When you think about performance promotion on the radio, you automatically think of interviews. This is not the only way to promote a performance via the radio!

Simpson, L. (2014) BBC Radio

As part of the marketing team, it is imperative that you conjure up new and creative strategies that are guaranteed to grab your audience’s attention. For our particular piece, we discovered a lot of letters sent from the front line which are not all being used within the performance itself. To me, this seemed like a waste of such good material. So, why not use them as a marketing tool?

I contacted the local radio station and pitched my idea to them and asked for their advice on how best to tackle this project and also asked if they are interested in the idea themselves. I proposed that we read the letters out as a weekly feature leading up to the show. The radio station, Siren FM ,expressed a great deal of interest in this project and brought a lot of new ideas. They offered us the chance to turn the letters into a selection of mini radio dramas, complete with sound effects of the war.

Simpson, L. (2014) Siren FM Studio

Last week, I went along to the studio with a male actor to play the voice of Billy Lounds in the mini dramas. We spent half an hour recording 5 of the individual letters, and then I edited them into individual tracks. I then left them in control of the people at Siren, to add relevant sound effects or music to. They will then be released every few days leading up to the performance, so stay tuned to Siren FM. The latest dates and times are as follows:

May 14th – 1pm

May 15th – 2pm

May 17th – 10am

May 20th – 12pm

May 21st – 7pm

May 22nd – 11am

But for now, here is snapshot of one of the letters…

Let’s hope that it brings in a big audience!

Works Cited:

Simpson, L. (2014)