Hi everyone, this week's playlist winner is Elymor Villanueva, host of A Warm
Welcome (Tuesdays 2-3 PM). Elymor played a track from Kurt Reiman's new album
(#169 on the playlist) and wins a CD from the promo box.
Remember to explore and play music from the playlist to add some important
variety to your show. The most you explore, the better your show will be and
the better chance you have to win music. Thanks!
--
For this week's programming tip, we'll be focusing on something I've been
talking about all this past week in programming seminars: airchecks.
An aircheck is a recording of your show you can take home with you and listen
to. You can do this yourself, say recording your show off the radio onto a
cassette tape, or recording off of a radio app on to your phone. You can also
bring by a thumbdrive and I can pull the show off of the digital logger for
you. You can use an aircheck for a bunch of helpful things with your show.
The first and foremost reason to aircheck is for you to listen to yourself. You
will hear all of your successes and mistakes laid bare upon a listen to your
show. This is a good thing though, you will immediately hear what you are doing
well and hear what you aren't doing well. What you will hear also might
surprise you. You might think that something you are doing in your show is
going well, only to hear it fall flat in a recording of your show. The same
thing could happen the other way, that is, something you felt didn't go well
sounded better than you thought. Listen for small elements like verbal tics
(um, ah, you know, like, anyway...), gaps between elements, like between when
you speak and when you start a song, or between songs, spacing out of public
service and promo materials and fluctuations in your volume level, both in how
you speak, but in your microphone and the guest microphone, and in the music
you play. Airchecking will also give you time to get used to your own speaking
voice, which most of us aren't comfortable with hearing. The more you hear your
own voice, the less it will make you uncomfortable.
Share your airchecks with your friends and family too. Make sure they are
people you can trust to give you an honest opinion. The point is that they can
also give you tips on how to do things better. Ask your friends to tell you
what worked well in your show and what needs more work to get better, then use
their advice to make your show better. You don't want a person to tell you how
great it is you have a radio show or how awesome it is: the point of this is to
make your show better. You must be open to criticism and strive to make your
show better. Good programming comes with effort, and effort leads to better
habits, which leads to better planning and thinking. Remember that station
volunteers and staff can also help you out, so ask them to listen to your show
as well.
You can also aircheck other shows, in a way. Good programmers are also good
listeners, and tend to listen to a lot of the radio we produce. Give a listen
to other programs on the air other than yours and take notes on them. If they
do something that you found particularly engaging, write it down and try to
incorporate the idea into your show. This works especially well for new
programmers who are looking to bring structure and ideas into their show.
Veteran programmers can always learn things from other programmers too, old and
new. New programmers often come at ideas in totally novel ways that veteran
programmers wouldn't consider. Keep your own programming habits in mind when
programming your show. Not only do you represent your show to your audience,
but your style of programming also informs other programmers tuning in,
especially new programmers, who will be learning from you on how good
programming sounds. This goes double for any new volunteers coming by to sit in
with you for your show.
Lastly, remember that airchecking is used for review purposes only. Remember
that you don't have the right to put your show up online for others to listen
to or download at will, due to copyrights on music. If you do choose to share
your show, keep the circle small and only share with those that won't share it
with others.
--
Steve Marlow, Programming Coordinator
CFBX 92.5 FM www.thex.ca
Campus/Community Radio for TRU and Kamloops
