Being a Breakfast Radio Host Part 2

I found the secret to a good radio show is the preparation – three hours is a long time to fill with inane natter. So during the week I carry around a notebook and write down ideas for things we can talk about.  Topics people can relate to and share their own anecdotes are the best ones. Also anything topical makes for a good segment so keeping an eye on the news and blogs pays off in making interesting content. Our most popular segment was the one talking about Melbourne becoming the world’s most liveable city. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Melbournians love talking about Melbourne, or anything to do with Melbourne really.

The Monday’s team with Paul Harris, director of the St. Kilda Film Festival

One of the interesting/funny parts of radio is the text-in line. We have a number that we make sure to spruik, and when people text in it appears on the computer screen. It’s the interactive part of the show and can spark up interesting, on-air debates. But sometimes the text in line can go a little wrong. Or maybe a few of the listeners are simply slightly too eager. Either way you want to describe it there are “serial” text-ins you will text every show up to twenty texts a show and it can get a little creepy when they start sharing too many personal details. It can be a difficult situation because on one hand you don’t want to encourage the behaviour if the person is becoming unhealthily obsessed, but it can also be inappropriate and eventually it crosses the line. We had this one text in who shared many a sad detail with us and it was a bit of an injoke, presenters would laugh and roll their eyes, oh yeah he texted in again today and told us this. But then one of the presenters found out who he was and that he was really this lonely IT worker whose favourite thing in life was texting into the station. There was mixed reactions in this, but I think the lesson is to remember that the texters are real people out there listening (just like they should remember that the hosts are real people!) If a texter responds quite negatively to a comment or discussion you’ve made it can be tempting to lash back, but as a host it’s really your responsibility to put your “tough skin” on and remain in control by not letting it affect you so you can best do your job – which is to provide positive entertainment to the rest of your listeners!

Dead air is a scary thing. Seconds of silence feel like hours of silence. Talking when you’re not quite sure of where your sentence is going is something I have to do a lot and it’s a bit of a skill to develop an articulate way of talking on radio. One of the tricks I’ve discovered is to slow down what you’re saying so there’s more time to think about what you’re going to say next. Also having an idea of the beginning, middle and end of your story is definitely something to keep in your mind so you don’t get side-tracked with confusing tangents.

I’ve really appreciated getting more experience in interviewing. We usually do two interviews a show, an ‘Arts’ interview and a ‘Music Interview.’ The producer helps out with this by doing the background research, writing an introduction, checking all the facts and writing five suggested questions, but we’re highly encouraged to do our own research and questions too. So far on the show (which is five weeks in) we’ve interviewed a comedy duo, a Major from the Salvation Army, the director of the St. Kilda Film Festival, one of the guys running the Live Below the Line campaign, and up and coming bands such as Immigrant Union, Tin Sparrow and Damn Terran.

Find this fascinating? Read about some of the challenges of radio in Part 3

You can download a podcast from our show here!