Top News, March 2008

From the March 2008 Edition of Top News from Top Format.

You must have been wondering: isn’t there any news about the jingle market for 2008? Yes, that’s what we thought. So here it is, the latest news along with all the latest jingle packages. We are pleased to announce that we had several awesome months with our friends and clients in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Lebanon, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands.

Some highlights: along with our clients, we succeeded in delivering no less than 1 custom-made jingle package every week in November and December 2007. In addition to all the custom packages we are proud to present our other syndicated and custom-made projects, such as:

• custom Hot AC jingles (pop, rock and rhythmic) for VLR in Denmark
• a remarkable relationship between 2 of our clients in Spain and the Netherlands
• custom CHR jingles (pop, rock) for Radio Nova in Finland
• custom CHR jingles (pop) for Pure Pop Radio in the Netherlands
• custom News imaging for Kossuth (a subsidiary station of the Hungarian State Radio)
• custom CHR jingles (pop and rhythmic) for Radio Decibel in the Netherlands
• custom AC jingles (pop and rock) for Antenne Steiermark in Austria
• CHR jingles for Radio Veronica’s Morning Show in the Netherlands

And in addition to all this we bring you the jingles for Hitradio Antenne (DE), Feel Good Radio (NL), Main FM (DE), Radio 2 (BE), Radio One Lebanon, Radio West (NL) and many more.

For more information or if you have any questions, please contact us!

Kind regards,
Dave Albers
TOP FORMAT PRODUCTIONS

Listen to all the audio…

Hitradio Antenne (DE)

Type: Custom jingle package – 10 ready-to-air cuts
Format: AC

Hitradio Antenne broadcasts from the city of Hannover for the Niedersachsen area in Germany. The daily schedule of this private radio station starts off with the popular morning show ‘Lennert & Co’ and proceeds with a highly-appreciated format that brings Niedersachsen all of today’s Greatest Hits. Along with Hitradio Antenne’s sound production team, we composed a brand-new AC package, based on the music and programming of the station.

Radio Decibel (NL)

Type: Custom jingle package – 20 ready-to-air cuts
Format: CHR

Radio Decibel, a legendary name on the Dutch radio landscape, has returned. This radio station was established in 1977, in the Dutch capitol, Amsterdam. Its founders introduced a unique broadcasting format, with imported dance and new wave songs. This, and its young and instantly popular DJs, made Radio Decibel into a true legend. Radio Decibel now broadcasts with a full commercial and legal license, and promises to have a bright future. Top Format’s consultancy and creative departments teamed up with Radio Decibel to create their own custom jingles.

Details:
• 15 CHR jingles in full length, medium length and shotgun mixouts.
• 1 CHR News & Service package with news, headlines, weather, traffic and commercial sounders.

Radio Nova (FI)

Type: Custom jingle package – 16 ready-to-air cuts
Format: Pop / Rock CHR

Visit Finland! A country with unspoilt nature, beautiful landscapes and… Radio Nova on every RDS radio display. It is no accident that Radio Nova has been the highest-rated station in Finland for years. The station is well aware that its listeners are very loyal and rewards them for it – with one of the biggest annual events in the Finnish capitol Helsinki, for example: a huge concert by the sea, with many live acts, for more than 50,000 Radio Nova listeners! Radio Nova and Top Format had already teamed up in 2005 to revamp the complete audio imaging. In order to update the very musical pop and rock jingles to today’s music we naturally took the re-branding to the next level. The station and our team exchanged ideas and strategies for the basics of the follow-up jingle package. The new Radio Nova jingles first aired in January 2008. The revamp included a complete transformation of the news and service reports, which made a remarkable statement on the Finnish market.

So visit Finland – or you can just stay right here and click on the link to listen to the Radio Nova 2008 package, featuring live drums, live guitars and our beloved Finnish Radio Nova vocal group.

Details:
• 10 CHR Pop / Rock jingles in full length, light and medium length mixouts.
• 1 CHR News & Service package with news, headlines, bill boarding, weather, traffic and commercial sounders.

Antenne Steiermark (AU)

Type: Custom jingle package – ready-to-air cuts
Format: Hot AC

Antenne Steiermark has been the market leader and role model for private radio stations in Austria for the past 13 years. Last year, 198,000 listeners tuned into Antenne Steiermark every day. Antenne Steiermark decided to revamp their format while adding 500 new songs to the existing play lists, ranging from the latest Deutschpop to international top hits by such bands and singers like The Sugababes, Maroon 5 and James Blunt. Additionally, the morning show “Der gute Morgen mit Moser und Co” was completely transformed, and Antenne Steiermark introduced the “Antenne Chartshow”.

Our creative team was given the challenge of creating a full custom jingle package for the news and service programmes, based on the station’s identity and in keeping with the songs and talk shows they air. The launch of the ‘new’ station is scheduled for February 2008.

