Radio Imaging Fitness

You’re told to cut the fat from your life.

Why not cut the fat from your scripts too?

Tae Bo can do wonders for both, so we hear…

Seriously though, it’s something worth spending time on – to get right.

The scripts, not your abs.

Everyone loves good imaging.  And many people think the key to good imaging is good production.  WRONG.  Good imaging is about good writing, and if you get that wrong, then no amount of awesome effects like the online wizzFX Subscription Service is gonna fix it.

And good scripting isn’t exactly hard once you’ve identified what you’re trying to achieve with your imaging.  Yes, that’s right – you need to identify what you want to achieve.  If you’re going to make imaging, then you need to figure out what you want to say to your listeners.  Are you a Hit Music Station like 95.8 Capital FM in the UK?  Are you a creative station like ZM in New Zealand?  Are you wanting to be cool, or funny, or both?  Once you’ve got all your angles figured – only then can you begin to write.

But don’t just throw words at a page to make sweepers.  Actually think about what you want to say.  At Capital, our scripts DON’T look like this:

Hit Music –  Capital
Capital – Hit Music
Hit Capital Music
Hit Music, Hit Capital
Capital Music, Capital Hits.

We try to target things a little more, and actually communicate the message in different ways with different lines:

Hit Music – Capital
All the Hits – Capital
Playing all the Hits – Capital
Your Hit Music Station, 95.8 Capital FM

You get the picture.  It’s not about changing the order of words to make more sweepers, it’s about saying the same thing in different ways – and thusly, more targeted.  If you’re concerned about not having enough sweepers – then you’re missing the point.  It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality – kinda like chicks (although having said that, you could just build a couple of versions of each sweeper if you really wanted too).

Once you’ve got your head around that, your imaging becomes more EFFECTIVE.  And that’s what this is all about, reaching out to your listeners.

What about Promos?  This is the other FAIL point of so many.  Over writing promo’s destroys a stations brand – think about it, in an hour or programming you have more minutes of promos than you do sweepers (if you don’t then you might need to consider how long your sweepers are).  It makes sense that you try to make the promo’s as cool and as slick as your imaging right?

Right.  But again, people get it wrong and cram as much as they can into a promo.  KISS.  Keep it simple stupid – it’s so true.  Pick one thing to promote in a promo and write it.  If you need to promote 2 things in one promo, don’t – split it out and make two promos each concerning one of the things.  It’s a really simple thing to do – and it doesn’t matter if you’ve got super creative promos, or really straight ones – word economy is the key.

Here’s how it works.  Instead of:

And for your chance to win, just keep listening to Greg Burns at drive time from 4 this afternoon.

Try writing it like:

For your chance to win, listen to Greg Burns from 4.

Another example? OK.  How about from this:

Get online to CapitalFM.com, click ‘win stuff,’ enter your details and get in the draw to win.

To this:

Check out CapitalFM.com for your chance to win.

See?  Word economy.  Stripping out the words (and not your clothes), is what will help you keep your promo’s shorter, more effect, and clever.  There’s also an added benefit to word ecomony.  Eventually, you’ll find you’re stripping out so much, that you might have extra time to be a little bit creative, and write in a little element which will really blindside and capture your listeners attention.  If you’ve ever though promo’s were dull and boring – think again, adding a little bit of creativity can really help boost recall, and grab the ears of your listeners (we’ll cover this another time).

Remember, a promo is still part of branding the station.  So you’ve got to use the opportunity to do it right; and word economy is a great way to get started on the right track.  After that, it’s all about the creativity that you can bring to the table.

So, writing station branding isn’t as easy as people think.  It’s not about word order, it’s not about cramming in as much information as you can to generate interest; it’s about considering your target and writing directly to them in a clear concise manner.  It’s about word economy.  The more that you consider these points, the better you’ll get – and the better your listeners will react to your station.  You’ll love that, as will your PD’s and PC’s as the ratings go up.

Of course, once you’ve got the writing right, you’ve gotta make it sound cool!  So why not try buying access to wizzFX Online in the wizzFX Shop!  From as little as US$30 a month, get access to hundreds of weird, twisted, warped, and wicked Radio Imaging FX sound design to make your work stand out.  What’s more, new sounds get added every month, so you’ll never get bored of having to use the same sounds day in and day out.

It’s worth checking out!