Liven up our Sunday nights on BBC Radio Bristol Demo adviceHere you can get some tips on how to create a demo tape which will grab the attention of any radio station. Before you start, think...- Who is your audience?
- What is the time slot (1am - 5am Sunday nights)?
- Will your show be more music based than speech based?
- What music you would play that would represent your style? - Introduce tracks you would play but don't use up your time by recording the full tracks, stations are more interested in hearing about you and your personality.
- If your show is more speech based than music based, what topics will you cover in your show?
- Does your show have guests, phone-ins, features?
- Remember it is your show, so the style can be entirely your own
 Be clear in your voice and know exactly what you're going to talk about. Know your audience and make sure you choose music and topics that are appropriate for the audience. It helps if you write down what you're going to say and rehearse it. What I want to hear is a voice that sounds warm and pleasing to the ear, then after that the key thing would be the personality... As long as we have your voice with some sort of clarity that's all we need.  Making yourself stand out is really important. Keep it short and get your message across as fast as you can. You need to grab people in the first few minutes of your demo. Listen to what's out there and work out where you fit in.
For my demo I had to talk for 2 minutes, and because it was for BBC Local Radio, I talked about local issues. I think people want to know you have a passion for the place you come from.
Mark Powlett - BBC local radio presenter
 Hone in on the station's style, music and content. Quality doesn't have to be great but make sure you edit your songs to 10-15 seconds - they don't want to listen to your music, they want to listen to you. Make your demo individual.
Ravi Sagoo - BBC Radio Scotland presenter |
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