A Loyal Reader Writes:
“I’m always trying to find things of interest to listeners, but I’m never sure if I’m on target. Are people truly interested in artist news, tops at box office, top TV shows for the week, etc.?”
It all depends upon how interestingly and relatably you present it.
If you do it like most radio people — “Here’s a list, delivered over a music bed” — it makes very little impact.
Sometimes in my seminars I play an aircheck of an “Entertainment Extra” as presented on a large market, music station morning show.
For 90 seconds, the two hosts list the upcoming weekend’s television programs.
“Entertainment Extra?” It’s definitely not Entertainment.
But it is Extra, in the sense that it’s irrelevant and of no use to anyone.
Guess what? If your listeners want to know what’s on TV, they have ways of finding out.
They also can find out the week’s best-selling records, top movie box office hits, etc.
Trust me, no one in your audience awakened this morning thinking, “Oh, if only someone would tell me last week’s ten highest rated TV shows, starting from #10 and ending with #1!”
Does that mean you should avoid any use of such listed information?
No.
But you should utilize such “boiler plate” copy only if it serves a purpose grander than just “reading a list”:
- Giving the host something to talk about in an interesting, entertaining or compelling manner. (Not just reading the list.)
- Sparking a conversation among on-air team members
- Sparking listener phone calls
- Providing an excuse to involve a character
- Ultimately, connecting to your listeners in a meaningful way
But following the typical radio model of “Here’s a list of stuff. I’ll read it for you, and then I’ll move on to something else” makes no impact on your audience and does your radio station no good.
Comments on this entry are closed.
“What’s worse is when they steal the Entertainment Tonight theme song and use it for a music bed while reading the useless lists
One, better @markcantoni when they do the laundry list and then go right into the commercial for (any of top 3 TV networks)
“I’m always trying to find things of interest to listeners, but I’m never sure if I’m on target. Are you asking for feedback? This in itself would be helpful to get the word out . How they contact you can be which ever method seems more real. Then once voted on proceed to produce something. Hitting all DOD points
An announcer can take a phone book and read it clearly and concise so that all the listeners can make it out. They are doing the job of an announcer….to announce.
A personality takes the same phone book pages and makes it interesting, and entertains the audience with personal insight (which may or may not be true, but is always entertaining) and makes it their own with unique delivery, inflection that adds to the words.
Are you an announcer or a personality?
While we’re on the subject of lists, it’s sad how many jocks copy the Letterman Top Ten List idea — usually with a lame \Top Five Reasons Why etc etc\. This comic device is waayyyyyyyyyy over used and because of that it has negated itself. The list structure still works for Letterman, mainly because he is now almost a parody of himself. But comic lists don’t work well for most radio jocks because the predictability of the device has canceled the surprise impact of the material within the device.