Beyond Our Ken
At our weekly planning meeting in Glasgow this morning someone suggested we profile the work of our 'man of a thousand voices' Ken Lindsay. Ken is the senior trails producer for Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio Scotland and, every week, he makes five 30 or 60 second "adverts" to promote various new programmes. We decide which ones to prioritise at our Wednesday meeting.
I thought it was a good idea to tell you about Ken and, indeed, the other unsung heroes of the station.
"I'll pop into you studio this afternoon, " I told him, "and I'll bring my camera."
Well, I was as good as my word, although Ken did try to put me off by saying he was just about to record some material with the actor David Hayman. I shrugged this aside, promising I'd be as quick as possible.
In the studio Ken let me hear the trail he'd just finished for our Passport To Kelso programme. He's used audio from the schoolchildren's declaration of independence, mixed that with some Braveheart-esque music and the voice-over is his own.
Ken explained that, as a former announcer, he often uses his own voice, but the majority of trails feature fellow announcers or actors who've been brought in to add a special touch of drama or emotion. At other times he'll go through a bank of voices that come from the dozens of demo CD's he gets sent every year.
"It's not as easy as it sounds, " he warns, "and it's not just about having a nice voice."
Ken's next challenge is a trail - not for a radio programme - but for the relaunch of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio Scotland website. He's mulling over a few ideas including a spoof of those telly adverts for Heat magazine.
All be revealed soon, so keep your ears open.
