Networking for radio sales professionals from Grace Broadcast Sales.
Does your station have a creative department?
I'm curious. At my station, the sales team creates their own copy and passes it on to production and traffic. Is this the industry standard, or does your station have a separate creative department that develops copy?
Tags: copy, copywriting, creative, department, radio, sales
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian S. Waggoner on -
And as a corollary, if you don't have a creative department, how much time do you devote to developing copy and creating audio/visual/written presentations to deliver to your clients?
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Permalink Reply by Sherna Thomas on -
Same here in Jamaica, Brian..
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Schwartz on -
Brian, great question!
It reminds me of a poll on a similar topic that we ran a couple of years ago; you might be interested in seeing this discussion thread: How Much Time Do You Spend Creating Spots?
I'll look forward to hearing what RSC members have to say in response to your question, as a lot more members have joined us since we first ran the poll.
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Permalink Reply by Brian S. Waggoner on
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That's exactly the kind of answers I was looking for! Sorry for not reading before posting, but that was terrifically helpful!
Thanks Rebecca!
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Schwartz on
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Glad to hear it, Brian! And no need to apologize, you wouldn't have known we ran that poll 2 years ago. :)
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Permalink Reply by Mike Brunel on -
This seems to be in the US only... in the Southern part of the world Australasia...sales people sell advertsing, creative folk sell copy...
Hope that helps
Mike
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Permalink Reply by Sherna Thomas on
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In Jamaica(Caribbean), at least certainly our capital city Kingston, we do everything..
Sherna
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Permalink Reply by Joel A. Swanson on -
At Dakota Broadcasting, our Sales Team writes all their own copy. I do have a problem with sales people wasting sales time by sitting in front of their keyboard; but found out it is more cost/time efficient than trying to explain the copy points to a copy writer or on-air person who is also tasked with writing copy. I have also found that most sales types are usually more creative than most on-air people and certainly have a better understanding about what the client wants.
I once worked at a station with a single copywriter. She was pretty good, but still had to be told the specific copy points the client wanted in the ad and more than once I had people say that all our ads sounded alike. Duh!
Usually I would break out the day for the on-air people: 4 hour air shift, 2 hours prep time and 2 hours copy/production
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Permalink Reply by Jack Walker on
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We write the copy here for a couple of reasons. One, as account reps we know more about the client's business than anyone else at the station. Two, as account reps we care more about keeping the client's business than anyone else at the station. Three, an overworked copywriter simply has to crank out product, most of which turns out to be uninspiring.
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Permalink Reply by Ken Karns on -
At ALL the stations I have worked for as an announcer,we had a copywriter.Most airshifts at least at the 18 stations I worked with in the past,announcers pulled a 5 or 6 hour airshift 6 days a week.After doing our airshift,we would do whatever production that was in our in box. The sales team would work with production.because the sales person would have more time to work with production rather then the announcers who were ready to leave after their shift was over.
If you've never sat behind the board,it's a very busy and trying 5 or 6 hours keeping ahead of whats on air.
BELIEVE ME...you are worn out after your airshift.Now a days with computers,I assume things are easier on the
DJs My internet station requires alot of attention even though Auto DJ is playing the songs online.You have production,
uploading new songs (Usually after midnight) when listenership is down meaning late hours of work.
So, we always had copywriters at the stations I worked at. www.ncirradio.com Give us a listen
Ken Karns
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Permalink Reply by Diana wWilson on
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We're a small rural station and that's the way we do it. In fact our sales staff insists on it because they feel they know what their customer wants and have found that to take the time to write the info about the commercial for a copy writer takes as much time as writing the ad in some cases. But their are occasions we all brainstorm ideas for customers.
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Permalink Reply by Brian S. Waggoner on
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Thanks to everyone for the comments. You have all been insanely helpful!
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