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The Lost Art Of Radio Promos
I'm curious what former CHUM producer Doug Thompson and others think about the points made in the linked article. It argues that in a bid to keep a clean on-air sound, the personality of radio stations - the thing that distinguishes them from others in the market - are losing the point of promoing themselves at all.
"Great radio promos once created atmosphere around a station. Listeners weren’t simply hearing songs. They were stepping into a universe with its own identity. Characters existed. Running jokes carried over for months. Storylines stretched across station imaging. The station developed mythology. Listeners followed along because they felt included."
The Lost Art of Radio Promos and Why Stations Need to Bring It Back
- Shorty Wave
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Re: The Lost Art Of Radio Promos
Interesting and timely article. When you read it and then think of some current radio promos out there, it is bang on. These couple of paragraphs from the article sum it up for me:-
“Maybe the lost art of the promo isn’t really about production. Perhaps it’s about imagination.
Somewhere along the way, stations stopped building worlds and started building systems. There’s a difference between branding and mythology. The legendary stations understood mythology.
If radio hopes to separate itself from playlists and algorithms, it may need to rediscover some old magic. Not by making promos longer. By making them matter again”.
Last edited by Shorty Wave (May 19, 2026 7:33 am)
- Doug Thompson
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Re: The Lost Art Of Radio Promos
Sorry RA, just saw this post.
[size=125]Totally agree with the author of this article. To me, the most important section is: "[/size]The best stations didn’t simply play music. They built culture. Listeners felt connected to something rebellious and exclusive. Promos helped build that ecosystem."
Promos can be art. They can be magic. They can be fun as well as entertaining and informative...BUT THEY MUST NEVER BE BORING!
The length of promos used to be anywhere from 40 to 60 seconds, but the listeners attention span has definitely shrunk, so there has to be elements within the promo that keep arresting the listeners ear.
Some of my favourite promos on Toronto radio were written and voiced by Jamie Watson on MOJO Radio back in the day. Such fun. You could not not listen. Dave Barker (also Q107) wrote amazing promos as well. Most of both Jamie and Dave's promos were produced by Gary Widdens.
When he was at Evanov, Azeem Haq was a multi-award winning writer and producer for some of the most effective and entertaining promos. He's still an incredible writer/producer/musician today.
During the 1970's, CHUM's promos for "Don't Say Hello, Say 'I Listen To CHUM' were revolutionary. Incredibly voiced by Ron Morey and masterfully produced by Warren Cosford, Bob McMillan and others. Not sure who the writers were back then, but Larry MacInnis came to CHUM in the early '70s, so he could well have written a bunch of them.
At 1050 CHUM and CHUM FM, Larry MacInnis and Mike Occomore were Picasso and Van Gogh when it came to promos. With Zeke Zdebiak in the producers chair, that team created MAGIC! One of my favourites was when they took an actual Madonna press conference, changed the questions to be about CHUM FM's Roger, Rick and Marilyn and used Madonna's real answers. Unbelievably creative, unique, effective and....
BRILLIANT! Award winning as well.
Doug Moorehouse at Boom is another great Toronto radio promo producer. Don't know the writers there, so I can't mention them by name. Apologies for that.
My all time favourite promo though was written in 1979 by Bill Gable when he was Program Director at CKLW. The title was "I Survived Skylab". Voiced by legendary Hollywood voice actor Paul Frees in an Orson Welles style, the promo grabbed your ears from the first second and kept you mesmerized until the end. That promo used to be on Youtube, but I can no longer find it.
My advice for newbie writers and producers who want to create interesting, effective and entertaining promos is listen and watch movie trailers, go on-line and listen to award winning promos from all of the amazing writers and producers around the world, then take your shot!
DON'T COPY someone else's work or ideas. Adapt, invent and create your own masterpieces. Radio needs them.
Last edited by Doug Thompson (May 23, 2026 4:23 pm)
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- RadioActive
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Re: The Lost Art Of Radio Promos
Thanks Doug. That was a great recap!
And let's not forget the promos for "The Last Contest," which CFTR ran but which originated at KCBQ in San Diego. They were a minute or so come-ons for huge prizes (from trips around the world to cars and even your own airplane - almost none of which they ever actually had to give away!) And all you had to do was listen for the "secret" phone number, which of course with such valuable prizes, they weren't going to give out the digits to very often.
With all due respect to "I Listen to CHUM," this was my favourite radio promotion series of all time. They were brilliantly written and produced and they made you want to win the nearly unattainable.
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Thread Starter- Shorty Wave
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Re: The Lost Art Of Radio Promos
Well Doug Thompson certainly knows his stuff! Thanks Doug for your post, and as RA said, that was a great recap! I learned some radio history, which I appreciate, thanks again.
- Doug Thompson
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Re: The Lost Art Of Radio Promos
RA, yes the Last Contest promos were good, but that was due to Jack McCoy's writing and voicing. There was very little production in them. Background music and very few sound effects. But yet they mesmerized listeners into thinking the station was giving away the world when they actually weren't at all.
How effective was "Don't Say Hello"? I have an aircheck of Bob McAdorey on CFTR calling out to listeners to win $100 in groceries. He was doing it live and the number he called answered with "I Listen To CHUM". Bob laughed.
Last edited by Doug Thompson (May 25, 2026 1:16 pm)
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- boom boy
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Re: The Lost Art Of Radio Promos
Doug Moorehouse at Boom is another great Toronto radio promo producer. Don't know the writers there, so I can't mention them by name. Apologies for that
Re: boom @Doug Thompson-Derek Welsman is the imaging producer, Troy McCallum (PD) writes all the imaging/promos. Doug Moorhouse is a commercial producer.
Last edited by boom boy (May 27, 2026 3:47 pm)
- Doug Thompson
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Boom boy: Thanks for the update. When I worked with Doug Moorehouse (I was at CFRB. He was at EZ Rock), Doug produced commercials and promos.
Obviously Derek Weisman is a great imaging producer from what I've heard.
Last edited by Doug Thompson (May 27, 2026 5:45 pm)
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