Larger than life…
What sets you apart, why are you on the radio and not the person listening to you? The person who hired you may not know it, but you should.
Something that seems to have been lost is the art of illusion in terms of what makes radio different than other forms of entertainment. Then again radio doesn’t even seem to see itself as being in the entertainment business anymore anyway. I think this is, in part, because of a programming philosophy run amok.
The idea of on air talent being ‘real’, like ‘the guy down the street’, got separated from the underlying concept of entertainment.
Have you ever been told to communicate with the listener like you were the person next door; to sound like someone I’d like to have a beer with? Whoever told you that was well intentioned, but with all due respect, the guy next door sounds as if he didn’t finish high school.
“Being a friend to the listener” got lost in translation. It doesn’t mean you have to sound like the person that is listening.
In this era of being ’real’, don’t think of it as being deceptive if you are being something that you are not in the name of entertainment. I know the BS sensors are well tuned these days, but we all still like to be entertained.
Are you tapped into what going on? Do you sound interesting; maybe a little ‘larger than life’? At the very least, you should sound like you are informed, an insider; that you have insight and information that is unique You don’t necessarily have to know more than me, just have an interesting take on what you do know.
Along with the art of illusion, another thing that has been lost is radio’s position as a front runner in the entertainment business. The personalities on the radio were ‘entertainers’ – performers. The concept of ‘performing’ in the radio business is now equated with doing your chores cheerfully; your contribution to the business of running a radio station in a practical sense. Gone are the days of performing in the sense of actually putting on a show as opposed to doing a ‘shift’.
**Rant Warning**
I heard someone on the radio emote with glee in anticipation of a couple of horrific stories that I, the listener, should really look forward to hearing more about as if it were ‘good’ news. It’s a reflection of how news has become mired in the depths of sensationalism and, as I heard one local anchor put it, we all know that ’news’ is essentially bad news” as if it shouldn’t be, or ever was, anything else!? I heard George Stroumboulopoulos say ‘shit’ in one of his monologues lately and I couldn’t help but think about how the writers, editors and directors feel some sense of accomplishment in ‘getting away with it’.
In terms of what we hear on the air the only advancement radio can boast in the name of entertainment is working the words penis and vagina into the ‘conversation’… “Ooh, we are really communicating on their level now, boys! Are we being ‘real’ or what?!” It saddens me that we want to be so much like the guy on the street, to really ‘communicate’, that the reality of our influence as broadcasters and ‘performers’ has no bearing on what used to be referred to as professionalism. I am not offended not by the ‘words’, but how low the bar is now for what constitutes entertainment and creativity.
Uh oh, rant is picking up momentum…
Do you say Noo-cue-ler or new-clee-ar? For that matter, do you say noos or news? Yer or your? Kin or can? No one except you should ever think about it. It should never come to my attention as a listener that you, in the words of Dr. Fribish, “Don’t speak good.”
Does nobody really care if the pronunciation of the word nuclear is now accepted as nucular? What is going on? I don’t have the largest vocabulary around and am constantly being corrected by the grammar police in my house, but I will always (we’ll, okay most of the time) try to find a word that has more than four letters to emphasize what I am trying to say. I accept it as a creative challenge if nothing else. To really being able to communicate with the written a spoken word is something I try to get better at all the time, but why? Pretty soon nobody is going to understand anything I am saying, anyway.
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