Instrumental image themes can be acquired inexpensively in buy-out libraries. Sung jingles are generally much more expensive, in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, but for a large, serious station, they can be a great addition. Sweepers are the quick, exciting one-liners you hear leading into music segments and as seques between songs. They frequently contain gee-whiz production and synthesizer effects. If you are a smaller station or a hobby station, but would still like some sweepers, they really do add a nice touch, and you might be able to prevail upon a local DJ with a good voice to record some for you inexpensively or free.
Sweepers have the benefit of having impact similar to sung jingles, but less-expensively.
Keep them brief and topical, and use them to frequently reinforce the station's image and promote its programming. The more often they can be updated, the better your station will sound. If you cannot update them frequently, it is best not to include voice-tracking, because it will quickly become boring, and its recorded nature will be obvious. Such a system requires a considerable amoung of time spent regularly recording the messages that will announce song titles and artists. We suggest that you print out the daily Program Log for reference, look at the songs on the list, and record each cut into the voice-track file whose name is adjacent to the song you are announcing.