Chris Reay is in charge of station sound and promotions at BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music.

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.

Play the audio here: Duration 40’00″

Download audio file (ecr_september10.mp3)

Download the mp3 (39.7M).

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Glide FM’s Sue Carter (left) and Sophie Bruce in their Oxford Studio.

Corporate headquarters. Look, we tried everything… sunny weather, sporty car pass… but it still looks like this.

This month’s stars

As senior producer at BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music, Chris Reay is responsible for promotions, imaging and steering the overall sound of these stations. He also leads the creative team of writers and producers. Sue Carter is programme director of Oxfordshire’s Jack FM and Glide FM and Sophie Bruce is the stations’ deputy head of programming and news, and Glide FM’s breakfast presenter. She’d like you to know that her fiancée works there too.

Our sponsor

This month we also welcome Hobsons as a new sponsor. Hobsons represents hundreds of voice artists who love being part of great radio production. They are also behind the studio finder iPhone app. Find out more on their Hello Hobsons blog.

Credits

The new Earshot Creative Review imaging is by Chris Nicol at WizzFX with the voice talent of Elly Fairman. Thanks also to radiobeds.co.uk for the incidental music and to Sue for making a decent cup of coffee at Glide FM.

Next Month

Er, nothing’s organised yet but if you’d like to suggest a guest or join us yourself then drop a line to earshot@smartin.me – we plan to record on Monday 11 October.

Any views expressed are those of the contributors and not of the BBC or Glide FM. We acknowledge all rights held by the owners, creators and performers of the recorded works which are included solely for the purposes of education and review.

Comments

• Wednesday 15 September, 2010, Tweets that mention Creative Review for September | Earshot -- Topsy.com writes: [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Stephen Martin and Stephen Martin, Chris Nicoll. Chris Nicoll said: The imaging in the latest Earshot Creative Review for September? We did that... http://bit.ly/a0Ds2n [...]

A serene photo of Oxford since Glee photographs appear to be under strict copyright.

Mr Glazier, a teacher at my old school liked to embarrass us in front of our classmates. I guess it was character-forming.

One morning I crept in with a note from my Mum, having been off sick for a few days. Taking my seat in the classroom, Mr Glazier turned to the room and called, “Stephen!”. The class fell silent. “It’s clear from this note that your mother is a teacher. She can correctly spell diarrhoea!”.

Mr Glazier would also instruct “you have to know where you’re heading before you set out” which is as true in life as in the chemistry experiments he taught.

And so it is with the best promo campaigns. The real winners start succeeding even before they’re made. They’re not just creatively brilliant but built on a good strategy.

From the outside, Glide FM’s celebrated launch campaign in Oxford seems a good example of a promotion that knew very well where it was going. Its one purpose: make some noise.

Above all, its strategy was about awareness. Not repositioning or hours building or driving trial, just the singleminded pursuit of awareness.

Glide chose August for their launch when fun media stories are at their easiest to place (although what Glide achieved was remarkable) and a tactic that was calculated to be talkable, generating word-of-mouth among the likely target audience. After that everything else followed.

All the successful campaigns I’ve worked on have been driven by a singleminded strategy and the troubled ones often characterised by muddled thinking, too many stakeholders or uncertain objectives.

Here’s something I learned years after Mr Glazier’s lessons: if you ever find yourself producing creative work to a confused brief challenge that brief again and again until it’s truly focused and singleminded. It can mean some difficult conversations but invariably will be good for your creative, your listeners and your client’s results.

Forward promotion

I’m pleased to say that some of the brains behind the Glide FM launch, Ian, Sue and Sophie, will be telling their story in the September edition of the Earshot Creative Review. They might even explain to this somewhat off-target consumer what the Glee phenomenon is all about.

Comments

• Thursday 19 August, 2010, Tweets that mention The power of purpose | Earshot -- Topsy.com writes: [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JACK fm Oxfordshire , Greg Burke. Greg Burke said: Not that I'm biased but @smartin's blog piece today is one of the best ever written. Don't you think? http://bit.ly/earshotblog [...]

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″

Download audio file (ecr_march10.mp3)

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.