When I got my first radio job back in the dark ages of tape cartridge players (imagine an 8-track tape player... oops, if you don't know what a 8-track tape player is, well ask someone over 45!) and records and turntables, I thought all there was to radio was playing those records and being able to read without showing my "hick accent". Then I found out there was more to the business than that, that you could actually entertain. I also figured out that in most stations, the only thing different was what happened between the records when the dj turned on the microphone and opened his (or her) mouth.
It's called being a radio personality. Personality can be confused with telling jokes and making people laugh out loud, or doing funny voices or something else borderline irritating. Sure it's entertaining to be able to share a joke with your listeners, but you find out quickly that most jokes are a lot funnier in a bar than on the air with you laughing at your own jokes. Many new broadcasters think they are funny and tell bad jokes and some djs know they're not funny, so they go buy a book and tell bad one liners on the air. Both get the same result: People hitting the button and going to a station that is playing some music that doesn't annoy them.
You don't have to be naturally funny to get your listener's attention and loyalty, but you do need to know what you should say that will be entertaining and keep listeners doing just that, listening. In fact, you can be entertaining just by knowing the secrets of being a good radio personality. I'm gonna share some tips in the next few lines about being entertaining, so stay tuned!
First way to be entertaining and a radio personality... SMILE. Yes, it's just you and a microphone, but smiling can make a huge difference in how you sound to the people on the other end of the radio. You see, when you smile, it comes across to the person listening to you. Notice, I said the "person" listening to you. If there is one person or a hundred thousand people listening to you, they all listen with only two ears. So only smile and talk to two ears. Not four or 10 or one hundred ears, just two at a time, two ears attached to one person. That secret alone, if mastered by you will make you a good radio personality. Talk to only one person at a time. Radio is the ONLY intimate, personal medium. It's just you and your listener. One on one. So smile when you talk to the person on the other end of the mic listening to you on the radio. Listeners respond much better to "hello and thanks for listening tonight" rather than "hello everybody, hope you're having a great time here in the city tonight". You just lost that bond and connection with the person you want to be entertained by listening to you.
Be happy. If you're having a bad day, your listener doesn't need to know all the gory details. You are supposed to entertain them with the weather forecast, letting 'em know what's happening around town, and sharing some details about sponsors of your show. Your smiling voice and relaxed voice do just that. Your job as an entertainer is to be friendly and share one to one and make folks feel a little warm and fuzzy when they hit the button on the radio and here you, or when they type your website into the handy dandy browser.
Back to when I was wet behind the ears and in radio. I thought it would be cool to be able to do celebrity voices and have conversations with myself. I also thought I could copy the big city dj's by using their voice inflection with my stories... I was wrong on both counts. Fortunately I had no talent for doing voices so I never wasted a lot of mine and my listener's time trying to be cute talking to myself. And it didn't take long for me to figure out that I had to talk like me and not like the big city guy. I didn't try to convince myself that I was funny. But I did want to be interesting to listening.
That's when I learned that beaming into the microphone with a smile and talking with one person at a time was the way to be entertaining. Then I looked at some of the folks who I really respected in radio. Paul Harvey, possibly the best news commentator of all time on radio, is VERY entertaining and talks only to me when I am listening. Paul's never told a joke, yet when I listen to him, I smile.
Another secret to being a good "radio personality" is to share stories with the audience. Not long stories that allow you to listen to you talk, but short 15 to 30 second stories that use word pictures that allow your listener to imagine himself seeing the story. When you were little, you were told bedtime stories to make you feel content and able to go to sleep. Now you want to entertain with short little slice of life stories, kinda like Paul Harvey tells, to make your listener feel content, relaxed and happy. Don't put 'em to sleep though, they might be driving!
If you feel the need to be funny, learn how somewhere other than behind the mic. I found that by working as a night club dj for years I could talk to them, get them to respond, and develop my rhythm for being entertaining. I was able to take that back to the radio shows I had and it helped me to be funny on the radio. Do stand up in a comedy club. Learn how to make people chuckle when you talk. They will carry a chuckle around all day and share it with friends.
You don't have to be funny to be entertaining or considered a "radio personality". Just make your listener smile while she's got you "turned on" and you will be taking a step in the right direction of being the difference between the records.
Mark Barron is a direct marketing professional and an internet broadcaster. He has over 20 years of experience on "Real Radio" and really enjoys the internet so much more. For more information on successful marketing and on internet radio, email markbarron@hotmail.com or go to his website: http://www.MarkBarron.com/
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