Commercial Radio - An A to Z of jobs

"Are you on-air or just behind the scenes?", people ask when they discover you're in radio. When you mumble "behind the scenes'" the conversation then usually reverts from Moyles to Moyes. 

It doesn't sound very interesting, this 'behind the scenes' business, does it? That's why, when the bespectacled Tom Williams from the Student Radio Association Tweeted that I'd be talking at this year's conference about 'jobs behind the scenes in commercial radio', I rather feared no-one would turn up to my humble break-out. How great though to see so many tall Generation Z Digital Natives just buzzing with energy about this hundred year old thing called radio.

I guess the real topic was the spread of vacancies for which we've often sought to recruit great candidates - and sometimes failed. And the importance of commercial awareness in them all. 

Yes, there are presenter opportunities. If you're going to be better than the rest at that, I'd be the first to say 'stick at it'. Britain needs you. But if you're likely only to be average at best, you'll be competing against hundreds of others for very few opportunities.  You'll need luck to get through the door; and even then, the path ahead may not be smooth.  Decent presenters can often be out of work.  And, rather like the confident singers poised in the rain at X-factor auditions, many people who think they are gifted really are not. 

And then there are the other opportunities.  Many, many of them. Exciting jobs in a truly brilliant industry. Creative opportunities, seizing the spirit and energy of this great, great medium.  They're not 'behind the scenes'. Your work will be seen and heard by thousands. If you apply yourself to winning one of these gigs, your chances of success are great.  And, unless you are a truly gifted presenter, they can earn you more money and afford you more security too. 

C. Creative copy-writers. Every commercial station has ads. Great ads are crucial to clients renewing deals; and important to listeners, given they account for up to 25% of the output. Can you write to a brief to sell a product in a memorable, pithy way? That's one job. And bringing those scripts to life through directing the voice-over and mixing the sound elements, that's another.

D. Design. Great radio brands look awesome. Radio stations now have an ever-growing range of areas where visual identity is crucial. There are a multitude of projects for hard visual material and online content. Talented graphic designers with their jeans hanging low (thinking of no-one in particular) are kept very busy. Similarly, although few stations will have full time photographers, there's always a call for someone on site to have that gift (the great dog shot below by our Kirsty Whitaker). If you've got that skill alongside another, make sure it's known. 

I. Imagers.  Listen to the fine production you hear on a great radio station.  Its audio identity, helping to sell the benefits of listening to that station. Sounds and words which influence how you feel about the brand. That's Imaging. If you're a gifted creative writer and you can bring your ideas to audio reality with a brilliant ear for sound, jobs in Imaging are for you. If the power of your scripts is above average, you'll quickly set yourself apart. Even some imagers struggle with the power of the word.

J. Journalists. Think newsrooms are overflowing with people? Think again. If you've the right instinct, training, knowledge and intelligence, together with the ability to 'tell' the news in a voice which does not sound whiney, you can likely walk into a gig. Commercial radio newsrooms are fluid places, with many great candidates moving quickly from commercial radio to Sky or the BBC. Sad to see them go, but understandable that many will wish to move gently to new homes where speech forms a greater proportion of the output. They've now made room for you, if you're up for the challenge.

M. Marketing. In competitive markets, stations do crazy stuff to get noticed. The marketing teams are involved in getting the brand out there. From devising and booking TV campaigns on the largest brands; to organising an appearance or visibility in a local shopping centre. From delivering a breakfast show stunt to organising a Christmas lights switch-on. From getting car stickers in garages to arranging smiling weekend activity in a car dealer. Can you devise concepts? Or simply bloody good at making sure things happen through impeccable event management. As the radio and entertainment landscape grows ever more competitive, Marketing staff are key. 

P. Producers.  Like football coaches, many great producers might have done a bit on-air, but are better at helping others do their best work. To the on-air talent, they are variously a friend, a boss, and a creative genius.  They need to understand the art and science of contemporary breakfast radio and be able to create memorable  moments - daily. They understand story-telling. Producers understand the competitors as they understand their own brand; and live and breathe their markets. They're frighteningly well-organised and hard workers too, with their mind on the job whether 'at work' or not.  And they have turned persuading and influencing into an art-form.  Does that sound like you?

