The Term “Radio Imaging” is outdated
- Featured, Opinion, Radio Imaging
- Audio branding, Opinion, Radio Imaging
- February 2, 2021
Radio Imaging is a bracket term for the role that involves the audio Branding Radio Stations and sets the tone for the feel of the station.
I had started phasing out the term on my website and social channels because it is an insider-term. Do you know anyone outside of Radio who knows the term or would understand your job title and description based on it? No.
Our jobs as audio producers in 2021, differs greatly to the same job 10-15 years ago. We’re not just producing branding for Radio but now TV, Social, Podcasts, Online.
In my current role in SiriusXM, our content lives on satellite, online, podcasting, smart speakers and smartphones. Radio is only part of that big increase in platforms and availability.
While we’re on the topic, here are some of my recent Audio Branding Highlights
I was speaking to a few producer friends recently and one had reached out from London that noticed I had dropped the term and congratulated me. We both feel the term does not describe the skill and can often confuse people.
Some people describe the job as ‘the bits between the music’ or ‘anything on the station that isn’t the DJ, the music or the commercials’ but none of that doesn’t our industry any justice.
It also doesn’t help when there are services on the market who are selling what they call ‘jingles’ when in fact they are nothing of the sort. Just to be clear a jingle is described as ‘ a short slogan, verse, or tune designed to be easily remembered, especially as used in advertising.’
I have started using the terms ‘sound designer’ and ‘audio branding producer’ because I feel that they serve the actual job title and deception well. You could even say ok the equivalent of a ‘graphic designer’ but with sound.
Radio needs to evolve and so do some of the terms.
Radio gets a lot of stick in the music, sound engineering, mastering worlds for being old school and not adopting to break trends.
That also needs to stop.
