I LOVE Radio Imaging
While I’ve been full time in voice over since 2015, I did not discover Radio Imaging as a genre or my passion for it until 2017. As a professional female voice talent, I had been booking a lot of commercials and loved my commercial work. I was researching and trying to figure out what else was like commercial work to see what I might be good at. When I found radio imaging, I loved the genre right away because of the energy. In other genres of VO, I often have to dial down my energy and contain my exuberance. I have always found this quite ironic, because authentic is a big buzz word right now in voice over, and I authentically am bursting with energy. So when I found radio imaging, it seemed like the perfect fit and I began actively pursuing radio stations to add to my client roster. I love working with radio stations, regardless of market size, and do my best to meet all budget needs.
This Station Reached Out
About a week ago I got an email through my website from Brandon at Ozarks Work Mix Radio. He was looking for a new female voice for his station. He needed both liners/sweepers and station IDs or stingers as he calls them. He was used to working with a male talent for quite a while who had provided him with packages. Brandon made it easy from the start. He was transparent about what he needed and what budget he was starting with. He even sent a link to his prior provider which made it so easy for me to be as helpful as possible. I was confident my team and I could present him with high quality, upbeat, fun liners, sweepers, and station IDs to compliment what was playing currently on the station. Brandon explained that the station was created so that there is a great mix and something for everyone. He explained that this blend of 70s, 80s, 90s, and today was a clean, upbeat mix so that whether you were at work or on a road trip you could just keep listening. They play a fun blend of pop, rock, and country. Who doesn’t love that?? I was so excited to be working with them. After all, this is my kind of music!
Presenting it On Their Terms
Brandon was used to getting packages from his male imaging provider, cluster in lines of 5 or 10. I had not previously done this, as all the other stations I’ve worked with had priced imaging per page, which is much more standard across the industry. Still, this is what the client wanted and I wanted to make it easy for him even if my rates were not the same. I spoke with several excellent producers who were all available to produce the sweepers and stingers for OWMR, and presented a chart of the different options, comparing them to the client’s current pricing in the top row, so that he could compare apples to apples. It also occurred to me when preparing the data for the station that other small stations like Ozarks Work Mix Radio might be looking for the same type of pricing, and now I have this to offer future prospect as well.
Getting It DONE!
Brandon reviewed the options and selected what fit his needs best. The prices I had quoted him included production and voiceover. To be clear, while the prices were not high, they worked for all parties involved. What was new to me, was that he needed copy writing for his imaging content as well. I had not initially understood that the previous provided’s prices also included the copy. Frankly, I was thrilled to work with him on this as well. I haven been doing copy writing for years, and I love adding copy writing clients. I immediately started writing the scripts. The next morning I recorded, and that morning they were sent to the different producers. Half of the spots have come back already and are live and on the air, half will be back at the end of the next work week.
Takeaways From the Experience
The station is happy. They are extremely pleased and I made it easy for them to get what they wanted and needed. I had a blast working with industry partners doing what I love. For me, even if a station is small, there is still a lot of value in providing them service. My hope it that they will now come back to me as they need more sweepers and station promos. It’s not just providing them quality content that has great meaning to me, but also getting to know my clients and building a strong relationship over time. So while I made them happy with this first go around, now the work of building a lasting relationship so that I can serve them even better begins. With taking feedback, introspection, and hard work, I hope to continue to provide them with outstanding radio imaging for years to come.
