The Economy "Killed" the Radio Star?

With a massive downturn in the radio and television industries, there’s going to be a deluge of voices looking for work. A lot of these folks will turn to Voice Acting. If you think that you’re “Radio Sound” will get you work, you might as well try opening a GM dealership in Pakistan. Things have changed while you’ve been busy saying “Here’s a thousand in a row”. Now there’re a million of guys, armed with a “Barbie” microphone, calling themselves “Voice Actors”. You might find you’ll need alittle help.
OK there's probably one so called VO (Voice Over) expert with a course, CD or book to sell for every one that makes a true living from Voice Acting. I place these "teachers" in a group that I'd call Communication Gurus. With that said, they are in a very specialised area of the communication field but IMO still should be considered in the field of "communication". You can see here that NOT ONE is listed on Communication Gurus. What are they waiting for?
If you're looking for a "guru" please be careful. Do your research, talk to people in the business, ask questions. More times than not ...these “gurus” all have the same information that's just change around abit and repackaged...but it's still the same old message. Sometimes you'll even find that some of these so called VO Gurus don't even have their own vo demo. Aim to be yourself. That way you can offer VO agents and possible clients something that’s unique. Put together a demo but watch out there are the sharks that charge an arm and a leg to put together demos for you. If you’d like some FREE help please contact me and I’ll try to answer your questions.
I’m a Voice Actor, Common Sense Advertising Consultant and Stand-Up Comic. Thanks for the read
Bryan Cox

email bigbry@sasktel.net

PS...The 2 things Voice industry really like these days..
1. Female Voices
2. The young “guy next door” non-announcer type of read.

Your Comments are always welcome



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Fox News...BLOW ME !!

I have to say I’m very proud of our troops fighting over in Afghanistan. Over 100 have died for a US cause. We are helping the US and then Fox News come out with a blatant onslaught on our troops. It’s not enough that they have to worry about getting killed by the enemy...now they're being attack by the media in the US. As a a guy who’s got alot of Stand-up comedy experience behind him, I know better than anyone there are certain things you should not say or do in the name of comedy. Like look at a woman heckler and call her the “C” word. That show, The Red Eye has crossed all lines of comedy and good taste by slamming our efforts in the Middle East. I’m sorry Fox News, but you guys really are a bunch of.... “C” words.

Please remember that we, Canada, are the only country in the course of your history that ever KICKED YOUR ASS in a war...REMEMBER, WE WON!!










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CBC Radio..What are you SMOKIN' ?

CBC Radio get off the pot and sell some advertising. This would ensure income for you and your employees.
Spokes people for the CBC have said that they wouldn’t consider selling ads on CBC Radio. They would consider selling off assets, programming cuts and the biggest, they didn’t deny, laying people off.
Lets look at this, selling off assets, a good idea. Programming cuts would lead to... layoffs. Granted the CBC is the biggest employer of “Dead Weight” in the country...not to mention the CRTC. So some lay off should be deemed necessary. Now if you sold advertising that would increase your bottom line and you would’nt have to keep running to the Canadian tax payer for funds or maybe less funds. With an increased bottom line you could keep most of your people employed. Keep that programming, yes the same programming with the lowest ratings in Canada. That should keep the “Friends of Canadian Broadcasting” happy.
So as it stands right now the CBC and The “Friends of Canadian Broadcasting” would rather see people laid off and lives of hard working broadcasters ruined, have programming cut, hand the Canadian Tax Payer a bigger bill from the CBC, than sell a bit of advertising time. WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING!!


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RECESSION PROOF.. ADVERTISING

I voice a ton of commercials written by others and it just kills me to see clients being ripped off. For those of you who write the odd commercial, you’ve got to be rubbing your head these days. Your hearing the same thing from clients, “I’m going to cut back on my advertising”, “It’s not working for me”. I would hazard to guess that you’re writing the wrong type of ads. Ads that worked for your client 1 year ago won’t work in these times.
Folks today are buying with their head and not their heart. You can’t scream Sale, Sale, anymore. Trying to install a sense of “feeling” and talking to the right “intuitive” side of the brain won’t work. In these times buyers have switched to the “Thinking” side of the brain. So you have to give them clarity and direct information. Yes back to common sense and nothing but basic information will work in this economy, “touchy feely” is out.
If you’re a client, look for more bang for the buck. If an agency tells you that it’s going to take them a week to write a spot...you are being ripped off. Give them a deadline. Of course if you keep running back to them with changes, it will take that long. Remember, it’s tempting to put everything you do in one commercial...resist this NOW. Put one idea or thing in one commercial. This will not confuse the listener. In Radio at least and to some extent in Television, if you think you must advertise everything you do, get more than 1 ad done up and run them on a rotating basis. We offer 3 ad’s for the price of 2 and this way your potential customer won’t get bored with hearing or watching the same ad all the time. If you have any questions about this I’d be glad to talk to you further about your next successful ad campaign.
Bryan Cox
bigbry@sasktel.net


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GANGS vs POLITICIANS..a Comic View

