How I Learned to Write for the Ear

I started my dental marketing and communications career in radio.

Yes, it’s true. My path to the dental industry has been a long, convoluted journey, but it began at a small radio station in Long Branch, New Jersey. The call letters were WWUU-FM – say that five times fast!?

The station was a dive. It was located in a very seedy part of town in a former flophouse hotel from the turn of the 20th century. The building still had a sink in the wall of almost every room and remnants of gas lamp fixtures poking out of the dreary dark paneled walls. ?

However, there was one section of WWUU that was modern – In fact, it was futuristic. It consisted of one, harshly lit room with shiny tile flooring that was furnished with two rows of ceiling-to-floor reel-to-reel tape machines that appeared to start and stop randomly. ?

One deck would stop playing a soft rock song and another one across the room would start playing another.?The tapes also included a recorded voice that would announce the artists or a slogan such as “Playing all your soft rock favorites”. ?

The room of tape players reminded me of Dr. No’s underground lair from the classic James Bond film of the same name. But in reality, WWUU was a fully-automated zombie radio station during the overnights and what was called “live assist” automated during the day. Live assist meant that the tape decks were stopped temporarily for a live announcer to deliver local news and weather. ?

This was in the early days of an automated format trend that unfortunately gained popularity as small and large radio stations alike decided to cut costs by eliminating live air talent salaries. I also believe that the tape equipment was leased rather than purchased by the station.?

My job during the overnight shift was to change the tapes when they ran out and write news and weather reports for the next day’s live newscasts. I also had the chance eventually to create pre-recorded news, sports and weather ?reports that an announcer could play within his or her live newscast – this made it seem like we actually had a news department!?

The announcer would say, “Here's Mike Ventriello with the sports,” and then punch a button to play a tape cartridge that looked a bit like an 8-track tape - Younger readers can Google it.

Ironically, I knew nothing about sports, but I knew how to re-write Associated Press wire service reports and make them sound exciting. My secret? Present perfect tense is a beautiful thing! I must admit I skipped the tennis scores because the names of the athletes were so hard to pronounce.?

Writing 30 and 60-second news reports and eventually commercials using a stopwatch while under extremely tight deadlines, not only taught me to get my point across quickly, it also taught me to write for the ear. ?

That’s because unlike newspaper news and print ad copy,?my words were written to be spoken – without the assistance of a photo or illustration.?

To this day, after being out of radio for more than 30 years, the ability to write for the ear is my superpower and my secret sauce. This skill has been invaluable throughout my career as an effective and highly productive advertising copywriter, marketing communicator, print journalist, and public relations professional. ?

However, developing this skill didn’t come easy. I had to pay my dues and take a lot of harsh criticism from broadcast veterans – especially when they had to read my copy on the air.

About the Author:

Michael Ventriello is an award-winning copywriter, former journalist, and an accomplished public relations and marketing strategist.

For more than twenty years, Michael has been focused on dental industry marketing, advertising, and public relations; helping to advance the adoption of many dental products and technologies.

In 2012, Michael founded Ventriello Communications, a boutique marketing, advertising, and public relations agency that specializes in creating go-to-market strategies and tactics to launch innovative products into the dental industry. Contact Michael at [email protected]