Thursday, August 28, 2008

Latest Ezine.

The latest edition of the weekly BmacMedia Ezine talks about the 5 W's and 1H that can help you when you're on air.

They are: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How.


Here's a sample from the article:

"Let’s say you have decided to talk about an upcoming festival in your market.
That’s your premise. You’ve done your research on it (you’ve Googled it all day)! And you have all of the facts. Now ask yourself a few questions before getting down to the nitty gritty.

First up, we’ll deal with the ‘W’s.

Who – This literally means, who are you relating the piece to? Who is your audience here? Young females, adult males, teens, homemakers, professionals, families? The ‘Who’ will determine whether your piece is relevant to your audience. There’s no point in telling your listener about something and for them not to care".


You can also read this week's article on The Albright & O'Malley Wake Up Call in North America, or e-mail brian@bmacmedia and I can send you the entire piece.


The BmacMedia Ezine is FREE every week. Subscribing is easy - just e-mail me!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Radio ER.

Looking for another website to help with Prep?
The Radio ER is run by my friend Eric Rowe in Houston.
Here's how it works: you can read articles or stories and then use the liners, or call generators that are provided.
As Eric says, it's to "help give ideas to radio shows".

Take a look:
http://www.theradioer.com

Jo Jo Kincaid.

I've been told that there are a few people who have never seen Jo Jo Kincaid in action. Really? Well, take a look and see what all the fuss is about...Crank up that energy !!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Studio-Based Airchecks.

I'm delighted to let you know that Irish based presenters can now take part in a studio-based aircheck session.
BmacMedia use state of the art digital studios in Dublin city, where we can aircheck you in real time as well as help you develop and produce your demo tape.
It brings airchecking to a whole new level.

More info at:
brian@bmacmedia.com

Monday, August 18, 2008



Sit back and enjoy 'ShotGun' Tom Kelly on air at K-Earth 101 Los Angeles.

Latest Ezine.

This week's FREE BmacMedia Ezine talks about Radio Goals and how it's vital not to give up as you make the journey from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

You don't give up on a long distance car journey and turn back because you "haven't arrived yet", do you?

Well, it's the same with your Radio Career Goals - knowing where you want to go is the launch point for the journey you are about to take and the journey is sometimes the best part.


Get your FREE Ezine every Monday by e-mailing: ezine@bmacmedia.com


Radio PopBitch.



I'm not one for extolling the virtues of radio stations that lack a personal presence (ie a presenter), but thought I should pass this along anyway.

You may know already about the UK website popbitch.com

It's a pop culture site that sends out a regular e-mail to subscribers as well as running a discussion board and general website. Some of the material they deal with is verrrry risque and some of it is downright nuts...but it's generally quite clever and sometimes borderline offensive. Depends on what you're into.

Well, the Popbitch people have just launched their online radio station and it's not bad at all.

The general idea is that it's request based. Put in your request and they'll play it - sort of like an online jukebox.

No presenters though - in fact they say it's for people who 'hate DJs'...yikes !


Take a look at :


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Discussion Boards.

Looking for places to talk about radio, or ask some radio related questions?

Try some of these:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums
http://www.pugetsoundradio.com
http://www.mediauk.com
http://www.radiowavesforum.com
http://radio-info.com
http://www.jockconference.com

Got to be one in there that takes your fancy !

Monday, August 11, 2008

What is Radio now?

I had an interesting discussion today about what radio actually means nowadays.
How does a listener actually perceive the radio station(s) they listen to?

We've all heard the debate about MP3 vs Radio and how the industry needs to compete with a device that can play a person's favourite songs in whatever order they wish, whenever they wish yadda yadda yadda.
The general consensus is that by being entertaining and local, you have a better chance of attracting those people back to your station. Give them content that they can't download and they may listen.
With that in mind...how does this strike you - are people listening to radio shows again as opposed to radio stations?
If you are a fan of Dennis Miller, do you care what station he's on? I doubt it. All you know is that he's on such-and-such a frequency at a particular time. After that, you may leave the radio tuned to that frequency and you may not. You have loyalty, not to the station, but to the show.
In the UK, people talk about the Chris Moyles Show, or in Canada The Larry and Willy Show. If these presenters were to move station, would the audience continue to listen to them at their new home or would they stay tuned to the previous station?
Is making 'The Show' and not the radio station as a whole an answer?

Just a question that came up today....

4Music Arrives on Friday.



I'm looking forward to checking out the new service from Channel 4 (4Music) when it comes on line this Friday.

The station have been promoting heavily on TV over the past month with some pretty eye-catching adverts and the first weekend on air looks pretty interesting: they'll be broadcasting from the V Festival and live Kylie from the O2 Arena too!

UK and Irish subscribers can find the station on Sky360, Virgin330 and Freeview18. Otherwise take a look at their website: http://4music.channel4.com/


Sunday, August 10, 2008

RadioTime.




I wrote about this little download a while back, but have had some people ask about it again...so here goes.
RadioTime is a feature that allows you to record and listen back to radio worldwide. You can add it to your MP3 player for listening to later or use it straight from you computer...whatever suits.
Really cheap to set up and the one-off payment is a nice touch.

Oh, and the Free trial doesn't hurt either.
No, I don't work for them - just a fan.

http://www.radiotime.com

Ezine is Back.


It's back after the Summer break...the BmacMedia Weekly Radio Ezine (that's a mouthful)!
The Ezine has been on hiatus for four weeks, as it gets very tired during the year and needs some sun and R and R.
I'm delighted to welcome new subscribers this week from North America, Ireland, the UK and France. Great to have you along.
The Ezine is completely FREE....no strings attached. I won't be bombarding you with 'exciting offers' every day or sending your info on to anyone else. It's just a weekly radio Ezine, plain and simple.
To subscribe, just e-mail me at brian@bmacmedia.com and I'll add you to the list, no problem.
The Ezine is now read by over 1,000 radio professionals each week. Thanks for your support.

Mister FreeLance!

It's been a long time since I flogged my services on a short term basis - ie Freelanced, but that's exactly what I've been doing for the last little while.
Let me tell you , it's weird and scary...but exciting at the same time. Showing up in brand new buildings, needing to learn a station's playout system and format and then executing it to their standards is quite the task. Talk about kicking yourself out of your comfort zone !
But what fun too.
Seriously. Walking into a studio for the first time and just 'getting on with it' is a blast.
Last week, I was on air at Today FM. Today is the national independent broadcaster in Ireland and is an incredibly entertaining station to listen to, so it was a real thrill for me to be able to be a part of their sound.
The show I filled in for was The Ray Foley Show...Ray is an exceptional talent and a very funny guy. I've known him for a long time (I believe I was taller than him at one point)! If you get a chance, take a listen 'young Ray' weekday afternoons from Noon-2:30pm. His National Radio Presenter of the year award in 2007 says it all.

I've got some more freelance work lined up for this month and am looking forward to learning another new station format etc.
After that one...who knows?
A nice couple of weeks on the air in the South of France would be nice !

Listen to Ray Foley on: http://www.todayfm.com