R. Research. I know which TV shows my audience love most; and my commercial teams know what proportion of our listeners are likely to be buying a car soon. Our programming teams know what Gem 106 and Free Radio listeners are listening to when they're not listening to us. If you love facts and figures, radio's a great place to use that passion in a creative environment. 

S. Sales executive. It's not about flogging spots. It's about absorbing a client's marketing objectives and understanding how you can best support them effectively through radio. Great sales execs become a trusted 'consultant'  for the client, and you'll be influencing marketing strategy beyond radio. And earning a healthy slice of the spend. Check the RAB site and get your head around the art and science of how radio persuades like no other medium, it's fascinating stuff. Few good sales execs are out of work.

S & P. Sponsorship & Promotions executive/implementer/commercial programmer.  This is where programming and commercial meet in harmony.  Memorable concepts are devised to the advantage of both the client brand and the station.  Here's a quick example: YourVets were one of our clients.  Did we mount a dull competition to win dog food? No. We delivered the 'doggy wedding', which was exactly as you'd imagine. Fancy getting involved in that stuff? Great with ideas? Good with operational detail? Good with relationships? Can you stand up in front of a client and bring an idea to life? Yes? This job's for you.  

S. Social Media/online is growing daily. Operating a radio brand's social presence, combined with the station's website, is tantamount to running another radio station. A 'live' breathing thing which demands the immediacy and attitude of the brand to which it relates. Can you write with

the right tone of voice? It's a rare skill. Do you get what goes viral and what does not? Can you use social media to promulgate the station brand? You should be demonstrating your prowess already in the tone of your own personal social media before you put your hand up for these gigs. 

T. Traffic/Scheduling There's a reason why the next ad you hear will be in the place it is. Someone had to juggle them round, and it's a complex task. Who are they targeting? When? What else is in the break?  Are we delivering against the order? A quart into a pint pot.  Balancing things which do not balance. The 'air traffic control for radio'. Maybe one for you.

T. Technical. From building flashy new studios to mounting OBs from silly places.  From repairing a fizzing mixing desk from Coke damage to transmission technology or true innovation, it's a job for a broadcast engineer. And if you can both mend things - and explain patiently what you're doing to those who don't understand what on earth you are talking about - all the better. A good ear for mixing is often crucial too, and if the station to which you're applying attaches importance to live music, you'll need to excel at it. It's creative technology: imagineering. IT can be a distinct division: IT people who tolerate the creative talent round them, understand the immediacy of this 24 hour medium, and love to enable rather than prevent are always in demand.  Similarly developers to do the hard work on building and re-building the websites and connecting play-out systems to the outside world. When no-one steps forward for gigs like that, I step back and wonder what UK plc is educating people to do.

V. Video. Yes, I know it's radio, but never before have we needed quite so much video - of an increasingly high quality. For websites and for social media; from filming crazy breakfast antics to  producing a neat little video for a commercial client. If you're up to it, stations need you.

Plus, remember the sensible jobs. Every business needs utterly dedicated accounts staff, cash collection, administrators, HR staff and the like.  And, when you're doing one of those crucial jobs, but within a radio environment, it's got to be more fun than in a widget factory.  Yes, you can both be in radio, and keep your parents happy. 

By the time I get back to base today, I'll have some more presenter auditions in my inbox and a flurry of poorly-written and vague work experience requests.  I'll likely hear from no-one with genuine proven interest in many of the above.  And nor will fellow department heads.  

Give the 'other jobs' some thought. You could find your skill set makes you just brilliant at one of them, You'll likely get through the door sooner, and if you're good, that full time job offer will swiftly follow. On smaller stations, a number of the above skills are useful armoury; and increasingly, agile, fresh minds mean that new posts are being created which absorb some of the above -  and new skills.  

And if you do have any real on-air performing talent after all, you'll be in the right place.  

Grab my book 'How to Make Great Radio'. Published by Biteback. 

Pointless rules

In that ‘gritty’ episode of Coronation Street, when the Rovers Return burnt down, there was a lovely ‘P’ on the credits; suggesting a healthy dash of ‘product placement’. 

Given the symbol was shown nowhere near the moment when the ‘placement’ happened, I’m still blissfully unaware what the commercial message was. Putting to one side the fact that the  mystery advertiser’s money would have been clearly better spent on radio, it does illustrate the folly of this ‘P’. Most viewers either don’t notice it; or don’t understand what it means. And, frankly, aren’t much bothered.  In OFCOM research*, over half of viewers appeared not to know Placement exists, let alone how it appears. Did C & A pay for Deirdre's lovely Crimplene frock? Who can tell.

