What you pay for
An AI voice is billed per rendered second or per thousand characters by the voice provider. Writing the script with a language model costs fractions of a cent per link and is negligible. What counts is the voice: how many seconds are spoken per hour, and at what rate. A twelve-second link, four times an hour, is 48 seconds per hour, over nineteen minutes a day, almost 120 hours a year.
Rates per voice
Voice providers differ by a factor of ten in price, and the expensive ones are not always the better ones for radio. A common rate for a good radio voice in 2026 is between roughly €0.10 and €0.30 per spoken minute at volume. With the example above, 120 hours a year, that is €720 to €2,160 a year for a station that talks four times an hour, day and night.
What keeps usage in check
Good automation does not render more voice than what is broadcast. A link that lapses because of a request or an hour change must not have been rendered anyway; and a link must not be written and rendered twice because the hour was realigned. We have had and measured both faults: on one station double rendering produced 72 redundant renders a day before we closed it. Ask a vendor how they prevent this; it saves tens of percent.
Dayparts and voice choice
Not every hour needs the same amount of talk. A night with one link an hour and a morning with six is normal; the clock per daypart arranges that. And not every voice has to be the most expensive: a short time check can use a cheaper voice than the morning link. In NexRadio the voice sits on the template in the clock, so you make that choice per position in the hour.
What we charge
AI presentation is in every NexRadio package: the templates, the writing, the placement on extro and intro, the monitoring. Voice usage itself we bill separately and at cost, because it depends on your clock and we do not want to hide it in the package price. At the demo we calculate it for your clock, so you know in advance what a year costs.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AI DJ cheaper than a presenter?
Per hour of broadcast much cheaper; a person costs more per hour than an AI per week. But a person does things an AI does not: the conversation of the day, guests, live reaction. Most stations combine.
Can I cap voice usage in advance?
Yes: the number of links per hour is in the clock, and per daypart you can use a different clock. Usage follows your own choices, not a running meter.
What if the voice provider raises its price?
Then you see that one to one, because we pass it on at cost. You can switch provider per voice without changing your clocks.