Hi folks, this week's playlist winner is Brian Wang, host of Jazz Do it
(Thursdays 6-7 PM). Brian played a track from Charles Goold's new album (#126
on the playlist) and wins a CD from the promo box.
Keep looking for underplayed and underappreciated show to add depth and
uniqueness to your programming! Good luck next week!
--
For this week's programming tip, we'll be focusing on something a bit more
practical: voice use for live radio, how to speak and what to do to be
effective when speaking on the mic.
Speaking live over the air can be a very harrowing experience, especially for
new on air hosts. But, there are some simple things you can do to make the
experience less stressful.
First and foremost, the focus is not on perfection. No one will speak perfectly
over the air when broadcasting live, not even someone with decades of
experience. You will miss pronounce words and trip over your own tongue. But,
you will want to notice where you are making mistakes. If you notice you have
problems with pronunciation, then look up the words you are mispronouncing
before hand so you'll make less mistakes. If you trip over your own words,
learning to talk slower. Use a natural delivery and speak on the mic the way
you would normally speak in real life, both in what you say (use your own
words) and how you say it (use your own cadence and natural speed of how you
talk). Never try to be someone you aren't while at our station, and never use a
different voice or accent when speaking. Always be yourself. The goal is not
perfection, but to be real. Authenticity is very important when speaking and
your audience will pick up on any lack of authenticity right away. Natural
speakers make mistakes while speaking, and you will learn that making a mistake
is not as big a problem as you think it is. In fact, mistakes are sometimes the
point of speaking!
Scripting will also help with anything you speak over the air, but don't rely
on it completely. The purpose of a script is to give you a general idea of what
you want to say when speaking, in that, it should contain all the basic info
you need to tell your audience about. But, unless you are reading a news piece
or reciting a story over the air, you should never read material over the air
verbatim, or as it is written. You will want to add your own inflections and
style to whatever you are reading. Often, if you are reading something as it is
written over the air, you end up sounding robotic and inauthentic, which your
audience will pick up on right away. Anyone reading a script without first
putting in their own words will sound awkward. Aircheck yourself (that is,
record yourself as you speak over the air) and you'll hear the robotic and
unnatural way of speaking as you read printed material on the air. As you
develop as a speaker, you will find your own natural way of speaking on the
air, and learn to avoid reading printed material as it is written, and will
even learn to paraphrase as you read it. You want to sound as natural as
possible, and speaking naturally is a hallmark of campus/community radio that
you will want to embrace as much as you can.
On more practical matters, how your body is positioned helps a lot when
speaking on the air. Be aware of where your head is positioned when you speak.
You will want to speak directly into the microphone, about 2-3 inches from the
mic. For example, if you are reading material off a piece of paper or a tablet
in your lap, then your head will be pointed down. You won't be able to speak
directly into the mic and you won't be able to project your voice naturally, so
you will sound muffled to the listener. The same can happen when reading from a
laptop or something off to the side of your microphone. Turning your head away
from the mic to read causes your voice to fade out and make it difficult for a
listener to hear you. Get in the habit of speaking directly into the mic and
having the material you need to refer to in front of you when speaking, so you
won't be turning your head away from the microphone. Any time you talk and turn
your head away from the mic make it hard on your listener to hear.
It's also important to remember to speak up and out when speaking on the mic.
Speaking up and out is learning to raise your voice, not to the point of
shouting, but to the point where you are easily heard. Speaking out is ensuring
that you can breathe and expand your chest when speaking. If you are hunched
over when speaking, then you won't be able to project properly. Some
programmers like to stand when speaking, because you won't compress your chest
the same way you would when sitting down. Make sure you keep a regular level to
your voice too. You won't want to start talking softly, then start talking
loudly. Watch the levels on your VU meters on the soundboard when speaking so
you can adjust your voice accordingly, or change the volume of your microphone
on the board. Also, watch the volume of your voice in relation to music you may
be playing, both volumes should be similar to each other so your listener won't
have to continually adjust their volumes when listenering. Keep your volume and
speed constant to make it easier for the listener to understand you.
Lastly, remember to program interesting content. If you are interested in what
you are programming, your voice will reflect that interest. Your passion will
animate your voice and your audience will easily pick up on your passion, which
will draw them in to your show. If you sound uninterested in what you are
saying, there's no reason a listener would be interested either. Your passion
and your interest drive your show, so you will want to speak like you are
passionate about what you are talking about. That's what this style of radio we
do it about: your personal passions. Pour your personality into your show,
research interesting material to pass on to your audience and show your
audience that you are invested in the experience. Your audience is why you
broadcast, so you need to engage them and make the experience enjoyable for
both them and yourself.
--
Steve Marlow, Programming Coordinator
CFBX 92.5 FM www.thex.ca
Campus/Community Radio for TRU and Kamloops
