Radio

Play My Song and I’ll Say What You Like

| jamesstodd

Wow – I love NRJ in France. They have all the big stars on air and on their TV ads:

But hang on – I love Capital FM in London the UK – and they’ve got a fantastic new TV ad too:

These artists can’t surely love both NRJ AND Capital?

Can they?

Both these adverts are great examples of bringing brands closer to the music. They take a huge amount of planning – but give so much payback. They aren’t necessarily the sort of thing you can do if you are a small station with little real-time access to the big artists. But for Capital and NRJ, with big events to draw these stars in, increasingly, they are part of the deal. I’m not sure if any money changes hands with these things, but let’s face it – if you get to associate your face/name/band with the big stations in the market, and they hold events/play music/ do contests promoting your album/single/gig – then who loses out? And they got Justin Bieber  and Rihanna speaking French too.

Of course, radio station TV ads don’t always need to feature the music you play or the stars of the station. But I can’t imagine NRJ or  Capital would ever run something like this!

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Hwyl fawr Red Dragon FM

| jamesstodd

Red Dragon FM holds a place dear in my heart. I worked there from 1998 (just after Capital Radio group originally took it over) and left there in 2002 (to head up the production department of the original Capital FM network). Those 4 years were really special – due mostly to the friends I made, the stuff we did and the City I still love. It was even the last station I did an on air shift on – covering a week of drivetime. From what I remember, the advice of the Group PD at the time (Clive Dickens) was to “shut up and just play the hits, mate”. Good advice!

Since hearing that Red Dragon FM was to become part of Global Radio’s Capital FM network, I’ve been trying to work out what to write as it breathes its last breath.  And now that day has arrived.

I spent a couple of hours last night searching through a box of CDs listening to audio – and was pretty proud of what I heard.

This was the first huge station I’d worked at and it had a large  pool of creative people. When I joined, Andy Johnson was the PD and the station was operating from the original premises in West Canal Wharf. On my first night, I was given a whistlestop tour of the patch by the drivetime guy, Warren Moore and the station producer Richard Firth. We ended up drinking beer looking over the Bristol Channel and having chips from a Chippie on Barry Island seafront. Class!

Capital Radio had bought the station from Emap and set about updating facilities and output. Capital’s influence on the station was pretty big to start with, but we always retained a distinctly Welsh feel to the sound and output. Within weeks, we were running the Birthday Bonanza promotion along with Capital’s BONG game. We even took some of the Groove Addicts jingle package of the time.

On air at that time (on Red Dragon and Touch AM); Jason Harrold and Emma Hignett on breakfast, Bobby McVay and Chris Moore, Tony Wright, Warren Moore, Charlie Power and Chris Bloomer. Then later, Ben Weston, David Francis, and Justin (Dai/Welshy) Waite. Beverly Cleall-Harding was MD, Nick Davidson ran the (huge) sales team and Andrew Jones ran an equally large news desk. Over time, people like Eirwen Parker, David Couch, David Rees and Simon Price joined the team with people like Alun Jones, Steve Martin and many many more. It was testament to the skills and creativity of that team that so many people moved on to other bigger roles with Capital or GCap. And so many more continue to make a massive contribution to radio in South Wales.

I guess much will be written about how another heritage station is being wiped off the map. But things change. Capital FM is sounding great as a hit music station in London. And Red Dragon has sounded almost identical to  Capital for the past year or so anyway. Of course, there are some things that it’s harder to reflect in a station mainly produced from London, as I noted back in September.

To be honest, Red Dragon has changed loads since when Capital first took it over in 1998. The name may now be gone, but Red Dragon was always about an attitude, a pride in a city, a culture and a lifestyle. That has evolved as Wales has changed over the last decade or so. This is probably just a natural progression. And there’s no point aiming criticism at the team in Cardiff. I’m sure they  are just as passionate about their station as they were when they joined.

So, let’s not dwell on yet another change to the radio landscape. If you worked there, be proud that you did. If you listened, thanks. And if you work for the new Capital FM South Wales – good luck.

And maybe play a little Tom Jones/Manic Street Preachers/ Catatonia  on March 1st. Would it really hurt?

PS: Does anyone really know how many people (and animals) Cerys Matthews had in her entourage back at THAT Party in the Park??

Diolch

——–(And now a little nostalgia)———–

For those who like a little nostalgia, here are a few gems from the my archive for you.


 

 

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Christmas Greetings – from Zagreb

| jamesstodd
Photo:James Stodd

This afternoon, this video popped into my inbox from one of my new European radio friends that I met at last month’s Broadcast Symposium in Nuremberg.

It’s a simple idea from Antene Zagreb

Take your on air talent. Put them in a room. And get them talking about Christmas. It’s a nice way of creating some connection with some of your on air talent and your listeners.  You could also take some of the audio and cut it into quick Christmas idents.

And whilst you’re doing it, get them to help create your Christmas Card – which you can film and then post on the website or maybe email to clients.

You didn’t do that? Maybe next year…

MTV: It’s all about the music – again

| jamesstodd

According to a report on Bloomberg.com, MTV is going back to it’s roots and focusing more on music again.

I used to love MTV back in the 1990s – it used to play non stop on the TV screens and sound system of our student’s union building in Canterbury when C4 Radio (now CSR Canterbury) was off air – in fact the sound from MTV was our off air sustaining service. (Rights – what rights…?). High rotation of songs, lunchtime requests, Ray Cokes and Euro news.

Then they discovered Reality TV.

