when you order.
Belgian radio advertising writer and consultant Philip Maes who has some truck with current advertising creative but quite likes some older gems which we play.
Chris Nicoll reveals the secrets behind Capital FM’s hot new imaging style, Helen Quigley shares her work from radio and television and together we discuss voice selection, productivity tips and the sources of our inspiration. You’ll also hear Harvey McCabe from Kings College, London and audio from the voice session he won in our recent competition. Note that this was recorded before Capital announced Dave Berry as their new breakfast host and that is why we don’t talk about him. And Chris plays some cool 90s promo videos from MTV.
Recorded at the height of London’s recent Indian Summer heatwave this podcast brings together radio creatives from India, Kenya and the rural British county of Lincolnshire.
You’ll hear Jardin Lobo explain how spot advertising and live talk-ups work on Indian FM stations and get a wider sense of the changing nature of radio in that huge country.
You’ll also hear Gillard award-winning producer Tim Johns from BBC Radio Lincolnshire play his promos and show production. Together Jardin and Tim compare their work and generally try to keep a conversation going over a flaky Skype connection.
Also this time, Nairobi-based radio advertising consultant Simon Rushton says we should always prioritise effective advertising over creative advertising and he explains how to do it. On a beach.
Enjoy an extended edition with James Stodd of the BBC and Matt Lomax from Kiss. At an hour long, it’s perfect listening on your Summer holiday.
James’s audio shows how the BBC is using smart promotional techniques to convey public service messages while Matt demonstrates how he puts listeners at the centre of the Kiss imaging.
Together we discuss monitoring for the real-world, studio sound design techniques and we share your comments and reaction in a new feature: the EarShout.
We also reveal the answers and the winners of the Hobsons Mystery Voice competition, hear from the Radio Academy Sound Designer of the Year Peregrine Andrews and play production from one of the world’s youngest professional radio imaging producers.
This month we celebrate TalkSPORT’s remarkable achievements at the Sony Radio Academy Awards with senior writer and producer Jonathan Young.
Jonathan has been one of the leading creative forces on the station since it launched and in this month’s podcast (recorded before TalkSPORT gained further honours at the Radio Academy Production Awards) you’ll hear him play some of TalkSPORT’s brave, fun promos, describe how they make this stuff and how they get away with it.
You’ll also hear Peter Gordon of 96.4 Eagle Radio try to help us with our Hobsons Mystery Voice competition, a funny ad from Peperami and some music inspired by the London Olympics – already.
This edition of the Earshot Creative Review was recorded in March at the RadioDays Europe conference held in Copenhagen and features three eminent radio leaders: Clive Dickens, Absolute Radio‘s Chief Operating Officer. In this podcast, recorded before reports circulated of a possible sale of Absolute Radio, Clive explains how he considers the radio group’s imaging and production to be a significant part of its value. International radio consultant Sam Zniber who’s also vice president of Radio Intelligence. Sam began his career in the production studio and remains as passionate as ever about production’s contribution to station success. and Mark Barber of the UK’s Radio Advertising Bureau, a key figure behind RadioGuage who was in Copenhagen to introduce the measurement service to broadcasters in new territories. You’ll hear what RadioGuage can teach station producers. Other discussion themes include remote working and achiveing flow in CHR formats, plus we all listen in awe of work by production legend Jeff Thomas. In addition to our chat you’ll hear bags of production from Absolute Radio and Absolute 80s, KIIS and Kiss, and RadioGuage-proven ads from CocoPops and Autoglass.
Our guests this month are JJ (Jonathan Jacob) of First Radio Sales and recent graduate from the University of Nottingham Ben Townsend who helped secure URN‘s recent clutch of student radio awards.
In the podcast you’ll hear audio from Liverpool’s Juice FM, City Beat of Belfast, Surrey and Hampshire’s Eagle Radio and URN. We also discuss how student radio is feeding mainstream stations with new talent on both sides of the mic, and play some great audio from Australia’s 2Day network and the new Capital FM network.
You’ll also get a head start in our new competition to win a voice session with Hobsons.
We play promos, jingles and S&P audio this month, and we consider how branded content might sound should Ofcom relax the restrictions that govern that kind of programming. There’s also an unhealthy preoccupation with biscuits.
You’ll also hear the creators of award-winning promotional work from BBC Local Radio and Sri Lanka’s Shree FM, and there’s classic archive audio from a famous US CHR war plus news of a new online sung jingles service.
This month, the sound of London. Paul Hilton runs production at BBC London 94.9 while BBC Radio 7′s Ben Motley has spent the last year at BBC Global News where he produces promotional campaigns heard on the English language channels of the BBC World Service. If you’re confused, I’ll draw you a diagram.
You’ll hear a huge range of production designed to appeal to both local and global audiences of speech radio. Discover how BBC London tries to position itself apart from LBC, how to connect with listeners overseas who speak English as a second language and why comedy and Christmas means pulling out the creative stops at BBC Radio 7.
There’s also music from Coldcut, brand imaging heard on speech radio podcasts and we endure a tortuous play on words which helps you remember a text number.
