AudioPro Sam Wickens to Defend Title Annual Iron Imager Contest

Benztown, a global leader in radio imaging, voiceover services, production libraries, programming and jingles, has announced that Brendan (“BT”) Tacey, Head of Production, Triple M Network, Southern Cross Austereo in Melbourne, Australia, has been selected as the finalist in the 8th Annual Iron Imager Contest.

That's the international radio imaging contest where audio production professionals compete for the title of World’s Best Imager.

Brendan Tacey

Current Iron Imager Champion Sam Wickens, Assistant Audio Producer for Capital FM in London, will face off against BT in a head-to-head live competition at WWRS 2019 on March 27-29 at Castaway in Burbank, CA, the Media Capital of the World. Iron Imager is the first and only competition of its kind.

Benztown also recognized Iron Imager semi-finalists in this year’s competition. Those high-performing semi-finalists are: 1st Runner-Up: Jonathan Young, Capital FM/London; 2nd Runner-Up: Chris Longman, Capital FM/London; Honorable Mention: Ilya Myagkov, Europa Plus/Moscow; Honorable Mention: Mikel Vilchez, Flaix FM/Barcelona; Honorable Mention: Alban Rivoal, Fun Radio/France.

Challengers will demonstrate their imaging skills using audio ingredients from Benztown’s production libraries, paired with contestants’ original scripts. Benztown has also committed additional resources to enhance challengers’ submissions, offering for free the voice talents of many of Benztown’s newest world-class voice talent, including: Joe Alan, Corri English, John Hunerlach, Lisa Keys, Kelly Malone and Paula Tiso.

Sam and BT will demonstrate their world-class imaging skills by producing an original imaging piece for a format unannounced until the day of the competition. Contestants will use elements from one of Benztown’s 23 production libraries, voiceover talent roster, paired with a script from the Benztown team.

Iron Imager 2018 Champion Sam Wickens, 27, is Assistant Audio Producer for Capital FM in London. He took home his first Iron Imager title last year.  Challenger Brendan “BT” Tacey, is Head of Production for Southern Cross Austereo’s Triple M Network in Melbourne, Australia, a position he has held for the last 10 years.

Dave “Chachi” Denes, Benztown President, said: “I believe that all great stations sound different and that’s a key ingredient to their success. The semifinalists epitomized that mantra and produced some of the most creative imaging I’ve ever heard. Selecting just one challenger was exceptionally difficult, but ultimately, it was BT’s comedic chops that won the day. On March 28th we will see if he can withstand the pressure of only having 60 minutes to produce a great promo while going head-to-head against the formidable reigning champ, Sam Wickens!”

To hear the submissions of the top Iron Imager 2019 competitors, Click Here.