How to Be a Talk Radio Star!*
Written by Lotus on Sunday, 19 of February , 2012 at 3:56 pm
In the late 1990s I was a DJ at a local rock station in St. Augustine, FL. When I moved to D.C. and began working at a small non-profit I was lucky that I already felt comfortable on radio. I did tons of local and syndicated talk radio interviews. Now that I’m scheduling a lot more radio hits for others I thought I would share some tips I’ve learned over the years, as well as some advice from my favorite DC101 DJ, Greg Roche.
- You’ll be tempted to have all of your research in front of you, that’s ok, but don’t rely on it too much. Have a separate sheet with talking points from each news item that are short enough to memorize. Natural talking with a few “um”s and “uh”s is more entertaining than hearing someone read directly from an article
- Listen to the host. Be prepared to go off-topic, but try to transition back to the points that are most comfortable for you.
- Smile. It really adds a bit of a lilt to your voice and you won’t sound like the coma-inducing NPR hosts.
- Don’t make listeners feel like the third wheel. Sometimes people want to brag to audience about a mutual friendship with the host and they’re tempted to bring up an inside joke. This is boring and makes listeners feel like outcasts.
- Act normal. If you like to sit a certain way, sit that way. If you use your hands a lot, still use them. Don’t be tempted to “act professional” and think you have to sit upright in a chair with your hands in your lap. When you stifle your behavior, you stifle your personality. A DJ I used to work with always did his entire 3 hour show standing up. He was great. I would do my show with the lights off. It made it feel more intimate and less like I was in an office building.
Great advice from Roche if you’re interviewing someone (for print or broadcast):
Let them talk. It’s really my main focus. I’ll come in with 5-7 topics I want to discuss. If you are doing a 15 minute interview, this is MORE than enough if you incorporate the “let’em talk” philosophy. Two of those topics will fall flat. It’s just how it goes. You should have at least three topics that you now will engage your guest. These will be the main focus of your interview. More than likely, these points will lead to other (sometimes more interesting) topics. Like you said, be prepared to veer from your topics. In fact, encourage your guest to go where they are comfortable by having a follow up to something they said. You can only do that by listening to their answer…which is my other point. Too often, we are focused on getting through our questions, we stop listening to the answers. Engage. Don’t interview. Finally, I always like to start with an icebreaker. Something the guest is passionate about (that doesn’t pertain to their area of expertise). That let’s the listener get more familiar with the guest and puts the guest at ease.
In addition to his DC101 shift (3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays), Roche does podcasts. Follow him on Twitter @RocheOnAir.
(*Your results may vary)
Category: Random Stuff
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