[RjM]

No one seems to have picked up on this snippet of news from IQ Beats on the front page yet… “a very big new UK group custom package that will hit the air shortly in several regions around the country!”

Any ideas on who it could be? Could it be the Wireless group? whose two packages from Music4 (CHR pkg. on The Pulse/The Wave/Signal 1, and the AC pkg. on Wish/Wire/Imagine) have been on the air since 1999??

[RjM]

Looks like I was right with the Wireless group guess! a new section “The Wireless Group” has been added to IQBeats.com, though no audio yet, just a coming soon tease. Any insider knowledge on when they go to air?

[danjamesuk]

Unfortunately, because TWG are yet to launch the package on air, I can’t yet post the package demo I produced for them.

However, it WILL be happening soon!

Dan.

[RjM]

Hopefully this signals a return of sung jingles to Tower FM for the first time in a few years. Disappointed that I never got chance to record any of the (what I remember being good) SharpSell cuts off air before they were replaced by sweepers. There’s only so many times you can hear that female VO say “The 50/50 music mix of yesterday and today” in an hour before it’s just plain annoying!

Dan, can you say whether the package is for their CHR or AC stations? Perhaps now that all the Wireless Group stations have standardised websites/logos it’ll be for all of them?

[danjamesuk]

10 themes, 10 out of break IDs, 10 short mixes, plus custom news, weather, sports and travel sequences, produced for 13 stations. In total, over 400 cuts!

Each cut has been sung with the station’s individual logo melody – one heck of a feat, considering the longest is “West Yorkshire’s radio… you’re on The Pulse” and the shortest is simply “Renfewshire’s Q96”.

They’ve used a selection of composers and vocalists on this project, and I reckon it’s one hell of a package – probably one of the best IQ Beats have come up with… and that’s not me towing the company line – that’s just me being an anorak! I only wish I could upload a preview right now!

[DavidHemsley]

Preview or not – our discs arrived this morning and I can tell you the Wireless package sounds HOT.

8 minutes 19 of demo doesn’t do it justice though – it needs a full C-D!

Theme 7 is a bit dodgy on “Dundee’s Wave” sing at the end though !! it sounds like ths singers suddenly got pissed off and went home!

However I’ve always been big on news/travel themes and this package really comes up trumps with these.

[simon_t123Member]

Its IQ Beats thats recently sung some stuff for GWR’s Chiltern FM. Is there any whiff of sung stuff for any other stations in the group ?

Always kinda liked the idea of a group-wide GWR package, a few GWR stations use sung stuff they seem to have sourced themselves. Essex FM still uses some sung stuff that the creative team did for them back in 2000ish. Some good stuff that was done by the comm prod type outfit from within the Essex HQ.

Other stations in the group have used Radio Jinglehouse etc.

IQ Beats Heart package is cool, and their recent BBC stuff sit ok too

[MartinS]

Look forward to hearing it on air!

Strange that I’ve just programmed Wire FM, Tower FM and Wish FM into cars FM pre-sets, as I’m now lucky enought to have 12 to play with!

I’d almost given up with the Pulse, which I occasionally listen to on the way to work. It’s sounded hotter than neighbouring RadioAire in 1998-9, with the first Vibe package, since they cut down on jingles it’s sounded boring… or is that just me being an anoroak? Hope the package gives it a revival.

Mart

[danjamesuk]

simon_t123 wrote: Its IQ Beats thats recently sung some stuff for GWR’s Chiltern FM. Is there any whiff of sung stuff for any other stations in the group ?

I’m not quite sure, to tell you the truth. I’m just the guy who makes the demos!

D.

[m_hodgeyMember]

I’ve just been browsing the IQBeats website. Just thought I’d let you know that the Wireless Group audio is now available to listen to.

[RjM]

m_hodgey wrote: I’ve just been browsing the IQBeats website. Just thought I’d let you know that the Wireless Group audio is now available to listen to.

Thanks for the heads up Mark!

This package has really surprised me, and I’m very impressed- it’s defiantly IQ’s best package to date. I can imagine this sounding great on air. I like the way the package has been customised, so the end sing sounds slightly different on each station. You’d expect “The Wolf” and “The Wave” versions to sound similar with a traditional re-sung package, but not here! Each has been adapted slightly vocally to create a sound of their own (The Wave been sung much more upbeat than The Wolf).

My favourite versions are those with a sung straplines i.e.- Signal 1’s “Your number 1… Signal 1” Saying that I think Tower FM’s version has very strong vocal despite being a frequency only sing.

“Feelgood” is my favourite overall cut.

[MartinS]

m_hodgey wrote: I’ve just been browsing the IQBeats website. Just thought I’d let you know that the Wireless Group audio is now available to listen to.

Yeah Mark, cheers! I had checked the IQ site early yesterday evening when I got home from work… nothing! I saw your post late in the evening… and ended up listening to all the versions until about 1am this morning!

They sound fab. So different to what I’d expected, all in all a pleasant surprise. The only thing that disappoints me is that the Radio Wave 96.5 cuts do not sing the word “Blackpool” (unlike the previous Vibe package). But then again… I guess I’m just to passionate about the ‘childhood memory’ town where I do nothing more constructive these days than getting too drunk on stag nights (and hopefully also for my B’day)!

Thinking about it, I can hear several versions (‘naturally’ via the airwaves) at home in Manchester, namely: Wire, Wish, Tower, Imagine and Signal. Been working in Yorkshire this week, so keep checking the Pulse, however not heard anything yet 😥 It’s a good job something like this didn’t happen 10-15 years ago when I was a “Junior Jingle Anorak”, otherwise I’d of been stocking up on the TDK AR60s wth a finger constantly on the Pause button! Thinking about it, I’d probably record onto MD or direct from tuner to PC these days!