This month we get inside the creative hubs of stations big and small. From BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music to the remarkable promotions-led arrival of Oxfordshire’s Glide FM, we hear creative radio production and discover the strategies and techniques behind it.
Also – what it’s like to work with Chris Evans, how a tiny team in Oxford secured worldwide media attention for their new station launch with their Glee stunt and we discuss the challenges of staying creative when time is tight.
You’ll learn a lot from this month’s Earshot Creative Review with David Couch and James Cridland. And you’ll hear a lot of radio ads.
Discover how Spotify is allowing advertisers to target audiences by postcode, what is the most important content to have on your radio station web site and what not to do with cameras in the studio. Hear ads from Cuervo, Kwik Fit, Transport for London and the Bentall Centre, plus an educational promo from Absolute Radio.
In this month’s edition, you’ll hear a great selection of audio production from TalkSPORT when Peter Gee delivers a masterclass in engaging, memorable ideas, sharp writing and clever casting.
Russ Williams from Wise Buddah is also with us, showcasing the music imaging he’s created for BRMB in Birmingham, the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 and music stations who wanted to embed World Cup content into their output without diluting their audio brand.
This review features James Beckingham from Global Radio who’s playing and talking about his work on the Fun Kids brand and Matt Fisher from the BBC who runs imaging for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1 Xtra.
It’s rather a relaxed summery meander through some of their recent audio despite the fact that we recorded early on Friday morning in a stiff breeze in Regents Park, London. If you listen carefully, you can hear James audibly shiver at one point.
You’ll also hear audio from NME Radio, Absolute 80s and Capital FM. And that’s hot.
This month Mike Cooper and Emma Clarke reflect on radio production and imaging work from the perspective of a radio voice artist.
There’s a discussion about the current trends in radio ad writing and a heartfelt plea for brave creativity and a lower word count.
Also, BBC Manchester’s John Ryan reports from the recent Radio Academy event on The Future of Radio Imaging and we share some creative bits and pieces that have caught our attention on the radio recently.
Contains some rude words. See if you can find them.
It’s the Earshot Creative Review radio podcast for April 2010. Once again, we recorded it in a pub.
This month you’ll hear the voices of Arden Hanley (coughing like a jet plane in an ash cloud), myself (carrying a cold so heavy it got checked into excess baggage) and Chris Nicoll (as beautifully uncongested as Britain’s airspace).
Arden leads the imaging teams for 95.8 Capital FM, XFM and the Hit Music Network of which he said: “You can’t dictate from London something that will work in Nottingham, for example or something that will work in Wales.”
Arden also runs the Ruptured Spark imaging house. Chris, meanwhile, is a freelance writer and producer who operates as WizzFX and is currently working for Global Radio, Jack FM and other stations. He arrived in the UK from New Zealand last year.
In the podcast we play and talk about loads of great audio from the UK, New Zealand, Germany and Ghana. We also consider what the Sony Radio Academy Award nominations mean for radio producers.
Recorded in a pub, this is the Earshot Creative Review for March 2010.
This edition features audio from Absolute Radio and Oxford’s Jack FM plus stories about Matt Berry, Paul Darrow and the inevitable ad for a fish restaurant.
Joe brought a book, Vince brought a demo reel from a talented freelance producer and I got the beers in. Teamwork.
Here it is then… the difficult second edition of the Earshot Creative Review. It’s been wonderful to get such a positive reaction from the first programme and more than two hundred downloads is certainly many more than any of us expected. This month we bring BBC Radio 3′s Kerry McCarthy and Matt Lomax together. As you’ll hear, they got on rather well despite reading from opposite ends of the radio production stylebook. Speaking of books, there’s a review of The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, recommended for busy but disorganised radio promotions people and we uncover the true story behind the groovy ad for Daniel’s Fish and Chips.
The Earshot Creative Review is a new feature in which some of radio’s finest production and imaging producers play their latest work and talk about it.
In this edition, James Stodd of PureTonic Media reveals how he promoted BBC Radio 3 with some office noises, Dan Snaith shows how he use focus groups to generate material for a BBC News campaign that aired on Radio 1 and we only just manage to resist singing along to a groovy fish and chip shop ad from Dorset’s Wessex FM.
Direct from the heart of London’s Theatreland, some of the UK radio’s leading creative producers and commentators play their favourite promotional audio of the year and discuss why they love it so much.
You’ll hear great audio from stations like BBC Radio 1, URN, Capital FM, Choice FM and Classic FM, Norway’s P1 and Xfm.
You’ll also hear the informed views, expertise and experience of James Cridland, John Myers, Nik Goodman, James Stodd, Lou Nash and Jacob Rickard.
Direct from the heart of London’s Theatreland, some of the UK radio’s leading creative producers and commentators play their favourite promotional audio of the year and discuss why they love it so much.
Download and you’ll hear great audio from stations like BBC Radio 1, URN, Capital FM, Choice FM and Classic FM, Norway’s P1 and Xfm.
You’ll also hear the informed views, expertise and experience of James Cridland, John Myers, Nik Goodman, James Stodd, Lou Nash and Jacob Rickard.