Allot say that Gangs are ruling the country, weather it be the US or Canada. Asian, Mexican, Mafia, Black, Motorcycle, what ever. With my tongue planted firmly in my cheek, I’m going to look at gangs for a sec here because here in Canada we have new anti-gang laws going into place. This might fit any where in the World though.
Look up the definition of word “Gang” and you come up with
(1) are generally perceived as a distinct aggregation by others in their neighborhood...translation...a bunch of guys that always hang out together.
(2) recognise themselves as a denotable group (almost invariably with a group name);...translation....a bunch of guys that have a name for their group.
(3) have been involved in a sufficient number of incidents to call forth a consistent negative response from neighbourhood residents and/or law enforcement agencies.....translation...if the people around you and the cops don’t like what your doing...you’re in a gang. Another definition is...A gang is a group of people who through the organisation, formation, and establishment of an assemblage share a common identity....
There is a massive comparison screaming to be made here. The definition of a gang compared to Political parties or politicians.
-Gangs...have a name tattooed on their body or embroidered on the back of there jacket. Political Parties have a name too usually with some sort of symbol.
-Gangs have to vote you in through some sort of initiation. You can join a political Party but to become a politician...you have to go through an election as kind of a initiation.
-Gangs break the law...some politicians and parties break the law too. (Taxes, Bribes etc.)
-Gangs sell bad drugs, Politicians run the health care system and buy and sell good drugs.
-Gangs unfairly extort money from good people, politicians unfairly tax good people.
-Gangs do things and act in a way that most people don’t like, Political Parties and Politicians do things and act in a way that more people don’t like.
-Gangs hold conventions, Political Parties hold conventions
-Gangs gather at a club house, Politicians gather at the Hill.
Well this list could go on forever, but you get the idea. I’m not in favour of gangs, except for the ones that use to beat me up in the school yard...hey you guys are still cool...nudgen nudge, wink, wink!! But as we grow past those gangs we learn to take the punches from a whole new legal gang. Now more than ever we are all relying on the gang we elected to help us and show us a light on the other side of the school yard. I can only hope that you and your family stay and work together through these terrible times. The Gang we elected can’t give us all the answers, some of those have to come from deep down inside you.

PS ... I hope some lawyer doesn't use this in some kind of twisted defence. Please feel free to add any more comparisons that you might think of.
Thanks for the read and comments are always welcome.
Bryan Cox



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Recession "Snowball" Buries Voice Actors?

The spider ate a fly.... and so on and so on. It’s becoming evident that this trickle down effect is being felt in the world of voice overs. Voice actors are starting to feel the pinch of the recession. According the one of my favourite business writers Jim Edwards at BNET, clients are taking much longer to pay the the ad agencies. His article is a real eye opener ...” The news is predictable: In a recession, every company will try to delay payments as long as possible in order to keep the interest earned on the money.
But in the advertising business, delayed payment is an ongoing issue that frustrates agencies, who end up becoming their clients’ banks. Basically, if a client expects an agency to handle large upfront costs and then delays payments, the agency ends up acting as the client’s financier.
The issue becomes thornier because, knowing that every day without payment is a day on which the agency loses its own interest on the missing cash, agencies seek ways to reduce their exposure that aren’t always in the client’s best interest.
The temptation is to manipulate the vendor bidding process in order to go with vendors that are more flexible about waiting for payments from agencies, rather than those that provide the best work.”...MORE. Also check out the article from the WSJ....MORE.
These massive companies get into bed with an ad agency and during a recession neither one leaves a virgin. What the company has to do now is start to advertise smarter, get more for their ad dollars. Look at new media like the internet, pick better times to advertise on TV, change your ads so people don’t get bored with them and shop around for a good fair priced ad agency. You are paying WAY TOO MUCH right now.
As for the ad agency, who by the way are in real trouble too.
“At least 24,502 jobs have been lost recently. That total is based on a Bureau of Labour Statistics report as summarised by Ad Age, updated with more recent individual reports tracked by BNET”......MORE. Just get back to good honest basics.
The voice actor is caught in the middle of this whole mess. The client hires the ad agency, who in turn hires the voice actor to voice the commercial. So the whole house of cards comes tumbling down if the client fails to pay the agency. As a voice actor I’d like to see ad agency clients and ad agencies, start using a grass roots common sense approach to advertising. In a recession you have to advertise more. A couple of reasons for you here, it takes a bit more convincing for folks to get out a spend their hard earned dollars and it gives you a leg up on your competition who cut their ad budgets during a recession. You won’t be history but, people will remember you after the recession is history. Thanks for the read, comments are always welcome and if you need help with your advertising, feel free to contact me.
Bryan Cox-Voice Actor
bigbry@sasktel.net



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Really SCARY Halloween

Well Halloween is almost upon us and the search for the scariest costume starts. This year if you really want to scare folks I would suggest dress up as the past CEO of Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac or Lehman Brothers. People will recognize you right away because of the limo your riding in and the golden parachute strapped to your back. You must also barge up to every door while kicking the little people out of the way. It’s very important to remember that when you arrive at the door and the person scolds you for your abuse of the little ones, you must say “Sorry it wasn’t my fault and by the way I need at least half your candy before I leave...you owe it to me”.
If you really want to have some fun at this time of the year here’s a plan. I always get weird looks when I do this. Here’s what you need...a spray bottle filled with water, a long dirty trench coat and a very crazed shaky appearance. During the busiest time of the day, go to the store. Before you go in spray your face with the water. Now go a get a bag of apples and a package of razor blades. Head up to the check up line, with water slowly dripping down your face, start rolling your eyes, throw in a few shaky jerky movements, then turn to a few folks in line and say something like...” I love Halloween, hope there’s tons of kids this year”.

Have a safe and happy halloween kids and thanks for the read.
Bryan Cox


















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