Mart

[DevawebMember]

MartinS wrote: otherwise I’d of been stocking up on the TDK AR60s wth a finger constantly on the Pause button! Thinking about it, I’d probably record onto MD or direct from tuner to PC these days!

AR60s? Ahh, the memories of going to “Shadoos” in Manchester to buy boxes of D-90s… or ADs if I had too much money!

[MartinS]

Devaweb” wrote:

otherwise I’d of been stocking up on the TDK AR60s wth a finger constantly on the Pause button! Thinking about it, I’d probably record onto MD or direct from tuner to PC these days!

AR60s? Ahh, the memories of going to “Shadoos” in Manchester to buy boxes of D-90s… or ADs if I had too much money!

Lol.. yeah! I was lucky as when at school/college/Uni as worked somewhere where I could get a decent staff discount on ’em! So mainly ARs.. with the occasional D!

Still got a few left, completed with the usual mix of Yorkshire & North West Airchecks/Bedroom FM mixes. Shame (in the case of the former) that the majority were lost a couple of years ago!

Seriously though… I can honestly remember the feeling when recording cuts from new package off air (99% of time onto TDK!) For reasons that some who know me may guess, July 1992, August 1994, September 1995 and March/April 1996 were particularly memorable (or expensive) months for this! Can’t believe I still remember the dates!

Mart

[audioconnell]

I liked what I heard. It looks like IQ is trying to make in roads in to the states but WNEW-FM (which is having formatic challenges…to put it mildly) seems to be the only big US account they’ve secured. Am I correct or does someone have more timely info?

[danjamesuk]

Not cracked the US market?!! What about…

WXRY
Mix 102.7 New York
WKTU New York
Power 92
Power 92.5
KHOP Modesto
WSSX Charleston
WXLO Worchester
WCPP Harrisburg
KDND Sacramento

By the way, the formatic challenges of WNEW have been resolved for a few months now – they’re now Mix 102.7 (above), who have stuck with IQ Beats for their current on air package.

The US market is incredibly difficult to crack, with more and more stations using sweeper imaging, and some ditching imaging altogether. So many of those who do use music imaging, are running jingles from Reelworld. Whilst the mighty RW appears to have reinvented itself… to an extent… their work is still quite ‘traditional’ in sound, whereas IQ Beats’ sound is pretty revolutionary, and more easily accepted by a UK radio industry which seems to be more open to new, creative concepts than the US (how times have changed – remember who the Brits tried to emulate for so long?!). However, I think 2005 may well be the year Stateside radio adopts IQ Beats as they continue to demonstrate their ability to tackle projects for more stations across a variety of formats.

[Admin]

danjamesuk wrote: By the way, the formatic challenges of WNEW have been resolved for a few months now – they’re now Mix 102.7 (above), who have stuck with IQ Beats for their current on air package.

I hate to drag this off topic, but WNEW has been a train wreck for a while, right since they became Blink 102.7 in 2003.

They flipped it to Mix 102.7 in December 2003. In comes Frankie Blue last year and it actually started to look like they knew what direction they were heading. But then of course, there was the infamous drunk appearance in December and Frankie was gone. In comes Frank Martini as the PD just after Christmas, and along with it comes the new jingles. I doubt infinity will keep Mix 102.7 going for much longer. 102.7 has been plagued with crappy ratings for too long!

Nice jingles though..

[Bigdave]

A drunken jock replaced by a man called Martini – you could’nt write comedy like it …..

Anyway , IQ Beats are producing decent stuff , but when you throw your hat into the ring against the established big 3 , you’re going to have to try just that little bit harder to make an impact …

[audioconnell]

danjamesuk wrote: Not cracked the US market?!! What about…

WXRY
Mix 102.7 New York
WKTU New York
Power 92
Power 92.5
KHOP Modesto
WSSX Charleston
WXLO Worchester
WCPP Harrisburg
KDND Sacramento

There’s NOTHING I like more than causing a little trouble 😈
I figured if I was off on their US markets someone would indignantly correct me.

I, therefore, stand (sometime sit, but not so often kneel) corrected.

[m_hodgeyMember]

The new Wireless Group package sounds refreshing and I believe it will work extremely well on air to bring a fresh sound to the group stations. Despite their freshness, personally I was a little disappointed on hearing the cuts for the first time; the music tracks are excellent, but I think the vocals let one or two of the cuts down slightly in places. Having said that, all in all, it’s a nice sounding package and I look forward to hearing them on-air.

Anybody know when they launch?

[Mad]

m_hodgey wrote:
Anybody know when they launch?

They have launched today. Heard them on Tower FM and Wire FM at least. I’m not totally convinced myself but they are growing on me. I hope the people/producers at the stations using them know how to make them sound the best on-air.

[maoccy]

Check out http://www.iqbeats.com/flashSite/

They have a new package for Wireless Group

[danjamesuk]

…and you can hear the new UK version of the Wireless Group demo at http://www.danakers.co.uk

Now that the package is on air, I’ve been given the go-ahead to upload the rest of the UK demos I produced for the new IQ Beats Music Imaging CD.

Enjoy!

Dan.

[JingleMadMember]

danjamesuk wrote: …and you can hear the new UK version of the Wireless Group demo at http://www.danakers.co.uk

Now that the package is on air, I’ve been given the go-ahead to upload the rest of the UK demos I produced for the new IQ Beats Music Imaging CD.

Enjoy!

Dan.

The TWG package is great!

It nice to see that quality sung imaging is being rolled out again in the UK market.

I understand that the next station to get an IQ Beats package will be Lite FM in Peterborough who are having re-sings from the Heart 106.2 package…………..watch this space

[Author]

Posts