There is a regulatory desire in the UK to separate ‘commercial communications’ from any other sort.  It’s a pointless pursuit, and one which stems from a heady mix of beautiful English conservatism and, to some extent, European regulations.  Regulators rarely move radically, they adjust things incrementally. In radio, it’s taken thirty years to get from the IBA’s menacing intervention to a regime of radio rules which are much more sensible, thanks in no small way to some thoroughly pragmatic folk at OFCOM.

In truth, the distinction between commercial and other communications can never be clear, as long as PR companies place stories, TV companies invent stories about themselves to grow their business, and most sporting events are riddled with advertising hoardings. Just about everything we see and do now has a commercial connection for which someone is paying a bill, and someone is benefiting.

If a Tweet is an 'ad', they’re supposed to say it has been paid for, but if a company influences some viral social content, then it’s fine. Maybe it’s time to give up and let most sensible people make up their own minds about whether there has been a commercial influence or not.

In radio, we're obliged to credit clients who’ve paid us with a pithy phrase like ‘our friends at’.  It’s a neat way round, and I thank OFCOM for the recent freedoms, but I’m not awfully sure that this ‘friends’ business shouts ‘we’ve been paid’ to any listener.  And the fact that we still have to ‘separate’ ads from, well, presenters talking about the ads is a bit crazy, really.  It’s all fine, and the regulations are, thankfully, sensibly implemented, but I’m not awfully sure they do anyone any good.

Then there’s the small print.  Those crazy disclaimers on credit ads. If listeners could press a  magic button on their radio and sign up instantly for a credit agreement, I’d understand the caution, but given there's a mountain of paperwork before any credit agreement is entered into, there’s ample opportunity for the detail to be considered. The obligation to carry this is a nonsense; and it makes things less clear not more clear. Not least when the material is delivered as quickly as if the VO is trying to get away to the pub.  Those who draft regulations should maybe pause to understand how radio works; and the depth of listeners' recall. 

Let's be honest, do the words 'terms and conditions apply' serve any useful purpose?  Do they really protect the listener; or merely the advertiser?  And if we are going to warn listeners of every possible implication of any product or service, should we not add 'kids may misbehave' on the fostering ads?

There was a time when the use of premium phone lines did indeed warrant tighter regulation.  Some stations were acting thoroughly improperly.  When I arrived at my grey, dusty desk at the Radio Authority in the early '90s, there was no rule in the Programme Code which required fairness in competitions. I drafted one, and I’m pleased that my legacy wording remains, about competitions being ‘conducted fairly to rules which are appropriately made known’, in the extant OFCOM code.

In those days though, the costs of calls ‘under 50 pence’ did not need declaring. Now, any possible incremental charge needs declaring.  Even a 25 pence charge for general texting requires a disclaimer every so often, to a formula best understood by Phonepay Plus. And don’t you just love the BBC announcements about landline numbers which might be free, or might not be. It’s all gone too far. I'm surprised our holiday advertisers don't have to declare that your holiday might cost you more if you live further from the airport.

I think listeners understand that when you pick up a phone, there might be a small charge. If it’s an appreciable one, then, yes, we should say something about it. The rules can be as simple as that.  

In bygone days, we never announced the price of a stamp for a write-in comp, or the price of a landline call when they were, actually, formidably expensive. Now, everyone e-mails rather than sends letters; and phone calls are proportionately much cheaper, yet we have this rampant catalogue of disclaimers.

I have a theory that every time there is a new regulation, the extra protection diminishes the original protection, which means that consumers see and hear less, not more.  Witness the 27,000 words in the i-Tunes terms and conditions.  The more rules and protective 'noise' there is, the more innocently we sign up to what we’d rather not.

*UK audience attitudes to the broadcast media, OFCOM. August 2012.

Is there anyone any good out there?

I can recite a few tales of stunning individuals who arrive in our clan, with the old blood surging through their veins.  They give their all: their own time and expense in pursuit of a long-term career they were born to achieve.  They never question whether they are to be paid, or how much.  They give everything they have; and, hopefully, those who take them in through their doors honourably make sure they are not out-of-pocket.  Such people are bright, bright-eyed and identifiable within seconds.  They want to help.  They give before they ask to receive; and by that time, you’re already keen to lend a hand before they even have to ask – because you are desperate they should stay with your company for the rest of their lives.  They watch, they listen; and they soak up what they need to know effortlessly.  Because they are interested. To see their enthusiasm make me dewy-eyed. 

