This is great radio content to share with your listener’s. After you review this video, you will want to share it with most everybody you know.

Few listeners actually participate in radio contests on a regular basis. That’s OK…We’re in the LISTENER business, not the “player” business! And, fortunately, many enjoy listening to contests…

From our recent online survey on contests, we see that that the majority enjoy listening even if they don’t play:

What makes contests enjoyable to listeners???  For three-fourths of them, it’s the ability to play along…

The option to participate vicariously in mentally-challenging contests is one big reason why shows like Jeopardy or Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? have enjoyed huge success. Viewers can watch, challenge themselves and feel smarter than the contestants onscreen.  Given the right contests, the same principle can apply to radio!

But not all engagement has to be cerebral.  Listeners can also vicariously (or actually) compete for prizes that are outside the ordinary:

Contests like these tap the imagination, engaging the mind in an entirely different way.  Listeners can visualize escaping to a secluded tropical island, or hanging out with The Stones backstage, or having $20,000 to spend any way they want at Neiman Marcus, etc. etc. etc.

That’s the point: Just as successful talk show hosts focus on what will inform, entertain and engage listeners, rather than the collars, radio programmers need to take the very same tack with contests.  Make contests special…not perfunctory, routine or trite.  And when you do, think about how they’re going to engage the listeners, even those who never try to win!

Call In To Win. Or…

One surprising finding of our recent online research on contests is that a majority (65%) of 18-64 radio listeners have tried to win one…at least once. But only 2% actually tried on the day they took our survey. Fortunately, our research uncovered a powerful way to boost participation…

We asked listeners how likely they would be to participate given various means of entry — from “not at all likely” to “very.” And website and email entry top the list:

Now, let’s put these numbers in perspective. Do I think 59% really are very likely to enter using email??? No! Respondents usually over-emphasize what they might do in a hypothetical situation. It’s easier to click off on “very likely” to email than it is to actually send the email. (And these are internet respondents, so it makes sense they’d be more web-oriented than average.)

But even given these caveats, what counts here is the big numbers for web and email entry and their big margin over  other means. It makes sense.  After all, it’s almost as easy to enter a station site or send email as click on “very likely.” (And it’s a whole lot easier and less time-consuming than trying to be the 100th caller)!

What’s especially impressive is the impact of online entry among those who have never tried to win a contest. These listeners put even more distance between website and email and other modes of entry:

So, the bottom line is that broadening contest entry methods to include the internet has significant potential for expanding the pool of potential participants, even reaching listeners who have never entered a contest before.  It’s all good!

The only “bad” is that way to many stations are overlooking the upside of online contest entry as another way to interact with listeners.

Ben Burnside’s Insite Production Tip of the Week!

When it comes to EQ, it’s easy to slap some everywhere and just blow it out.  However, EQ should be used more judiciously at all times.  Instead of wide swipes and broad “Q” levels (notice I didn’t say “EQ levels”), we should focus on more notches than anything.  It’s a habit to just grab the slider and go until it sounds good, and there’s nothing wrong with sounding good.  The problem with that is production is one of the few things that actually compete with the music on a station.  Tuning in to the right frequencies is key.  Music mixing engineers have used this approach for decades.  Understanding that 2-3K in an EQ is where the voice is generally going to lie.

Most engineers call this area the energy.  What they generally do is increase the energy of a song so by the time you get to the end of it, and the song builds up to a climax.  Radio producers very rarely understand this premise.   To gradually increase this frequency from section to section of a promo makes your promo more “exciting”.  More times than none, we feel that the more things from the kitchen sink we can throw in the promo by the time we hit the end the better.  This lends itself to creativity, and that’s fine.  But being a “Pro” duction director is key.  Use things aurally to excite your listener than just shoving more s(*^ up the bull’s a@#!  Understanding your frequencies and notching different elements in your production will make your production glow.  Your music for example could be a huge distraction for producer and listener alike.  However, this doesn’t have to be that difficult.  Sure you can reduce the level of the offensive track, but that’s not going to make things better per se.  If you still want that energy of the bed, but the levels won’t permit;  pull out your graphic EQ and go to work.  It only takes about 30 seconds to make the adjustment.  All you have to do is notch “down” the EQ in the 2.5K range.  Now your “Q” notch may not be extremely sharp but that is where I would start and enlarge it to taste.  Nonetheless, you will find that you can keep your music levels up but the “space” for the vocal has opened up.  Now if you want the music to pump and it has a lot of low frequencies like basses, 808’s and such, 80Hz is going to be what you use.  A small dose of EQ here can make it boom!  One to two db in the 80Hz range can significantly make your production bump.  But don’t get carried away.  You really want to keep your Q notch really tight.  From there you may want to run an hi pass filter to knock off anything below 50Hz so it doesn’t get too boomy.  Now I’m going swing over to the other side of the table, which is the “sweet” area of the EQ.  This is where things get “pretty” so to speak.  We instantly gravitate to the upper end of the EQ because it sounds “cleaner’ or more, let’s say “HI Def.”  But that can be kind of dangerous.  Used correctly with other portions of your EQ used properly, You really don’t have to sweep the Hi’s as much as previously.  The 10-16k range is where the “air” opens up.  The stereo field begins to take shape and the sound becomes pretty.  It’s like sugar in your coffee.  Just enough makes it delicious.  If you add too much, it becomes nasty and you pour it out and start over.  Now keep in mind the processing that’s on your station.   This will have plenty effect of your mixing.  What I would do is to process my master bus to the station.  This would essentially ensure that what I hear is what It will sound like on air.  Alright… Just a tip.  Have fun and happy producing!!!

