Imaging Radio Everyone

Radio Everyone is the worldwide radio project designed to raise awareness of the United Nation’s Global Goals for sustainable development. It’s a vast project, supported by major broadcasters around the world and some big names in global music, sport, politics and entertainment.

Here, let me drop a few names: Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Liverpool Football Club, Jamie Oliver, David Milliband, Samantha Cristoforetti, Richard Curtis, Cody Simpson, Gilberto Gil, Criolo, Bill Gates, Professor Stephen Hawking, Rita Ora, Kasabian, Christiane Amanpour and, perhaps inevitably, Bono.

Thanks to BBC Music, Dave Grohl, Quentin Tarantino, Noel Gallagher, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Beyonce, Trevor Nelson and Jo Whiley are also part of the project.

The musical signature for Radio Everyone was written by Peter Gabriel and then ReelWorld turned this into an extensive package of imaging elements that will be heard on Radio Everyone and all its affiliates around the world.

Hear the imaging

[audio:http://earshotcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Radio-Everyone-Web-Demo.mp3|titles=”Reelworld demo for Radio Everyone”]

I was interested to know how this works so asked ReelWorld imaging producer Laura Mather and client relations manager Paul Fernley to explain their involvement.

The Interview

How did the collaboration come about?

Paul: This relationship started for us back in March, after a chance meeting in Milan. I bumped into Piers Bradford, formerly of Radio 1, and he gave me an overview of both Project Everyone and Radio Everyone. It sounded like a really exciting project, and something that ReelWorld had to get involved in. Over the next months, we agreed to support the Project in two days, by hosting their content for partner stations and by working alongside a then unknown artist on the station’s imaging.

For the first part, we’ve re-skinned the site for our updating imaging service Production Vault to be an access portal for stations globally to download Radio Everyone. For the second, Laura’s created some standout imaging elements with worldwide appeal.

What complementary skills did Peter Gabriel, ReelWorld and the other participants bring to the project?

Laura: For me, what Peter’s done is create a musical theme with a true ‘worldwide’ appeal. It takes influence from music across the globe, whilst feeling like a single cohesive sound. The music itself is also not overly obtrusive, making it perfect for talking over or making imaging with. We took Peter’s track, and a few others that we’ve created here at ReelWorld, as the backbone for our imaging package.

Paul: It was interesting to hear the track as it went through its development. Some of the remix work that Benji B did really took the track in another direction.

Peter Gabriel’s had many hits but does he ‘get’ radio imaging?

Laura: What he gets is how to make quality music and music with a meaning, and that’s what he did! We brought that ‘radio touch’ I suppose. We wanted to create a branding package that pulled the station together. With so many different presenters involved and a variety of content it was important to have something that gave the output a consistent backbone.

What is the creative idea behind your approach to the project?

Laura: Radio Everyone breaks the format rules of usual imaging projects. So it required something that took a different approach. We wanted to stay away from all traditional formats, and create something that was unique and had it’s own personality. Taking voices from Radio Everyone’s partner stations across the world, we created imaging with a truly global feel. Our ‘voiceovers’ include radio presenters from Kenya, Italy, Indonesia and more. The star of the show for me is a little girl from the United States – 5 year old Mayson.

Stylistically I kept it simple, letting the music and voices lead, with simple FX and processing to pull it all together.

Were you influenced consciously by any other existing imaging?

Laura: I’m not sure influenced is the right word but we re-visited some BBC Radio 1 imaging for shows hosted by Rob Da Bank and Giles Petterson before we got underway. They had the feeling we were looking for in our sound.

What have you learned about radio and its listeners from the project?

Laura: You sometimes forget that radio lives beyond the Western world. Hearing the voices from across the globe that are involved in Radio Everyone reminded me of that!

Listen to Radio Everyone here

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