This lecture is hands down my
favourite. This is because I am biased – I’m an avid radio fan, mostly because
I work on the radio. So, heads up, this blog post is going to be a little more
personal.
To demonstrate this, I am including a
picture of me doing my radio show at my local radio station.
So this lecture was all about sound,
and keeping true to form, it was done as an mp3 recording of two radio
interviews. And I loved it.
I’ve always been fascinated by the radio,
probably because I’ve grown up listening to it. My mother would always have it
on in the early mornings; we still listen to it in the car every time we go
out, but my favourite memories of listening to the radio is when the power was
out. Whether it was a storm, or power outage, or Earth hour, I would sit with
my mother in the dark with our little battery powered radio and listen to talk
back radio shows. I would always sit back and wonder what it would be like to
work at a radio station. Never did I think I would actually do it. But I did.
Similar to the first guest speaker,
Richard F. (because I don’t know how to properly spell his last name), I
accidentally got into radio. This is something I’ve always known was a huge
gift and privilege given to me, but I never realised how important it can be to
other radio announcers. Unlike the second guest speaker, Steve A., I did not
spend years sending letter after letter out to get a gig in radio. In fact, I
did it on a whim, and got the gig in the span of two weeks. Honestly, I think
it is luck of the draw – because I still feel like the luckiest 18 year old
around.
This highlights one of the big things
about radio. It’s all human and real. Half the announcers grew up aiming to get
that seat behind the mic, others didn’t. Some started young, others fell into
it later on. Radio is a completely different medium than its broadcasting
counterpart, television. It is intimate with its audience, personal, almost familiar.
The trick to radio announcing is to include your audience, speak as if you are
talking to one individual rather than a group (a trick that is not as easy as
you think – I’m still working on it and have been given the advice to bring in
a small toy that I can put in front of me and look at when doing a voice break
to practice). I like the comment Richard made about the radio coming from inside
the listener’s head. This is a good way of describing that closeness that radio
provides. This is mostly because it fits in with everyday life. At home, in the
car, on the bus while travelling two hours to university (ahem), whether walking the dog, washing the dishes, making dinner
or the kids’ lunches for school - you
can listen to radio while living your life. It’s a multi-taskers dream. This is
probably why radio is thriving so well nowadays, and perhaps even growing stronger:
because it is not time-consuming in a society where everyone is very time-poor.
Radio is great because it is a
happening now enterprise. By that I
mean that the news is current, the topics relevant, most of the time you hear
the show you can ring up and speak to that person about what they just said.
Radio is a public service and serves a purpose – to be useful to the public.
These particular conversations
revolved more around the act of interviewing people on air. As I have done two
or three interviews with special guests in the last year I say from experience
that it is quite different. Conventionally you do not want a voice break to go
longer than 7 minutes and it is up to the announcer to keep the interview
going, either by just letting the guest talk and listening, or by participating
in an active conversation. Either way, as the journalist you have to be
genuinely interested – which is great for me because I love learning new things
– especially when it’s small tidbit information. There is also an etiquette to
interviewing someone: don’t probe, respect the guest even if you do not agree
with what they are saying and let them speak. I always think being able to
tease them is a great asset too because it not only builds rapport but shares
that with the audience. Of course teasing falls into common sense and you need
to establish whether it is acceptable to do so before you go on air. The best
piece of advice I got out of doing live interviews is to remember that it is a privilege. Whether you like them or not,
you feel comfortable or interested, agree or disagree with their opinions, it
is a privilege to have someone come in and open themselves up on air and that
is something to be awed and humbled by.
Another tip I got was the usefulness
of silence. When I do my radio show, silence scares me. Normally it means that
either the equipment isn’t working or I’ve done something wrong with the panel.
But in the case of an interview silence is a tool. It can be profound. Radio is
all about the voice. There is no visual distractions, there is just sound to
deliver a story, to create an image, to influence others. To go completely
silent in a moment and have nothing there seems almost magical.
There is really only one aspect that
I tend to disagree with and that is a comment made by Steve. He said that ‘if
you wouldn’t do it in life, don’t even think about doing it in radio’ – meaning
whatever content or act or comment you intend to share on air, you must think
about your actions. I of course think this is very important, but I also think it
depends on context. For me, working on radio builds my confidence. I would
rather do something for radio than just because. Radio provides opportunities as
much as it does information and entertainment and I believe everything should
be at least considered. Don’t restrict yourself, but be sensible.
Overall, I think I wrote more tips
for my radio show than I did general notes. But I learnt so much on various
levels and thought it was wonderful to experience a lecture in a different
manner. If anything, my love and respect for radio has definitely strengthened
as a result of this.
“Radio
is the theatre of the mind.”
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