The trend in aircheck demos for on air personalities over the past few years has been to get them down to two minutes, start with the strongest audio and use the rest of the time to showcase the air talent’s range. We’ve moved to this because we realize how limited a hiring manager’s time is when they’ve got hundreds of airchecks and resumes to comb through. A decision maker at a potential new advertiser is in a similar situation, being hit up on multiple new fronts by ad categories that didn’t even exist a few years ago. 

So, stations should follow the lead of on-air personalities and shorten their station demos to around two minutes. Many of the station demos I’ve heard stretch to four minutes or longer, include entire breaks by each DJ, multiple full imaging pieces and tons of longer song clips. But, do we really want a potential new client’s first impression of our station to be how boring our long station demo was? The audio demo is simply there to intrigue them, give them a basic idea what we do and leave them wanting to know more about the station. It’s a book synopsis not a first chapter. 

Also, just like aircheck demos, station demos should start with that particular station’s biggest strength. If the station has the best on-air staff in town, put that at the top. If station events, contests or online and social engagement is what sets that station apart, then mention one of those early in the demo. Of course, the biggest draw on most music-based stations is the music but, if that’s what we’re going to showcase first, we should make sure that we highlight a clear point of difference between our music and our format competitor’s music. 

Ideally the demo would include the highlights of on-air segments from each full-time air talent specific to that station, clips of imaging that tells the story and sells the attitude of the station and music hooks from core songs within the format. 

I would also suggest writing something specific for the station voice to supplement any existing imaging clips that might be used in the demo. Using that verbiage to create the narrative of why someone should advertise with that specific station. If it makes more sense, the station’s most notable air personality could be used instead. 

Once station audio demos are produced we can turn them into video demos using high res pictures, video footage of air talent and events, if available, and music videos in place of song audio clips. Pairing that with a few of the notable graphics from the station’s media kit will produce a compelling station video demo and give sales reps something simple to email potential advertisers. 

If you need help producing station audio or video demos we can help, email us at andy@radiostationconsultant.com. 

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