Written by Karen Lane: Head of Programmes, Horizon Radio Spain


When you program a radio station one of the many talking points - always is Jingles, apart from how much the jocks get paid of course and when we're getting more coffee.

So jingles is always on your mind, do ours sound better than the rest, or just the same ? Do we really hit the spot ? Can we do better ? if so how?

Money is often the deciding factor and most radio stations nowadays don't seem to have much. With that in mind, do we want sung jingles or spoken or a mixture? All these questions go through your head.

My own view is to have jingles and or sweepers that are fun, different, powerful and really capture the listeners. Sung jingles are often popular with programmers over 50 ! However the facts are they really do not do much for the audience. Most sung jingles (professional as they are) haven't really changed since in 1955. Younger audiences have heard them, seen them, eaten them etc.

What works best in my experience are jingles or radio sweepers which use sound and voices with clips and sideways selling of the station.

One very important factor is the same jingles being played over and over again (much like the songs). Even the audience gets bored with hearing a brilliant record they love - guess that's why I believe in changing jingles OFTEN. And only with cheaper jingles can you do it, unless you're part of a major network and then it would only be maybe once every 2 years (if you're lucky)!

Your morning man may come into the office and says he really needs a jingle for the new feature he's doing etc. If you want some outside ideas and production 'cos you've not got the studio, money or creative energy, you better think of getting cheap jingles. Cheap doesn't mean rubbish. 

It was on one such occasion (I needed a creative fun jingle) that I contacted CheapJingles.com. We got the jingles done and cheap with excellent results. I love their quality of work with a single jingle at such an amazing price.

So I like a high rotation of jingles just like the songs we play. I can't afford to let the listener get bored. I want cheap cost effective jingles at our disposal. So I was asked to write this article and I'm pleased to pass on my thoughts on cheap jingles v quality. You really can have both. I'm convinced from the reaction of listeners to our different sound that they love them and we keep the station fresh. Would you keep the same top tune on the playlist for 2 years ? Course not !

We also use the jingles for our many roadshows and club events. With CheapJingles.com we can keep the sound peeped up all the time.

Karen Lane
Horizon Radio
English speaking radio in Spain