Creative Review for March

Vince Lynch of Absolute Radio and Joe Thomas from Oxford’s FM 107.9 and Jack FM.

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.

Play the audio here: Duration 36′19″

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Download the mp3 (34.1M).

Subscribe via iTunes.

Thanks

Music beds in this edition are courtesy of radiobeds.co.uk , the venue was kindly provided by Mulligans of Mayfair and voice imaging is by Ryan Drean.

Ryan is a well-known voiceover and producer in the States and he also makes “The Producers’ Podcast” which I recommend to you if you want to hear about current themes and personalities in US radio production.

His podcast is always enlightening and properly produced. He’d never record it in a pub, for example.

Views expressed in this feature are those of the contributors and not of the BBC, Absolute Radio, Jack FM or its owners. We acknowledge all rights held by the owners, creators and performers of the recorded works which are included solely for the purpose of review.

Tags: Absolute Radio, dabbl, FM 107.9, jack fm, Joe Thomas, Matt Berry, Oxford, Paul Darrow, Vince Lynch

How production used to be done

This is a great fun video introduction to an awards category at the American Mercury Radio Awards from 1995.

I have no idea why this has suddenly surfaced fifteen years after it was made but it’s a lovely glimpse into a world that’s changed so much with digitisation.

If you’re young enough never to have used analogue tape, carts and a live mixing desk for your production then this is for you. See what hell your forefathers went through so you can sit at a Mac all day.

Tags: archive, production, the Greaseman

Can Roy Keane win in Ireland?

Whenever I’m in Ireland I always listen to Newstalk 106-108.

You might enjoy the mix too: think of the harder-edged opinionated end of LBC 97.3 crossed with some US public radio-style arts and business coverage and a bunch of sport at the weekend. With its intelligent, quirky presenter/journalists, national coverage and a strong overall sound Newstalk provides direct competition for the public broadcaster RTE.

I also like the station’s imaging producer John Davies. John’s a guy I employed some years ago at the BBC because he had the imagination and enthusiasm to make promo campaigns that delivered a direct clear message but weren’t formulaic.

Now he’s got his station nominated in Ireland’s Radio Advertising awards for this promo featuring Roy Keane and a mobile phone.

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Hear how John takes the audio entirely out of context, totally misrepresents the situation and implies a third-party endorsement which didn’t exist. All the things I told him never to do when he worked for the BBC. Good work.

This promo is up for public vote in the awards so if you want to support John just email “Best Radio Station Entry = Newstalk – Roy’s Press Conference” to radioadvertisingawards@hunterpr.ie – but hurry, the ceremony is on Friday.

Creative Review for February

Matt Lomax and Kerry McCarthy.

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.

Play the audio here: Duration 30′00″ (see, we’re pros).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the mp3 (28.1M).

Subscribe via iTunes.

Music beds in this edition are all courtesy of radiobeds.co.uk Voice imaging is by Dan Snaith.

If you’d like the producers of the Daniel’s Fish and Chips jingle to produce something for you, call David Greenwood on 07967 655275.

Any views expressed in this feature are those of the contributors and not of the BBC or Bauer Media (or Daniel’s Fish and Chips come to that). We acknowledge all rights held by the owners, creators and performers of the recorded works which are included solely for the purpose of review.

Tags: BBC Radio 3, Kerry McCarthy, Kiss, Matt Lomax

Radio sells the internet

Some organisations are just brilliant at controlling their brand identity worldwide. Orange is one of them, so you’ll recognise instantly this ad for Orange mobile internet which I spotted last week between Kampala and Jinja in Uganda.

But mobile internet? Why on earth would you want that then?

Well, slap bang in the middle of the features and benefits cloud in big bold type is… radio.

Tags: mobile internet, orange, Uganda