1. Tell us about yourself and how
you landed where you are today?
I grew up in Northern
Illinois loving music and electronics. At any given
time you might find me playing the piano, saxophone,
singing, or messing with old CB’s, consoles, and
computer equipment. It seemed a natural fit to use
technology to air the music I enjoy about a God who
has already done so much for me.
2. What is the
most fulfilling aspect to you personally about being
in Christian radio?
Without question,
lives changed by the power of God.
3. Why is the
production important to the overall sound of a radio
station?
There are two primary
ways to increase your audience and ministry
effectiveness.
1. Improve your on air
quality
2. External
Advertising
On Air Production is
important because it’s the first of the primary ways
to increase both your audience and ministry potential.
In God’s word he says
that we are to do our work as unto Him. Our
non-believing listeners are looking for stations that
sound great and serve their needs. With this in mind,
is my station setting the standard for production in
my market? Non believing listeners are looking for
the best quality… when we earn their trust on quality,
God opens the doors for us to also earn their trust
with our message of God’s love. We can teach God’s
love, but we must also demonstrate it with
professional production and service to our community.
When we do this, our
audience will increase giving us greater opportunity
to share what it means to follow Jesus. (Though not
the goal… a natural byproduct is that it helps the
bottom line of both listener supported and commercial
stations.)
4. How can using
an outside voice for imaging enhance a station’s
presentation?
Using an outside voice
talent does a number of things, but most importantly
it gives you a dynamic, relatable voice that
introduces your station to your listeners.
Another great benefit is
that it preserves your morning and afternoon talent
and adds variety to your staff. I mean, come on, how
many times do you want your morning guy doing a great
job on his or her show only to go to a stop set with
their voice in the commercials or promos.
5. What would you say to
the PD who says they don’t have a budget for imaging?
Quite frankly I’ve been
there and that’s why we founded
Yours and His Productions. I got tired of waiting
up to two weeks for copy that needed to run ASAP. And
I got tired of trying to find someone who didn’t
charge $75.00 to $100.00 bucks a page because my
station could not afford it.
Now, before I go any
farther…I’m not saying that voice talent, myself
included, shouldn’t be paid what they're worth. We may
be worth more, but that’s not our goal.
At
Yours and His Productions our mission is to
empower Program Directors with the ability to improve
their on air quality. Giving PD’s the opportunity to
secure major market talent for liners, copy, and even
voice tracks at a price any station can afford.
Best of all, while
outside talent makes you sound like you have more
staff…you don’t have to pay all the extras of hiring
extra staff….401k, insurance, benefits, nothing… you
only pay for what you use.
6. When choosing a
signature voice what should a PD consider?
1. What voice best serves
my target listener or life group?
2. Are they too busy with
“bigger contracts” to get my copy done when I need it?
3. Will my boss laugh me
out of the office when he sees the price.
7. How can an outside
production person assist the sales staff?
We work directly with
your marketing department to have spots completed to
both you and your client’s satisfaction… usually by
the end of business that day… guaranteed in 24 hours
or it’s free. The sales staff can sell with confidence
knowing they can trust
Yours and His Productions for great work done fast
AND it won’t cost their clients an arm and a leg in
additional talent/production fees.
I asked the Marketing
Director at GoForth Media, Charlie Smith, about this
and here’s what he had to add…
It is a
pleasure to work with "Yours and His Productions". We
have one non-com and 2 commercial stations and we use
Yours and His Productions
for most of our spots. The prices are good and the
quality is great. Brent has the ability to add an
inflection in speech that sets off a line or sentence
just the way I envision it when It's being written,
and many times those little changes or voice
inflection really sets out the spot. Many thanks for
what you do.
Charlie
Smith Marketing Dir. Goforth Media Inc.Mobile, AL
8.
From the technical side what does a station need to
get services such as yours?
Not much.
We receive copy by email
or snail mail. We email the finished 44.1 mp3 or wav
file back in a matter of minutes to a few hours. For
the cost of postage, we’re happy to burn it to CD and
drop it in the mail. We’ll get it there as fast as you
need it.
9. What new audio
technology has caught your attention recently?
Actually has nothing to
do with Voice Talent per say… but ipods are without
question growing like wild fire lately. It’s cool to
see stations creating shows you can download to your
ipod.
10. Where do you see
Christian radio in 5 years?
Anyone can listen to
Christian music via Satellite Radio, ipods, etc… but
cannot listen to their favorite personalities and
catch local information on XM.
Stations that are
satellite fed or play a ton of music from hard drive
without a lot of local interaction are in for a tough
road ahead. Folks don’t need radio to hear their
music anymore.
Stations that invest in
their local personalities, production, and local
information will continue to grow because you can’t
find local information and your favorite local morning
duo on XM.