The creativity behind radio station imaging often comes from familiar voices: talent that are largely unknown but easily identifiable by their sound. They are a part of a radio station’s personality and a crucial demarcation point across all media.
They’re one of the many ways a station is identified by a listener – oftentimes even before the name of the station or frequency is delivered.
In a noisy world where the amount of time spent across all platforms is declining. It’s becoming more difficult to identify who you listened to and where the medium was consumed
Be it Lester Holt announcing the open, close, and breaks within NBC’s Dateline, Jim Cutler being heard as the highly recognizable voice of the ESPN Network and many sports and news/talk stations, Rachel McGrath identifying stations in multiple music and spoken word formats, or Steve Kamer who is heard on everything from radio stations to television network game shows and interview programs, podcasts and streaming.
The 100+ voices who lend their skills to imaging and commercials are often discounted as being “that voice” without acknowledgment of the uniqueness of their talent. The objective is to be memorable, unique, and capable of saying the same things in many different ways.
I’ve written before how precious and sacrosanct imaging and branding of audio projects needs to be for stations to receive the reported listening they deserve in Nielsen diary markets, and for repeat listening in all market’s diary or PPM. All too often a new Program Director, Content/Brand Manager or a member of Corporate Leadership decides a station or show “needs a new coat of paint.”
This is absolutely fine, but when you change a voice or launch with a new jingle sound that is markedly different than the audio signature you’re currently using, you’re not painting the walls. You’re knocking them down and remodeling them.
There is a time to knock down the walls and markedly change your “sound.” That’s when what you’re doing isn’t working. When there’s a format change. When the station’s message has changed and you’re relaunching with a new brand. Those moments are less frequent than in the past but are appropriate times to blow up an audio signature and begin again. Sometimes, the lack of success warrants a reboot. It is in those moments that the selection of your imaging voice, jingles, and production approach need to be reassessed.
Steve Kamer – voice of Network TV, Television, and Radio – shared that his start was very much like those of us who started in radio in high school or college. Steve was a student at USC when he landed a job working weekends and overnights in Los Angeles at K-Hits 97. He credits his voice with getting the opportunity to perform on-air at such a young age. He also had the chance to watch others as they performed their jobs. At K-Hits that included working with the legendary Charlie Tuna and Joe Cipriano. Joe continues to be a well-known voiceover actor.
Kamer became the voice of The Today Show for NBC in 1994. He credits that job as giving him the confidence to go into the Voiceover field full-time. He became Deborah Norville’s announcer in 1997 when Inside Edition hired him. That’s when he retired from being a disc jockey (his words). Since going full-time he’s been the voice of QVC, CBS This Morning, NBC Sports, the Olympics for 20+ years, The Steve Harvey Show, and continues as the voice of CBS Radio News, as well as radio & TV stations, syndication, and network programming. It is radio that excites Steve, because of his roots on-air and being a fan of the platform.
I asked, “Obviously all these years that you’ve been lending your voice to brands, and developing imaging, there must be things that you think of as best practices. Those things that you’ve seen actors or producers do that turn audio into amazing memorable messages. What are those things that allow content creators like me to get the most out of the skills someone like you has?”
His response: “Be clear with your voiceover actor about what you want. What kind of delivery? What about the pace? Level of forcefulness in the read or lack thereof. Share with them a lot about your radio station. It helps me do a better job for you if I know something about the station, your goals, what you like and dislike, and what your expectations are from your VO talent.”
Kamer suggests that you be engaged and involved in how your voice talent is directed. He said “If you hear something you like on my demo reel, point to that and let me know that it mirrors the sound you’re looking for from me. Let your VO talent hear the finished piece. Occasionally, not always, but it’s helpful when I hear how you’re using my voice. No one is tougher on me than me, so anytime I can have a finished piece that I voiced, I’ll take it. It helps me give the station what they want from me. As long as you can take direction and as long as you’re willing to be flexible in terms of availability, in terms of trying things different ways, you’ll have a good relationship with the station or show you’re working with as a VO artist.”
Steve noted that occasionally somebody will want to be on the phone with him while he records. It doesn’t intimidate him to do that. “I love that because they’ll engage me with direction and guidance. They may ask me how I would rewrite the copy, or as me to freewheel on one to see what they get. There are two pluses with that approach:”
“1) It shows that you have the credibility for the producer to ask for your input, but 2) That producer has faith in your abilities. It’s nice to know that your opinion is credible.”
Kamer shared advice for those who hope to perform at a high level in the voiceover field. It starts with building your own brand. “A lot of radio people like to hire a voice that they’re familiar with from TV. So it’s, ‘he’s the Inside Editionguy, The CBS News Radio guy, and so on. That would be a case where radio exposure would lend itself to TV.” He continued “When I started building my career I had many marquee jobs. Those jobs became billboards leading to other voiceover jobs. And you always have to constantly work in tandem with your agent.” The idea of being everywhere and being seen everywhere is one that I continually harp on for stations and on-air personalities. It holds true for all fields and all situations.
He added that practice is important. Embrace the need to stay relevant. The sound you used last month may no longer be relevant. Be aware of changing trends or you’ll be left behind. Always work on you to stay fresh and sound new or current. Steve uses a voice coach to work with him and keep him ever improving. A highly successful talent using a coach. It is easy to believe that a professional at his level wouldn’t need a coach. He believes that he does.
In that way, Kamer applies another of my personal mantras: make yourself a lifelong project for improvement. I am constantly working on me. Professionally and personally.
I’ve referenced in previous articles where an imaging change on a station in my home market went wrong. The legendary Rock station where I live dropped their longtime VO talent only to have a soundalike pop-up across town on the Classic Rock station. A sound-alike versus the actual talent was hired because the original was locked up in the market. It was a brilliant move by the Classic Rocker to hire a talent with a similar sound and confuse the market in their favor. It may seem like a small thing to do, but there is nothing more important than the audience’s perception of your radio station. That comes from how you image your radio station.
The streets of the mythical town Radioland are cluttered with the bodies of content creators who decided to make a change in imaging, branding, or in the overall sound of their station without forethought. Same for corporations because someone at an executive level made a blanket decision. I’ve seen it firsthand. Someone somewhere decides to change something with no understanding of history in their market or the brand of their station.
The audience, the company, and your employees pay for your mistakes. Making mistakes is regretful, but it’s worse if you’ve not learned from them.
Don’t underestimate the value of the voice on your station. It is the cornerstone of many brands.
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