Do you recognise this sound then…?
I heard this fantastic bit of “disruptive” audio this morning during the Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1. This was produced by BBC Radio X-Trails – a team I’m shortly joining as a producer – and is a great example of doing things a little differently from the normal. It is, in effect, a teaser trail, for the new series of Doctor Who which starts this Saturday night on BBC1. However – the premise for this is effectively that the Doctor has crashed his TARDIS into the radio station – works out where he is – andsays stuff that points towards the new series – without giving a direct call to action.
What makes this effective is the fact that the “break in” to programming is fairly obvious – and that the TARDIS sound occurs fairly early on – making it effectively a “sonic trigger”. Promotion for the new Doctor Who series is all over the media at the moment – from Youtube to the BBC Website – and with the new Doctor appearing on shows such as Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and the likes – this is a clever way to build audio into the mix. My guess is that more traditional trails with a specific call to action will follow.
And have you ever heard a DJ interrupted mid-link before? Takes a bit of preparation beforehand – but sounds quite clever too!
So how could you make this sort of thing work on your station? Get thinking…
[All audio (c) BBC. We acknowledge all rights held by the owners, creators and performers of the recorded works which are included solely for the purpose of review].
JAMES STODD 
That was nicely done! I’m not so convinced by the strength of the guy himself as yet, but that’s another issue.
As for others doing it – well I just have my standard concern.
I have a vague recollection of a trail from a few years back that ran the full intro of a cheesy S.A.W.-produced hit and as the vocal started it then wound down to a stop (slowly) and in came the presenter to say “that’s better – you won’t hear that kind of song on my show…”. One version – regularly scheduled.
It ain’t what you do…
A brilliant radio ad for a television show.
Which would be illegal on commercial radio, since it blurs the distinction between editorial and advertising content.
Hmm.
Its very good, and production wise very thought out. Do we know if anything else was done on any other stations (would be interesting to compare).
I agree and disagree with Mr Cridland, this is a promo for another ‘show’ despite it not being on the same channel, you could get away with it. (XFM being plugged on Heart, although why you ever would i dont know).
The tricky point would be if there was a sponsor credit involved (say cross promoting the jingle bell ball across networks ‘with windows’)..
Would it be interesting to be listening to the radio and half way through a link hear Jack Bauer break through the door and disrupt things all to promote the next series of 24…
Would be interesting to see this technique used again, maybe even on a commercial station.