One of my favorite questions to ask a talent in an interview is “what makes your show special?”<\/p>\n
This is a basic question that shouldn’t catch talent off-guard, but nine times out of ten, it does. Then I watch them reach for the “stock” answers – “I work really hard every day”, or “I’m real….”<\/p>\n
Whatever.<\/p>\n
The sad truth is – if you are honest with yourself – you probably aren’t “special” enough.\u00a0 Most jock content today falls into a few different buckets: 1) Contesting: Either teasing a contest coming up, or actually executing a contest, 2) Pop Culture News: Reading stories about celebrities that listeners can just as easily find on TMZ.com,\u00a0 3) Selling something – whether it’s a client\u00a0live read masquerading as content, or selling music quantity, or pushing people to the station website, or asking them to go to your Facebook page or follow you on social media…. Try listening to a full day of your show, and count how many breaks fall into these buckets…. for most jocks, it’s in the area of 95-100%.<\/p>\n
There’s one big problem with this type of\u00a0 “content” – almost anybody can do it, and it’s\u00a0 all disposable – you hear it, and you forget about it. Nobody cares. If you think that’s enough to make your show special, you’re part of the reason terrestrial radio is in trouble.<\/p>\n
So how do you “do it differently?”<\/p>\n
Bob Lassiter was one of the best story tellers I’ve ever heard on the radio at WFLA in Tampa. While I didn’t always agree with his positions, I credit him for having an amazing ability to capture the audience and draw them into a story.\u00a0 He once said something that summed up why he was such a success – “face it, you know more about me than you do about your spouse… unless you have a better-than-average marriage. You know my hopes, my fears, my failures and my triumphs. And you know these things because I have the guts to share it with you.”\u00a0 He was right. Listeners knew a lot about him personally, because he shared it on the air.<\/p>\n
Start by being human… talk about something that helps me get to know you better. I should know more about you as a person from the time I start listening till the time I stop. If you do a pop culture story, how do YOU feel about it? Tell me about something you did that I might enjoy too.\u00a0 Have a headache? Talk about why you do.\u00a0 Looking forward to your sister’s birthday party this weekend? Why? Great, share that. You’ll be surprised at how simple, relatable moments generate response.\u00a0 Talk one-to-one with the listener…. its ok to be vulnerable! Don’t give them every detail in one sitting – just reveal more about you over time. Master the art of story-telling. Capture listener’s imaginations!<\/p>\n
The only way to develop a relationship with somebody is to share life with them…. so why not do this on the radio? Share your life with your listeners, and let them share theirs with you. This is what separates announcers from personalities. Be a personality…. there’s no future in being an announcer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Then I watch them reach for the “stock” answers – “I work really hard every day”, or “I’m real….” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5i4nE-12","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":77,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=77","url_meta":{"origin":64,"position":0},"title":"Radio Station or Gas Station?","author":"admin","date":"June 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I was lucky enough to grow up in a town that had an unusual set of characters on the radio. In that era of Detroit radio, I was able to witness first-hand the power of the medium when a compelling, unusual, and entertaining personality had autonomy to actually do a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=25","url_meta":{"origin":64,"position":1},"title":"Announcers versus Personalities","author":"admin","date":"November 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In all the years I've programmed radio, I'm not sure that I ever hired an on-air \"announcer\" - I'm not even sure what that title means or why ANYBODY would have the need for one. I've always searched for personalities. 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Not mindless drones that recite\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=44","url_meta":{"origin":64,"position":5},"title":"Hot and Cold Radio Stations","author":"admin","date":"November 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"There's nothing worse than a \"cold\" radio station. You know the kind I'm talking about. Sure, the imaging is super-clean. The music may be good. The jocks are probably tight and do a great job promoting the upcoming contest. The promos are well produced and slick. 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