Details:
• 15 jingles in full, medium and shotgun mixes.

VLR (DK)

Type: Custom jingle package – 12 ready-to-air cuts
Format: Hot AC

The 3-letter station VLR makes quite an impact. It has been broadcasting with great success in the Danish region of Vejle for many years now. VLR is known in Denmark for their music mix, popular rush-hour shows and the fact that they are always a little naughty. We are very proud to say that VLR gave us quite a challenge last year. After all, how often do you get the chance to build something completely new and refreshing for a strong Hot AC format? VLR and Top Format teamed up to figure out how to renew and complete the jingles so as to fit in with the songs of the station. How they might work with the morning show, the feel-good, innovative attitude of VLR, and how to get Claus and the Negro (the popular afternoon show) to turn off their microphones in time after singing along to VLR’s new audio logo. The new VLR audio image was completed with a powerful, positive and musical logo: “V-L-R” is (or can be) sung to each of the jingles. Moreover, this jingle package can easily be updated at any time with the Top Format update service. The new VLR jingles were launched on 1 December 2007.

Details:
• 12 Hot AC cuts in full length, medium length, Holidays and shotgun mixouts.
• 1 CHR News & Service package with news, weather, traffic and commercial sounders.

Kossuth (HU)

Type: Customized jingle package – 20 ready to air cuts
Format: News

The most important news channel in Hungary, a subsidiary service of the Hungarian State Radio, has been totally revamped. A difficult task, in which we cooperated with the station’s consultants to build a new identity for the well-established and respected radio station Kossuth. Kossuth is a round-the-clock information channel. It broadcasts a talk radio format with 80% information and 20% music. In addition to discussion of the news headlines, the station realises diversity with programmes about theatre, documentaries and literature. Kossuth is Hungary’s most popular radio station. We at Top Format were proud to present them with the success formula which we previously created to establish the identity of BNR News Radio in the Netherlands. This appealed to Kossuth so much that they asked Top Format to use the BNR cuts to create a new, powerful audio logo for Kossuth.

Details:
• 20 News cuts in full length, medium length versions and bumper mixouts.

Bridge FM (UK)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: AC

The absolute key to the success of 106.3 Bridge FM is the fact that they are a local station, with broadcasts by South Wales for South Wales, in the UK. The Bridge FM programming focuses on the 25-54 age group lifestyle. The station truly represents Life in South Wales, and reflects the enjoyment and positive aspects of living in Bridgend, Porthcawl, Cowbridge and Maesteg. The jingles for Bridge FM are completely based on the Bright FM custom package.

Want to hear all the jingles? Contact us now!

Pure Pop Radio (NL)

Type: Custom jingle package – 10 ready-to-air cuts
Format: Pop / Hot AC

Pure Pop Radio is the latest Dutch radio station. It can be found at the popular online radio platform RadioDigitaal, owned by Talpa. Pure Pop Radio is pure, real and the only choice for listeners who like real pure pop songs. A unique station in the Dutch radio market, with music by modern singer-songwriters and unique acoustic versions of the greatest hits. Pure Pop Radio features songs by James Morrison, Jack Johnson, Coldplay, Sheryl Crow, Joss Stone, Colbie Caillat, Crowded House, Tracey Chapman, John Legend, Alanis Morissete, John Mayer and many others. In true singer-songwriter style, our team focused on the musicality of the jingles. Pure Pop Radio ordered a custom-made jingle package, to make sure their jingles would blend perfectly with the richness of a pure pop tracks. It will come as no surprise that we worked with the best musicians and used only live instruments to make these jingles.

Details:
• 10 full length mixouts.

Want to hear all the jingles? Contact us now!

Radio Veronica Morning Show (NL)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: CHR / Morning Show

Radio Veronica plays the best 80s and 90s hits. The morning show “Kicken wakes up” is hosted by Patrick Kicken and his sidekick Jan Paparazzi. The programme starts very early – at five in the morning – to help their listeners get through the busy Dutch rush-hour traffic with a smile. We teamed up with Patrick and Jan to create new jingles to complement the feel-good-morning vibe of their show.

Want to hear all the jingles? Contact us now!

Radio Marina (ES)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: Hot AC

Not only do we produce the best feel-good jingles, we sometimes even bring our clients together! This is the story: our client Radio Marina is based in the Spanish seaside resort Blanes. Radio Marina broadcasts the sunny side of life, with contemporary feel-good songs. The re-branding of Radio Marina required us to work with sunny, feel-good station imaging. Another challenging task for the specialized vocal casting department of Top Format, as listeners of Radio Marina speak Catalan! Radio Marina decided to work with us and base their imaging on the Omrop Fryslan jingle package. Coincidentally, this station, like Radio Marina, broadcasts in a regional language: Frisian. Omrop Fryslan interviewed Radio Marina to bring their listeners this remarkable jingle story.

