Launch week
One voice, one bed, a legal or hourly ID, a handful of sweepers, two liners. The clock uses them. You listen to a real hour and fix collisions. Nothing seasonal. No extra shows.
Radio imaging guide
What goes in a radio imaging package when a station launches or rebrands
A launch or a rebrand is when the sonic logo has to be built again: one voice, one bed, and a short list of IDs and sweepers that can actually get on the log. The pieces you need in week one are fewer than the library you keep for the rest of the year.
This guide is for a small station opening, or for a station changing its name or its promise. It is a checklist and a schedule, not a news story about any one format flip. The radio imaging page already shows one starter set for a normal week. Here the question is different: what must exist before the first public hour, what can wait a fortnight, and how the files get into playout.
Why launches and rebrands reset the sonic logo
Listeners learn a station by repetition. The name, the voice and the bed have to match the promise you are about to air. If the format changes and the old sweepers stay, the hour argues with itself: the songs say one thing and the imaging says another. That is why a new station, or a station that changes name, usually retires the old cuts instead of editing a word into them.
You do not need a large library to make that reset. You need a decision: one slogan, one voice, one bed. Everything else in the package is a variant of that decision. Seasonal lines, extra promos and a second show tag can wait until the first clock has played for a week without embarrassing you.
Trade press usually covers a format flip as programming news. When formats flip, imaging usually resets with them. This page is not a replacement for that news. One live example of the programming story, not an imaging tutorial, is RadioInsight’s report on a 2021 San Francisco format change. We are not retelling it here.
Package checklist
Use the row as a job, not as a shopping quota. Launch week means “have at least one file that can do this.” Evergreen means “how you look after it once the station is actually on.”
| Piece | Job | Launch week | Evergreen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal ID | Top-of-hour identification where a licence requires it. | One dry, correct read if you are licensed. Skip it if you are internet-only. | Keep it exact. Change it only when the licence details change. |
| Top-of-hour ID | The name, on the hour, for everyone else. | One main ID in the voice and bed you will keep. | Add a shorter variant so the same sentence is not the only one. |
| Sweeper | Bridge between songs. | Four, each with one promise, same voice. | Rotate them. Retire any line the music no longer supports. |
| Liner | One fact: web address, town, or show time. | Two. Leave contest lines until you have a contest. | Rewrite when the fact changes. Do not keep a dead URL on the air. |
| Show tag | Names one programme and its presenter. | Only if that show starts in week one. Otherwise none. | One tag per show you actually run. Delete the rest. |
| Promo | Points ahead to a show or an event. | None, unless the launch itself is the event. | Add one when you have a date. Take it out the day after. |
| Seasonal ID | Holiday wording on top of the same station. | Leave it out. A Christmas cut in a spring launch sounds like a mistake. | Build a separate folder when the calendar turns, then remove the folder. |
Launch week vs evergreen
Launch week proves the station can be identified. The evergreen library keeps that sound from going stale. They are not the same job, and buying the second before the first is how small stations miss their own opening.
Evergreen
After the first fortnight, add a variant when a line is wearing out, a promo when a date exists, and a seasonal folder when the music changes with the calendar. The voice and the bed stay until the format changes again.
D−7
Lock the slogan, the voice and the bed. Write the legal or hourly ID and one shorter station ID. Read both aloud.
D−3
Write four sweepers and two liners. Generate them in the same voice. Export MP3 and WAV while the wording is still fresh enough to fix.
D−1
Name the files. Import them. Put the hourly ID on the hour and one sweeper in the rotation. Leave the other segues empty on purpose.
D0
Launch with that clock. Do not fill every join with a produced voice. The songs are the programme; the imaging only has to make the name unmistakable.
D+7
Listen to one hour as a listener. Cut any sweeper that stacks on talk. Check that the IDs are not louder than the songs around them.
D+14
Add the next promo or the first show tag if you now have a show. Retire a line that no longer matches the music. That is the start of evergreen maintenance, not a second launch.
How many pieces do you actually need?
A small station can open with about ten files. A fuller library is what you grow into, not what you wait for. Counts below are a planning range for one voice, not a quote.
