In 2016, I ran an eight-week radio presenter training course at Whitechapel AM. A typical mistake that beginner presenters make is when they question their guests. They’ll have a topic; they’ll mention their point of view, and then they’ll ask their guests for their opinion. It generally goes like this: Prepared Script “The star is offering four hundred lucky guests - the chance to come and see her perform - With tickets ranging in price - from four thousand pounds to a whopping one hundred and fifty grand ..blah blah blah.” What do you think Dave? - Answer. Jackie. What do you think about this? - Answer. Stephen. Is she charging too much?” - Answer. Why This Form of Questioning Doesn’t Work There are two problems with this style of questioning. The first issue is that the presenter hasn’t bothered to think about their topic. They also haven't bothered to think about their questions. It’s basically: “I think this. What do you make of this?” It makes for boring radio. The second problem is that the conversation and topic never move on. The guests' replies are also very similar. Similar replies makes the segment sound dull. What You Need to Do Is: 1) Have a beginning, a middle and an end for everything that you want to discuss. 2) Know how you’re getting into your topic. 3) Know what you're going to discuss. 4) Know how to move the issue forward. 5) Understand how you’re going to end the segment. Plan Your Journey Beforehand If you’re commenting on a news story and you’re throwing it open to your guests, then plan your “journey” beforehand. Example of Moving the Topic Forwards Here's an excellent example of questioning your studio guests. It came from one of my trainees on my eight-week radio presenter training course. Let's look at it first and then break it down. Presenter: “The star is offering four hundred lucky guests - the chance to come and see her perform - With tickets ranging in price - from four thousand pounds to a whopping one hundred and fifty grand ..blah blah blah. If you had the money, would you pay four grand or more to see Madonna - or anyone else? Is this a good thing - using her name to help charities? What do you think of celebrities cashing in on their fame? Or do you think - this is just Madonna promoting herself? Call us and let us know on XXXXXX And we have our lovely guests on the show tonight - I’m sure they’ll have some thoughts on this. Mel, Duncan, Joshua and Andreas. Good evening. To Mel: What do you think of celebrities endorsing or setting up charities? To Duncan: Would you pay so much to see Madonna? To Joshua: Who would you pay four thousand pounds to see? To Andreas: Have you ever spent a huge amount of money - to see your music idol? I’m sure you've all got thoughts on this. If you’d like to share them with us, then call now on XXXXXX. Whitechapel AM.” Let’s Take a Look at Why It Worked 1. Describe the Story You’ve done your show prep and you’ve researched! :) You’ve found an interesting story for your show. You describe the story to your listeners and your guests. “The star is offering four hundred lucky guests - the chance to come and see her perform - With tickets ranging in price - from four thousand pounds to a whopping one hundred and fifty grand ..blah blah blah.” Tip Always write your numbers in words. It makes it easier to read. 2. Throw the Question Open to Your Listeners "If you had the money, would you pay four grand or more to see Madonna - or anyone else? Is this a good thing - using her name to help charities? What do you think of celebrities cashing in on their fame? Or do you think - this is just Madonna promoting herself?" 3. Call for an Interaction "Call us and let us know on XXXXXX” 4. Now Move on to Your Guests “And we have our lovely guests on the show tonight - I’m sure they’ll have some thoughts on this. Mel, Duncan, Joshua and Andreas. Good evening. To Mel: What do you think of celebrities endorsing or setting up charities? To Duncan: Would you pay so much to see Madonna? To Joshua: Who would you pay four thousand pounds to see? To Andreas: Have you ever spent a huge amount of money - to see your music idol? 5. Final Call for Interaction I’m sure you've all got thoughts on this. If you’d like to share them with us, then call now on XXXXXX. Whitechapel AM.” Why This Style of Questioning Works 1. He’s researched the topic and he's found further questions to ask on the same subject. 2. He asks his listeners different questions (on the same topic) to get them thinking. 3. He asks each guest a different question to move the item on from the last point. 4. He sums up the topic and once again calls for interaction from the audience. Create a Journey for Your Questions When you look at his questions, you see he’s created a journey. The topic is always moving. It’s much more interesting than: What do you think A? What do you think B? What do you think C? To Recap: Find an interesting story for your show. DO YOUR SHOW PREP! :) Have a beginning, middle and end for your topic. Prepare / ask some questions to get your audience interested and thinking. (We're after an interaction.) Research further questions to ask your guests. (We're after their interaction.) Ask each guest a different question. It will give your topic a “journey,” and it will stop your guests giving similar answers. Recap with a call for audience interaction. Learn where to find show ideas. Discover how to show prep like a pro. Master the mixing desk. What it is, how it works and how to use it. Discover what you shouldn't do as a presenter. A random Japanese Twitter friend drew this for me. I like it! Ashley Cowan runs the Online Radio School where he tutors in radio presenting and media interviewing techniques. He was a BBC World Service, Radio studio manager for nine years. He was also the station manager for Radio Kings, the hospital radio station for Kings College Hospital. Other crimes include being the training manager for K2K Radio & Whitechapel AM. As a radio presenter, he's hosted radio shows on three FM stations. That was back in the day when FM radio was a big deal. The poor radio stations that had to put up with his brand of terrible comedy were: Radio DÅB, FLR 107.3 FM, and City FM. Radio DÅB had 100,000 listeners! Woo! When he's not writing about himself in the third person, then he was also a community radio DJ at Radio Kings, TGR Sound, Sydenham Radio, and Croydon Radio. He once did production work for Total Rock.com. That was a fun station with a cool owner and a great broadcast team! Brown fizzy water often accompanied the broadcasts! In his spare time, he's London Irish (so he likes a beer). He's recently created an online "Fingerpicking for Guitar" course. There he teaches the art of fingerpicking for... erm...guitar. Students can learn twenty different fingerpicking styles for their chords. Comments are closed.
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Ashley..
is an ex BBC, radio studio manager, and the ex manager of Radio Kings, the hospital radio station for King's College Hospital. He's presented on three FM stations and waaay too many community stations. Archives
May 2020
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