They have just launched the MTV Music Meter – which scans social media worldwide to find the new bands generating a buzz in the social media space.

Bloomberg quotes Dermot McCormack, who oversees digital operations:
“We want to re-associate and new-associate the MTV brand with music.” “This is aimed at finding those artists who are rising fast in the social-media conversation.”

And, as Sam Zniber noted on his blog – this could be another useful tool for radio programmers looking for the next big thing.

http://www.mtvmusicmeter.com/

Absolute Radio – Behind the sound

| jamesstodd
Absolute Radio logo
Image via absoluteradio.co.uk

This week at the Radio Academy Promotion and Marketing Awards, Absolute Radio picked up another haul of awards.

Along with the Creative Gold Award, they won Best National On-Air Promotion (with Faces for Radio), Best On-Air Sponsorship (for Baddiel and Skinner) and Best On-Air Imaging. This adds to the bronze award they picked up at this year’s Sony Radio Awards for Best Station Imaging.

A couple of weeks ago at the Broadcast Symposium 2010 in Nuremberg, I presented a session on Station Imaging in the UK, which featured a video with Absolute Radio’s Creative Director Vince Lynch.

Take a look now behind the thinking of what makes the sound of Absolute Radio.

You can hear more about this year’s awards on Steve Martin’s Earshot blog here.

Quote me on that

| jamesstodd

I came across these today on the walls of BBC Television Centre.

All Images (C) BBC

All are catchphrases featured in highly successful BBC TV shows – displayed proudly in bright colours. Of course, they provide a nice talking point for tours and similar. But a nice way of showing the heritage of the Corporation.

It works for TV and could work for loads of BBC radio too.

But could you use something for your station in a similar way? Maybe not for a small station. But one with a heritage show or big name maybe? Or how about song lyrics from songs that reflect you station right now?

A simple idea?

1010 WINS: You give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you the world

| jamesstodd

New York station 1010WINS has been giving the news to New Yorkers since April 1965.

Last weekend, I met current breakfast news anchor Lee Harris at the Broadcast Symposium in Nuremberg, and the took the opportunity to make this short film where he talks about his career, the station, and  covering the events of September 11 2001.

Lee is on air weekday mornings in New York and online here.

The video isn’t embedding some browsers. If you can’t see it, watch it here  http://vimeo.com/16944686

Flared music – who worked with whom

| jamesstodd

The great thing about the BBC is that you can be pretty sure that there;’s a team of people working behind the scenes on new and clever ways of doing things with content and online data.

I found a link to a project called DATA ART – a partnership between BBC Learning, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the University of Westminster.

You can find details of some of their projects here:

I’ve not yet delved into all of them yet, (writing this on the train on my non Flash-friendly iPhone). But there could be some interesting possibilities with one of these projects – Flared Music.

The site notes that “Flared music lets you visually research relationships between musicians and bands using the Musicbrainz database an online community resource that the BBC is working with to collate music information”. Enter the name of an artist or producer and let the app search out connections and collaborations.

I entered “Paul McCartney” and it listed collaborations from the obvious (Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and of course The Beatles) but also, bizarrely , a connection to Su Pollard. Ok – she was on Ferry Aid! But, it set me thinking – maybe it could be a starting point for a musical feature on the radio? Or the basis of a fun online game?

Take a look – try it for yourself – and see what strange connections it throws up.

And thanks to @backflipltd for flagging this project up.

European Radio: Production with Passion

| jamesstodd

Photo by Darja Stravs Tisu

I’ve just returned from a wonderful weekend in Nuremberg at the Broadcast Symposium 2010. And it was a great opportunity to meet with European radio colleagues who have as much if not more passion for radio than people I meet day to day in the UK.

Some of these people were from stations in Germany, Slovenia, Austria and Croatia. And all were really enthusiastic about what they did, and most, if not all, look to the UK for creative inspiration and ideas. Which is good. But I really hope that we start looking towards them too. Trouble is, we don’t necessarily know what they are doing – or the great ideas that they have.

The one thing that struck me again and again is that it’s no longer acceptable to be just a radio imaging person. You need to be a composer. And a writer. And a great communicator. But also, need to have a great understanding of other media – from being able to cut great video – and be flexible in the ways you work.

Here are a few of the producers whose work you should check out:

Nejc Tisu, Radio Ena, Ljubljana Slovenia

Photo by Darja Stravs Tisu

Nejc and his team, including Imaging Producer Nik šmon and Head of Imaging production Mitja Mithans provide the production support needed to make Radio Ena (Radio 1) a highly successful station. Mitja creates all the jingles for the station and others from his home studio.

Goran Kurjak (Antena Zagreb)

Photo by Darja Stravs Tisu

Goran is the sort of person you don’t forget easily. Creative Director for Antena Zagreb. He’s equally involved in creating the audio sound and visual look – increasingly using audio and plus website video.

Competition in the Croatian market is pretty intense. 4 Million population and 150 radio stations. His company is running 3 radio stations – including Antena Zagreb – a Hot AC format but reaching a broad slice of the 18-49 population. They serve these stations with a team of 29 creative people including producers,writers, singers – and everyone knows everyone’s jobs – so that that they can collaborate across brands.

It was also good to catch up with Stefan Muller and the guys from BIG FM. You may even recognise their news sequence – it’s the old one I designed with Jem Godfrey at Wise Buddah back in 2007 for Capital FM.

I’ll try and add some audio from these guys too in the coming days. But for those of you who think the talent isn’t out there – maybe look to cast your nets a little further…