As many radio personalities know, I’m a big believer in Show Prep.
Show Prep is not the same as “scripted.”
The more prepared you are before cracking the mic, the easier it is for you to act spontaneously according to the flow of the show and your audience response.
I devote an entire seminar to what I call Contextual Programming, which truly is the only way for a radio station to win the ratings battle in a competitive market.
In that seminar, I point out that sometimes you think you know what your listeners want to talk about (or hear about)…only to have your audience correct you.
How do you know for sure what your listeners are interested in?
They’ll tell you…If you listen.
On the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a British radio host commemorated the event by interviewing two experts on the “conspiracy theories” that surround that terrible moment in U.S. history.
The “experts” heartily disagreed with each other.
The host thanked them for their participation.
Then he opened up the phones:
“What do you think? Was JFK killed by a lone gunman, or was there a conspiracy behind it?”
And he gave the studio phone number several times so listeners could weigh in with their opinions.
Perhaps not surprisingly, not one of the listeners in that town in England seemed to have much of an opinion about whether or not there was a conspiracy behind the death of an American president decades earlier.
No one called.
In desperation, the host started filling time.
He mentioned that he remembers exactly what he was doing when he learned that JFK had been shot: He was watching a TV program called Double Your Money.
And at that, the phones lit up.
You’re an experienced radio pro, right? Go ahead, guess what everyone was calling in about.
Oops. Sorry, you’re wrong
You made the mistake of “knowing” you can predict the radio audience reaction.
You immediately and confidently guessed, “They called in to say what they were doing when they heard about JFK’s death.”
That’s what I would have guessed, too. But that’s not what they called for.
They called to say, “It wasn’t Double Your Money. It was Harry Worth that was on the telly that night.’ ”
And for the rest of the hour listeners phoned called in to argue about what was on television when the news of Kennedy’s death was announced.
I don’t care how much preparation you’ve done for your show. If the audience tells you they’re interested in something else (and it fits your overall programming), you’re a fool if you don’t listen to them.
When you interview celebrities or politicians, how can you know beyond the shadow of a doubt what questions your listeners would most like to have answered?
Well, you could ask them.
But I don’t mean at the beginning of the show, begging for callers.
I mean the Tuesday before the interview, tell your listeners that you’ll be interviewing that person on your program on Thursday…and if there’s something they’d dearly love you to ask that person, they should e-mail or text you with their question.
Either you or a producer or an intern can quickly glance through the questions, and you’ll discover two things:
1. A few really good questions you wouldn’t have thought of.
2. An obvious demand by many listeners to hear the answers to one or two particular questions.
I am not saying that you should slavishly ask whatever questions are suggested by your listeners.
I am saying that if you give them a chance, they will help you program your show so that it’s more relevant and more interesting to them.
CONTEXTUAL RADIO PROGRAMMING: The Only Way To Win in a Competitive Market
