While the most important thing is that your radio imaging stands out from the crowd, you need to know your station and your demographic before making your decision.

CHR or Contemporary Hit Radio, is traditionally listened to by a younger female audience who might identify more with a feminine voice. And as radio announcing is generally dominated by men, it can help break up the wall of male voices, creating texture and a more diverse sounding station.

It has also been proven that female voices are more likely to create calm persuasiveness as both men and women have are shown to trust female voices more, womens voices are seen to be believable and soothing.  Most CHR stations will use a feminine voice on their imaging for these reasons, as a feminine voice will not compete adversely with the surrounding tracks, but that is not to say you can’t experiment with male voices too.

Your female listeners will respond well when hearing a masculine voice that they admire , so if you are able to wrangle star into doing a sound bite you are in luck, if not choose a voice artist who sounds similar.

Classic rock and other male oriented stations will not generally find too much difference in impact, as men have been shown to perceive womens voices as less intelligent, despite finding them trustworthy. *eyeroll*

When creating radio commercials for your advertisers, the differences become much more marked, depending on what they are selling and what message they are trying to get across. But it does appear that going with a female voice for your CHR Radio Imaging is the best safe bet.

Work with your radio imaging provider closely and use their experience to help guide you with the right decisions in creating effective radio branding.

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