Minimum, launch week
About 8–10 files
- 1 legal ID if you are licensed, or skip it if you are internet-only.
- 2 station IDs that share the voice and the bed: one full line, one name-only.
- 4 sweepers, each a single promise.
- 2 liners. Add 1 show tag only if a named show starts this week.
Fuller library, later
A few dozen, over months
- More sweeper variants so the same four lines are not the only bridges.
- A promo when you have a real date, taken down the day after the event.
- Show tags only for shows that have a slot on the clock.
- A seasonal folder, separate from the year-round IDs, switched as a group.
One worked example of a 25-piece starter, with credit totals, already lives on the radio imaging page. Use that table when you are costing a normal week. Use the counts on this page when you are deciding what has to exist before you open.
Script patterns that stay on-brand
The package sounds like one station when the lines obey the same three habits. Fancy copy does not survive a sweeper. A repeated shape does.
- Say the station name the same way every time, and put it first or last.
- One idea per file. The ID carries the promise. The liner carries the fact. The sweeper carries the bridge.
- Keep the slogan stable for the launch month. Changing it every week means you never had a sonic logo.
Lines you can load and adapt: radio jingle script templates.
If the promise itself is still blank: radio slogan ideas.
From files to playout
A package that lives in a download folder is not on the air. Name the files so a volunteer can find the hourly ID at 11:55, and keep holiday files out of the year-round category.
- Start with a short station code, then the element: cpfm-id-hourly.mp3, cpfm-sweeper-more-music-01.mp3, cpfm-liner-web-01.mp3.
- Put the job in the name (id, legal, sweeper, liner, show, promo). Do not rely on the date you exported it.
- Add a slug from the line, then a version, so a rewrite does not overwrite the file that is already on the clock.
- Keep seasonal files in their own folder. You can attach or detach that folder without hunting through the main IDs.
1
Export
Download MP3 and, if your playout prefers it, WAV from the same mix.
2
Name
Rename before import. A file called mix-final-2.mp3 will be the one you play by mistake.
3
Import
Load the launch set into the jingle or imaging category. Leave seasonal files out.
4
Clock
Hourly ID on the hour. One sweeper every few songs. Do not automate a voice onto every segue on day one.
Menu-level steps for AzuraCast, RadioDJ, mAirList and PlayIt Live are in how to add jingles to playout software.
DIY AI package vs hiring a jingle house
Both routes can produce a launch package. They fail at different jobs. The figures below are the public magnitudes already listed on our radio imaging and comparison pages, not a fresh quote from a vendor.
| Route | Time | Money, published range | Honest limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY with JingleLark | Same session. You generate and mix. | Starter pack $14.9 for 50 credits. A short voiced element is about $0.17–$0.30. The launch set above fits in that pack. | Voiced cuts only. No singer, no melody written for you, no custom sound design. |
| Hire a jingle house or voice talent | Days to a few weeks, depending on the house. | Dry liners can start around $40 for five reads you still mix. Produced packages are often a few hundred pounds or dollars, and published packages run about £399–£999. | Right call for a sung jingle, one voice you will book for years, or sound design built from scratch. |
Vendor rows, turnaround and when a human voice is the better buy: AI station imaging vs hiring voice talent.
Try building one ID today
Make the hourly station ID first, in the voice and bed you intend to keep. If that file sounds like the station, write the sweepers next. If it does not, change the voice or the bed before you produce ten more lines in the wrong sound.
When the calendar actually turns, holiday lines and sounds are on Christmas and holiday station IDs.
Imaging package questions
Can a small station launch with fewer than ten imaging files?
Yes. One hourly station ID, two sweepers and one liner in the same voice will identify the station. The eight-to-ten file set on this page is a comfortable first clock, not a minimum the law requires. Add the legal ID as well if your licence says you must.
Will an AI package include a sung jingle?
Not from JingleLark. The launch files here are voiced: a radio voice over an intro, a bed and an outro. If the sonic logo you want is sung, hire a jingle house for that one piece and keep the voiced IDs and sweepers in the same slogan so they still belong together.