By Jon Holiday
It was around this time last year when two of our Classic Rock station clients were both looking for something special to do programming wise during the early part of the Fall ratings period.
One of those stations runs special weekend themes every weekend, while the other runs special weekend programming periodically. It made me think, why not blow the dust of that old Classic Rock staple… Zeptember?!? A month-long programming celebration of all things Led Zeppelin, i.e., twofers, blocks, live cuts, concert specials, etc.
The other thing that dawned on me was that it would be great if we incorporated a British voice in some of the imaging and promos during this programming just to give it a bit of flavor. It was also at this time that I was dabbling with AI audio on a site from one of the one of the major companies behind the ongoing AI boom. I had been looking for a project that might be a good fit to use AI voiceovers. Although I have some British friends, I didn’t want to use up favors.
Just know that my clients were skeptical about using an AI voice on their airwaves. I promised that it was only an experiment and if they hated the results, they didn’t have to use the material and we would have everything voiced by the regular station image voices.
So, off I went to writing scripts and trying out different variants of AI voices. First I tried a female voice knowing that a sultry sounding Brit ala Elizabeth Hurley’s character in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” would catch the attention of the predominately 70% male audience of Classic Rock stations. But I was unable to make that work.
So, I moved onto a male voice, experimenting with dialects and different sounding ages before finding just the right mix. Click to hear a sample of the finished product: https://soundcloud.com/radio-consulting-services/1073-the-drive-led-zeppelin-promo?si=8435581e083a473a81c66efbb1983753&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
There’s no need to fear AI, doesn’t necessarily have to replace jobs performed by humans. Here are some ways that AI can be used as a tool.
For everyday tasks: Use for basic automation like scheduling.
For learning: Use AI to learn in real time about things you see.
For social media: Use AI to improve your social media game.
For making money: Use AI writing tools, coding tools, or AI translation services. You can also become an AI-powered affiliate marketer.
Jon Holiday is a programming consultant.
Republished with the permission of the Small Market Radio Newsletter
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