The Power of Power Intros, Beatmixes, Singovers and ID Mixers

Power intros, beatmixes, song singovers, ID Mixers, whatever you call them, they still are the same imaging elements that most radio stations in the late 90s and early 2000s are going mad about. The approach, the methods, the effects, the style, they may be different but the main objective of these ideas is to infuse the identity of the station into their playlist hits and eventually make a mark on their listeners' memory.

Songs intros, as the can be generally called, are without question one of the most effective and creative ways to image a radio station. It's been used in stations in the U.K. and in Europe. In the U.S., Clear Channel station Z100 New York, supposedly started this new imaging idea. Jam Creative Productions may aptly be considered as the first company to venture into producing keyed vocals or acapellas used in song intros at Z100. Unfortunately, however, this statement is not backed up with any audio samples.

Not all radio stations in the 90s embraced the idea of song intros. Its popularity however grew by the numbers, and as the years passed, as new jingle companies emerge, so had song intros evolved. Let's now take a close look and listen of the different forms, styles and names of song intros. (Continue reading below)

SONG SINGOVERS

Song Singovers is a trademark of Steve England and S2 Blue Productions. Steve England may not be the first company to make song intros, but their so-called song singovers are exactly what the earliest form of song intros sound like. The approach is simple - the singer sings the call signs and slogan of the station onto the intro of the song. No editing was necessary, except when the intro is short, that's when they needed to loop the intro. Otherwise, there we no sound effects, except for some vocoding. There were no artist drops, no voiceovers, just purely sung song intros.

Of course, the song intro's keys or the melody had to be matched with the actual playlist song. In an audio sample from Steve England below, you will notice that playlist songs from female artists were also "song-introed" with female singers.

Every station that used these classic song intros were the envy of their competitors. Memory recall was relatively high with song intros that listeners in some instances find themselves singing the station's calls even with non-edited tracks.

But not everyone was happy with song intros and that even included the listeners. As more stations and radio stations copied this idea, the glory of song intros have started to decline. Radio stations were starting to make their own station-produced song intros, that often went off-key. Listeners began looking at song intros as nuisance. PDs and Imaging Directors also noticed this. Classic song intros had its share of disadvantages.

First, most listeners prefer to listen to the non-edited songs. Second, the requirement of vocal resemblance of song intros to the actual song was also difficult. More and more artists were sprouting and in order for a song intro to become effective, its vocals need to match that of actual playlist. Third, newer songs especially those which are highly produced became more difficult to be song-introed. But this wasn't the end of song intros. Continue reading to page 2.

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