On-Air Demos

Its nearly 2am and what am I doing?

Cutting a new demo of course.

Producers, talent and creative writers all need to have samples of their work ready for potential employers at all times. Even if you have a job (and are not looking for another one) having a sample of your best work ready at all times can open doors in your career. With platforms like SoundCloud and social media pages like the new MySpace and Facebook fan pages, you are able to exhibit your work online 24/7.

Here are some important items to have as part of your demo:

1. Remote broadcast cut-in.

This item is often over looked. There is good money in remote broadcasts, if you are not offered an on-air position some stations may offer you the chance to do remote broadcasts. You won't be making full-time money, but it is a step in the right direction and a great way to get your voice (and face) out there.
I suggest listening to your local stations on a Saturday afternoon; try to get the specific station you are applying to and listen to what type of remote broadcast it is. Then, practice writing your own copy points and delivering them. Then hit record.
If you are short on time, grab a newspaper. Car dealerships are very common remote broadcast locations and always have newspaper advertisements for their latest deals. Write your copy points, practice and record.
Keeping a fresh remote cut-in as part of a demo shows many things:
-how you work under pressure
-your copy writing skills
-your voice in a non-studio setting

2. An On-Air Skim
This one is pretty straight forward. Two and a half to three minutes of your best on-air bits etc. from a show. Keep your show skim for your demo down to one show, try to keep it within one hour. The goal of your skim is to show your potential employer/listener what you do and within one hour you should be able to feature things like hot topics, social media pushes, event listings, traffic, sports, news and weather (if you cover these areas). T-ing up songs and sea-gulling is essential too.
I think an increasingly important part of your on-air skim is pushing the use of social media to your listeners. Plug responses if you are getting them, let your potential employers know you are evolving with what is now becoming an essential part of radio.
If you are working at a station with a block format, rotating format or a campus station where you can choose your own format; prepare an on-air demo for each format you work in.
Put your best work first (if possible) it most likely will not take someone the entire skim section of your demo to form an opinion about your voice and style.

3. News Read
I like to write my own news and record it. In my program many radio students do rip-and-reads for on-air news and simply pull stories from the wire. Writing your own news will help you be more familiar with stories and flow, giving you more confidence during your read. It also avoids any chances of copy-right infringement if you ensure you stay away from plagiarism. A full news-read can also showcase your vocal strength and sports and weather skills.  


4. Phoner
Having a phoner in your demo is not essential, but it displays skills that are not part of your other demo elements. It requires you to be quick on your feet, with knowledge of how to use the phone hybrid and your console. It also requires social skills, dealing with listeners. And, of course it proves that someone was listening/cared enough about your show and called in.



5. Commercial and Promo Reads
If you can perform a variety of voices, here is where you showcase them. The number will vary depending on their length, but try to keep it to a minute or a minute and a half of them. If you are like me, most of your voices will sound the same with little variation. DO NOT FORCE A VOICE YOU HAVE NOT MASTERED. Nothing sounds more stupid than starting a read with a Scottish accent and ending it with a German one, if you are not into voice acting than feature your best normal reads with variations in compression.

6. Your Best Interview

 I will always vouch for using YOUR best interview as a host rather than your most prominent or interesting guest. Hopefully you won't have to struggle with trying to pick an interview that is a good showcase of your interviewing skills and an interesting persons story. Always remember, your demo is your best work. If you feature an interview where your guest out-shines you by a mile than there is a problem. Your guest should be the star of the interview, but not outshine you to the point where you come off as dull. Good interviews are a mesh of a host having good researched and informed points to discuss and a guest feeling comfortable, easily telling their story. Some hosts struggle with interviews because it is not about the host, it is about the guest and the listener. A good host will help create a relationship between the guest and the listener, acting as a representative of the audience (more points on interviewing in the 'Interview Tips' blog).

7. A Recent Feature

Try to pick the best feature you have produced recently. This may be a two minute bit or a five minute report. Unlike shows, you may not be producing features regularly so you may have to balance quality with relativity in this part of your demo. If you never have features it is acceptable to leave this part out, but with the emergence of web media you are really doing yourself an injustice if you are not producing a feature, even just for your web fans every once and a while. If it is not part of your normal on-air routine and you cannot mix it in, I suggest taking it to the web. Start a weekly feature report, interview or segment about something you care about that your listeners will identify with. Or, branch out completely and go for an unbridled passion through something like a podcast. Just make sure, if you are promoting it to your stations listeners (not through a personal or separate outlet) that you have your employers permission. I think this is a great way to exhibit production and research skills you may not get to show-off anywhere else!


*8. Any Character Voices and Accents You Have Mastered
DO NOT ADD THIS UNLESS YOU CAN SERIOUSLY PERFORM CHARACTER VOICES CONSISTENTLY  CONSTANTLY. Seriously, if you are just learning or dabbling with them, keep them to yourself until you have mastered them. Practice them, perform them at the supermarket to people who do not know your true voice and once you are able to consistently convince someone of a voice then use it. Until then, save it for one-worders.




*9 Demo On-Air Capabilities In Other Languages 
If you are fluent in another language, make a short demo to exhibit your proficiency. I wouldn't worry about this if I was working at a hard-rock station in Hanna, Alberta. But in cities with diverse populations it may be the swing factor to get you a job over someone else. If you are working in news, regardless of where you are applying I would include it. If you are applying to an ethnic station that utilizes multiple languages regularly than putting something together in every language you speak FLUENTLY is definitely worth your time.

Once You Have Your Demo Put Together:

1. Ensure the quality is top notch in its specs: 44.1, 16 bit, in WAV or MP3 format. Make sure your data contained in the files are descriptive of the work (dates, times, titles). 

Listen to each file again and ask yourself, is this the best representation of my work and myself as a broadcaster? Does this work exhibit the highest quality work I am capable of doing in the industry?

               

2. Upload and label each element to SoundCloud, MySpace, Facebook. Make sure you tag and describe your work accurately and well. Use a thesaurus to help you tag work so that there are more chances people will find it and then let the files start doing some of the work for you. 

3. Promote your main page (or even just SoundCloud) through your email signature, LinkedIn page, business cards and your website.

4. Burn it to a four or five CDs or add it to four or five memory sticks that you do not mind giving away. Keep them with you and ready to give away at any time (in your school bag, car, purse, brief case, luggage). Keeping one in your luggage is a great way to network and get your work out in other markets while you are traveling.

5. Before sending it to potential employers directly, try to determine what they will think of your work. Especially if you are crossing formats. If you are sending your demo from a country format for a potential job at a rock station, are you exhibiting qualities that can be transferred? Send it out to potential employers. You could even write an 'update e-mail' and sent it to former employers and people you network with to ensure they are in the loop with your latest work.