ERC Radio Ads - The Talent
(Check out the "Steve and Radner" and the "On-Star spoofs" on the ERC Music Player)Where does a cool local company get the "talent" for its own radio ads? Chicago, LA, New York? Who needs em. The talent is at Espresso Royale. We put out the word for some radio voice over talent and were super lucky to get coffee gurus Grant and Charlie. They play "Steve and Radner" in the ERC radio series.
The premise came from Marcus Goller, president and founder of Espresso Royale. "Its two young guys in their apartment or car just talking. I imagine one of them holding a guitar and the other channel surfing or people watching. They aren't too bright but they are smart about coffee and doing the right thing."
Then there are the spoofs on the "OnStar - actual call" commercials airing on radio. You hear Grant as the emergency line operator giving advice, and Charlie as the serious Voice Over guy. The other voices are guests we grab as we do the spot.
"Its so fun, we write the copy, edit and go to studio" says Marcus. "Its like doing a bunch of Saturday Night Live skits."
Charlie plays Radner and he has no problem being the dumb guy. "He's really good, he just hits it, and can give us three looks in rapid fire," says veteran voice over talent Amy McEwen.
"And Grant plays Steve so deadpan - its perfect. He always gets it in one take. The combination of Charlie and Grant is magic."
In studio, Grant, Charlie and Amy edit and ad lib on the fly. Usually the first take is the best unless we find a way to make the script funnier. Sometimes we just edit a word and change the way the whole skit works.
Alan Black is the sound engineer and is amazing. While the cast practices and runs through the next script he is adding the effects, adjusting pauses to get 30 seconds, and making it even better. Each 30 second spot takes about 10-15 minutes, most of which is comprised of us giggling and busting up.
We think we are so funny!