Had dinner Wednesday night with Alan Levy, founder-CEO of BlogTalkRadio, one of the OnHollywood 100 award winners. I’ll post a video interview I conducted with Alan in a few days. Looks like I’ll be starting up a BlogTalkRadio radio show/podcast in June (with a colleague).
Meantime, Brad Kava, in Thursday’s San Jose Mercury News, did a four-hour talk show gig at San Francisco radio station KGO, and his advice is spot on for anyone picking up a radio microphone, especially grassroots radio and podcasting newbies.
• Kava: Tales from the talk-radio graveyard shift
• Kava: What if no one calls?
• Kava’s report card: not great, not horrible
Excerpts:
The station’s assistant program director, Trish Robbins, had advised that I stick to one topic each hour. The most important part of the host’s job is the first five minutes of each hour, "the churn." That’s when they set up a topic and try to churn up interest in it, ending with a question that will spark debate.
The question can be goofy, like John Rothman’s (the regular host in the time slot I was filling): "What would you rather have, chocolate or a kiss?" Or edgy, like one launched by evening host Karel on Saturday night: "What’s wrong with elected officials paying for sex? Don’t tell me it’s against the law, because everyone breaks some law every day."
KGO’s newest host, David Lazarus, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, advised that if it seems callers aren’t lighting up the phones after you’ve posed a question, try rephrasing it. I heard Karel do that Saturday, when he revealed to the audience that he had paid for sex and asked them to join him in being honest. I respected him for his candor. …
One of the best suggestions I had gotten before going on the air came from KGO newswoman Jennifer Hodges: "My advice is to actually listen to what the listeners say, and not think about what you’ll say next. … If you listen, you’ll find you have plenty to respond with!" …
"Tell them where you are going, not where you’ve been," Agnew counsels. "Tease them like TV news does. They tell you some story that sounds great at the beginning of a newscast, and they keep teasing it, so you stay there waiting."
Agnew reminded me not to let boring callers dominate the show, to cut them off as soon as they start to run on. "It’s OK to ask callers to get to the point," he says. "People in their cars are screaming, `Get to the point.’" …
"Don’t waffle," she says. "Choose a side, and back it up. Then callers have something to argue or agree with. Don’t forget that this is entertainment. And think about talking to one person, not getting on a stage and talking to 200. That’s what you are doing, talking to one person listening to their radio. If you remember that, it will be easier to connect with them."
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
Leave a Reply