Grabbing Attention and Ending on Impact

(This is not 'Thee Way'.. its 'A Way'!)

Remember you don't want to sound like you are doing things the exact same way every time you speak, instead, make it sound different without compromising the strong foundations. I believe it is always good to be open to trying new things. Sometimes set patterns can put limitations on us. Here are some tips that might help you in certain types of speech elements you do on-air along with the fundamentals. I hope you find them useful.

Getting in and out

You have only a few seconds to grab the listeners attention before they can choose to change the station. At this point it is vital to hook your audience by giving them something that they’re curious to hear more of.

Give them a reason to stick around!

Starting with a snappy line when possible will grab attention just before you brand the station name. (Get the branding out of the way early on). Say something that will make listeners want to hear the rest of the content / story.

If you are delivering a content / story style link, then end on impact with a payoff or punchline. It doesn’t always have to be a funny punchline, just something snappy so that you can end on impact.

Hooking songs / forward Selling

Forward selling music is really only necessary once every quarter hour (Before a Break normally). That's if hooking is required on the radio station you are at! Not all stations do that. It’s better to tease a song by saying something that will make people want to know which song it is. A bad example would be 'I have Rhianna right after Harry Styles'. It’s best not to giveaway the order that the songs will play. The strongest song teases are normally ones with an emotional connection, eg. a memorable song from a movie scene, something everyone relates with. This is how you’ll get the best type of listener reaction, they will mentally react. That’s a much better reaction than a text message. It’s better to get your forward selling out of the way before your content. Again, the reason is so you can end on impact. That’s the end of that- there’s no coming back to say what songs are coming next etc, this is much more effective.

Forward Selling features / Content

When forward selling a feature or great content story- don’t just tell them that it’s coming up. Instead, tell them it’s happening within the next 10 or 15mins. The listener needs to know they won’t have to wait all day, and by using the word “within”, it means they can’t go away and come back in exactly 10mins.

Introducing Songs

It’s good to sell / mention title and artist of the song if you’re playing a new one. But if its not new or unfamiliar and you’re not talking about the song, then there’s no need to introduce it, by doing so, it will sound tagged onto the end of what you are talking about. Most of the time, the song gets thrown at the end of a link when we can't think of a snappy ending. It’s a crutch. It sounds predictable. It’s better to finish off what you’re talking about and get out! Naturally you will mention artist and title and station name if playing a new song!

One to One

Talk directly to one listener at a time, not everyone at once. If one of your listeners was to walk into the studio would you say to that person, 'You've all been texting me'? or 'You’re all good at this'? No! You would say to that one person something like, 'Everyone has been texting me today' or 'Everyone is good at this'. You can tell that one person about all the other people, but they’re not all in the same place. Avoid saying, 'Hi folks' or 'Hi everyone'. If you are doing a live gig, you see the audience in front of you. In radio think of one person who is listening and not standing in the same room as everyone else!

Sound fun

Remember pop radio should have a fun atmosphere! Although you are talking to one person, the person is not the microphone. Imagine the listener is sitting at the opposite end of the desk to you and the music is playing in the studio while you are chatting. You naturally will project your voice to reach them. Unless you are on a classical station, you don’t want to sound like you are chatting to someone in a quiet empty room!

Word Economy

Be concise, say what you need to say in least amount of words possible.

Don’t Fill up to the vocal .

It's good to time when you start the next song so you can hit the vocal. But if you finish a bit early it is better to leave the rest of the intro to play rather than throwing in extra words to get there!

Don’t talk over the ends of songs that end cold .

This does not mean begin talking and leave a gap for song to end then come back again. Don’t start at all until the song ends. (Can break this one a bit if song ends with bit of music with no vocal!)

Forward Progression

Forward Progression means thinking and talking about what’s ahead. Don’t mention what songs you’ve just played unless it’s a specialist music show or you have a good reason to.

It's always good to promote the jock who is on after you, and likewise the jock prior to you mentions that you are on after them! But there is no need to give a plug or thank the jock who WAS on BEFORE you when you first sign on. It's best to make an entrance with forward progression. Don’t dwell on the past, forward sell what’s to come, this will keep listeners hooked and will be far more effective. If you’re talking about highlights from a show that has already aired, then you can use that to plug when the show is on next! It's just better not to do it the first time you speak at the start of your show!