Radio West (NL)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: AC

Radio West decided to re-position their entire format and programming, and to aim at a different target group. These changes were implemented as of 7 January 2008. The station now features more accessible regional news and interaction with listeners in the over-40 age group, and the weekday shows have all been revamped. Moreover, Radio West hired Dutch radio and television personality Dieuwertje Blok to host a new morning show. Top Format created the station’s new image, based on the famous AC series ‘Coast’. The package contains programme cuts, personality and general station identity jingles, news and service cuts. A special station song was written and produced to help introduce the new Radio West sound.

Want to hear all the jingles? Contact us now !

Radio Hampshire (UK)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: Hot AC

Radio Hampshire in the United Kingdom, which went on the air last year, promotes itself as ‘the sound of the South’.
The station offers a Southampton-centred service of local news, opinions, information and entertainment along with mainstream hits from the last four decades. Radio Hampshire selected their Top Format jingles from the 4FM series.

Want to hear all the jingles? Contact us now !

Main FM (DE)

Type: Custom news & service package
Format: Hot AC

The station Main FM in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, broadcasts a recognizable Hot AC format. Main FM combines a slight touch of the 60s and 70s with the very best of the 80s, 90s and today – songs by bands like Snow Patrol and Coldplay. The Main FM jingles for the morning show ‘Das Main FM Frühstuckradio’ and their traffic and weather information needed to be upgraded. Along with Main FM’s creative producer, our team created a brand-new general Top Of The Hour, completed into a special mix with a morning show touch. There are four version of the main weather theme, namely spring, summer, autumn and Holidays. The traffic report theme comes in a heavier and a lighter variety.

Want to hear all the jingles? Contact us now !

Radio Carmarthenshire (UK)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: AC

Radio Carmarthenshire is the local radio station for Carmarthenshire in the United Kingdom. The station broadcasts on 97.1 FM from the mighty Carmel radio tower and on 97.5 FM in Carmarthen town. The programming focuses on the lifestyle of the people in the county and reflects the joys and positive aspects of living in the area. Scarlet FM reaches over 100,000 adults and is the most popular radio service in the county. The famous custom-made Radio 2 package was used for the new jingle package – with new vocals.

Want to hear all the jingles ? Contact us now !

Radio 5 (NL)

Type: Christmas package
Format: AC

Radio 5 is a Dutch public broadcaster with programmes and an accessible music mix for the over-55 age bracket. The station now has a market share of 2.5% and a stable position in the Top-10 (November 2007) of Dutch ratings. With the holidays coming up, Radio 5 ordered Top Format to make them some brand-new Christmas jingles. In addition to 9 full jingles, songwriter Han Kooreneef composed an entire Christmas station song. This song and all the jingles were sung by the Radio 5 vocal group, who make the spirit of Christmas come alive.

Want to know when it comes time to order your Christmas, Spring, Summer or Autumn jingles ? Contact us now !

Radio 2 (BE)

Type: Theme Week package
Format: Gold, 60s and 70s hits

The national public broadcaster VRT Radio 2 in Belgium provides its audience with warmth, cheerfulness and a friendly sympathetic format. The station always manages to stay close to its audience. Towards the end of 2007, the station continued its tradition of hosting the charts ‘1000 Classics’. This show, which featured the all-time favourite songs of the Radio 2 listeners, was hosted by Guy de Pré, Herbert Verhaege and Dieter Vandepitte. Musical highlights: no less than 26 Abba songs, and another 24 by the Flemish pop group Clouseau. And, of course, our jingles! We got native Belgian singers to voice the Capitol Gold package, based on Top Format partner Music 4 in the United Kingdom.

Feel Good Radio (NL)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: Hot AC

We all want it. We all need it. And this new Top Format client helps us do it, 24 hours a day. To Feel Good. Considering their crystal clear promise, these guys didn’t exactly struggle to find the right name for their radio station: Feel Good Radio it is. The format combines happy and uplifting music with news headlines, and can be found at www.feelgoodradio.nl. And just as Barry White recommended: you need to practice what you preach. So we felt very good producing these jingles together with the smiling faces at Feel Good Radio.

• Click here to listen to a selection of Feel Good Radio

Radio One Lebanon (LB)

Type: Complete jingle package
Format: Pop / Hot AC

Radio One was one of the first stations to be established in Lebanon. Since its start in 1983, with a programming of mainly English music, Radio One has provided the very best radio entertainment in Lebanon. The station also broadcasts on the Internet, and its website is one of the most popular ones in Lebanon and the Middle East with more than 5,000 hits a day. Their great commitment to quality and determination to meet the listeners’ needs have made Radio One the most successful radio station in the Middle East.

Want to hear all the jingles? Contact us now!