But am I alone in despairing, largely, of a generation? 

There are others  who write in to us, not really knowing my name.  They suggest they want a career in media, but are not entirely sure.  They talk of what their long-term aspirations are, forgetting that we all have rather a lot on our minds.  Some even forget who they’ve written to, and mention other radio stations in error along the way. They have ideas of their own talents way beyond their abilities; and demand we spend our time offering feedback.  I wish I had the courage of Cowell, and felt I could simply fire back an automated email suggesting that they’ll never make it – and they should really focus their energies on something else. Like singing, radio attracts so many who are convinced they can do it, but really cannot.  Great performers make it sound easy.
  

I recall one person we once took on for work experience who turned up at 1030 a.m.  When I gently suggested we turn up a little earlier , she explained she’d been out late so had only just got up.   I recall another journalist applicant who found it tough to suggest what key industry might exist in rural Lincolnshire, even when I asked her what she saw when she stared out the train window.

Syndicated emails sometimes plop into my Outlook from students asking me, effectively, to write their media exam answers for them.  I write back and ask them to formulate some genuine questions.  I rarely hear back.  And there are the eager mothers writing on behalf of their surly 17 year olds, asking for help in securing work experience or employment.  If I were a parent, I fear I’d stick my nose in and be just the same, but actually, the people we really want are the 17 year olds who have the initiative to get off their own backsides and quietly make their own overtures to us.

There are some great radio courses, run by people I respect deeply.  They are probably as frustrated as I am by the others in their field who appear out of touch.  Courses which specialise in talk radio, without a hint of education about the science of music radio, despite the fact that all but a handful of station amongst the UK’s many hundreds play, at least, some songs.  Instead, there are hours spent on coaching students how to build three-minute features on mice in windmills.  Even Radio 4 chooses only to play a ‘package’ on The Today Programme, when the line goes down and they get desperate.  Where is the coaching on how radio communicates; and how do you cajole a reluctant caller to going on-air and creating a truly astonishing piece of radio? Where is the coaching on language? Where is the coaching on business?  Are aspiring radio journalists coached sufficiently on how they sound? Do they step back to consider how much of their bulletin has been received – and remembered - by their audiences?  Judging by the robotic delivery we too frequently observe, maybe not.

I fear I may get political when I amplify my concerns that the UK spends billions on education, yet do we get a flood of quality applications when we advertise a job? Whether it be news, imaging, copy-writing/creative, social media, sales, manager, or software developer.  No.  Whilst we are often highly delighted with our eventual recruit who defies the trend, we do not always get the range of applicants we  expect  for such a truly great industry.  Why is it too that frighteningly intelligent people arrive, seemingly lacking the ability to write English to a decent standard.  I lacked the benefit of a university education, but whatever the nature of the Degree, should we not expect a vaguely acceptable standard of writing from one of the UK’s many graduates?  Not least because, increasingly and maybe perversely, radio demands that, with its ancillary online and social media channels.

The range of jobs in radio is often misunderstood.  Beyond ‘being a jock’ or ‘working in the newsroom’, the wealth of opportunity is ignored.  Which radio station would not bend over backwards to a bright personable, hard-working, persuasive individual, interested in radio, saying ‘I’d like a career in radio sales’?  Maybe it’s that old British thing which looks down on ‘sales’ as some dirty job.  That’s why this country invents great things and never quite extracts their value. ‘Sales’ is a dirty word at a dinner party.  We’ve all met bad salespeople in our general lives in all fields - and we’ve met truly great ones.  Is it just not 'British' to aspire to be UK radio’s best sales person?  Combine, also, sales with programming: devising and selling great promotions and sponsorship is a wonderful job; but where are the applicants in our email boxes for those positions from people with a self-evident flair? What of creative writers to write great persuasive and award-winning radio ads?  Where are they educating the next generation to tackle such skills?

Because we are such a fascinating, enjoyable industry, at least some applicants defy the above and shine through.  I wonder if that’s true of other industries.

Check my site at www.davidlloydradio.com