Actor Edward Norton, along with “Moneyball” director Bennett Miller, has produced a seven-minute video supporting President Obama’s campaign.

Need content for the next few days?  It’s time to concentrate on the “now” aspect of our country and leadership. What action will you take at your station? You don’t have to do a video, but you can put listeners on air and let them express their opinion and join in on the conversation listeners are having right now. You do know the radio station stage belongs to the community.

In the United States, voter registration is the responsibility of the people, and only 70 percent of Americans who are eligible to vote have registered. RegistertoVote.org is a nonpartisan organization committed to reaching the remaining 30 percent. We simplify the voter registration process, making it faster and easier for you to get involved and become an active voice in our democracy.

Black Ministers, Organizations & Elected Official and Blacks in the Media
Get Serious about the Plight of Black People

By State Senator Robert Ford

As Chairman of the Affirmative Action & Civil Rights Committee of the S. C. Legislative Black Caucus since 2004, I have gathered 9,000 plus names on my email list.   This list includes 550 Black ministers and 257 Black elected officials that represent every county in South Carolina.  I also have a database of Black Masonic, fraternal, civic, civil rights related and social organizations for all 46 counties.  On the social media side, I have 4,900 people on Facebook.  The Black news organizations and the media personnel who work for the various outlets which include print of all genre, radio and television. On a weekly basis since 2004, as Chairman and jointly with other members of the committee, we have sent out information to the African American public about issues, problems and concerns that affect the Black community in South Carolina.

When you consider the fact that every media outlet in the state is on my social contact list and the African Americans that work in them have received this information also.  My direct emails, have addressed all types of issues and there is absolutely no way for African Americans in South Carolina not be informed about issues of importance to Black people in this state.

For example, in the past two weeks information was sent out on the newly created governing board of the former S. C. Retirement System now known as the Public Employees Benefits Authority (PEBA).  This was a result of the 11 member board, which as of that date, had no African American representation.  During the floor debate of this House Bill, I made a plea to House and Senate members that it was imperative that there be an equitable representation of African Americans on the board.

To date, one African American was appointed to the PEBA board by Rep. Brian White.  The sister board to PEBA is the Retirement System Investment Commission that handles the investing of all SC Retirement System funds (PEBA), which is in excess of 26 Billion dollars, currently there is no Black representation on that board. Do you believe, not one Black person in the media has called about this important issue after receiving information from me or bothered to seek more information about the issue?  The decisions this board will make affect approximately 550,000 people, it’s estimated that 200,000 plus are African Americans. Not only has there been no inquiry from any Blacks in the media nor has Black media person/outlet said one word about the board composition.  It is sad to say; only two Black Elected Officials who were not a part of the Affirmative Action & Civil Rights Committee have shown any interest.

In the past two weeks, we have started a massive voter education project.  This project is not just to educate Blacks in every county in South Carolina about this election and the power of the vote, but to also prepare Black voters about a possible negative decision from the Three Judge Panel of the United States Justice Department concerning the Voter ID decision for South Carolina.

As it pertains to the 550 Black preachers who receive information, if they would share the information sent to them on a weekly basis, at least 50% of the Blacks in the state would know what is really going on regarding their lives.  Even more so, if our Black media representatives had some get up and go and willingness to really inform and report important issues that concern our lives, this would be a better South Carolina.

If the other organizations that receive our correspondence on a regular basis would share the information and inform others by forwarding and discussing the issues, then two-thirds of South Carolina Black community would also be informed.  The non-sharing of information, unawareness,  being uniformed and nonchalant are the worst kind of ignorance.

I hope you see my point.  We as a people have to get involved with some of these issues or we as a race of people are doomed.

Blacks in the media please get off your haunches and stop being lazy; help those of us who are making an effort to help our people take it to the next level.  The onus is on us, if we don’t help ourselves – nobody else will.

As we move “forward” in our wonderful world of radio, we hear waaaay more dry (or slightly produced) image elements under just right- or elongated intros nowadays! But the question begs…what sounds better – the BIGG BOOMING VOICE GUY under song intros, or the somewhat new “TOP 40 FILTER” that’s popping up on some Urbans? With PPM, does the radio station have to BE IDENTIFIED IN THE BIGG BOOMING WAY WE ALL REMEMBER or does the say, TOP 40 Z100(NYC)-type subtle filter do the trick?   WKYS and Philly’s BEAT are just a few Radio Ones with a mostly “subtle filtered” voice sound, while HOT 97 and KMEL to my ears usually have filters on voice man Eric Edwards on at least some of the elements. Who knows, as TOP 40 has tried to steal their share of hits from Urban, maybe we can steal a tidbit of “forward-motion-imaging” from them! (of course Urbans may want a hipper voice talent, but still filtered)

Here’s a sample of how a few imaging pieces would sound with an “offbeat” Z100 New York filter….comments/questions – partymancommercials@gmail.com

1. Z100 IMAGING

2. Partyman (voice) samples

3. WKYS new imaging piece

Partyman is a freelance writer for Urban Insite discussing production. If you’d like to be a freelance writer for Urban Insite, email us with name and phone number to: webmaster@urbaninsite.com.