HOW TO GIVE GOOD PHONE Chris Byrnes We received an email recently from a Program Director asking for suggestions on how to make his radio sound more local. After exchanging a couple of emails and reviewing air-checks we quickly established that his station was mainly voice-tracked and even when there was a live body in the control room, the phones were seldom used. Today more than ever radio stations are voice-tracking important day-parts to reduce costs and provide efficiencies within their group, so I thought there might be others who could benefit from the suggestions I passed along.
Why Listener Phone Calls On Air Are Important: The benefit of properly using the phones is that it helps your radio station sound local and more in touch with the community. It also enables you to do things that radio excels at and can't be duplicated by billboards, newspaper, direct-mail, or the internet.
Record All Calls: For some unknown reason, most announcers only record calls when they are doing a contest or have asked for calls. This means they miss out on so many great opportunities to make their radio station sound less predictable and more interactive. But with today's technology it's not a big deal to stop recording when the material is not usable on the air. Frankly, talent today should have more time to record calls because all of the audio material logged to play is already set up in the digital automation device. They do not have to cue records or pull carts. But getting into the habit of recording all calls requires each jock to develop a system and then make it a habit. Try it for a week and see if your PD or GM notices the increased local content, entertainment and fun on your show.
Recycle: Again this seems really obvious, but a lot of announcers don't bother to save the raw audio and then go back and edit it in a different way. Chances are you can spend three minutes talking to a caller while that four-minute song is playing. By the time you have edited the call, 75% of it will never make it to air. So go back and look for creative ways to use some of the other audio. Most radio stations work hard to ensure the winner promos are edited in such a way that they sound like several winners. Why not do that with the other calls? When a good caller asks for a song you are going to play, save that audio and drop the call over the front of the song.
Give the Phone Number: This too is obvious but it's often the best-kept secret at a lot of radio stations. You would be amazed how many announcers think that everyone knows the contest/request line phone number. The other problem we often hear is announcers who rattle off the numbers so quickly that the majority of the audience would never remember the number after locating something on which to write it. Chances are it's only your "contest pigs" who have your number in their speed dial or can instantly recall it when the jock asks for caller #9. The end result is that as many as 92% of your listeners cannot recall the phone number and therefore will never be heard on your radio station. Look for creative and different ways to give the phone number on the air. I recently heard someone say "If you ever need to reach out and touch XXXX-FM our studio line is 555-5555 and we always answer our phones."
Understand the Technology: Radio stations seem to have an unusual way of teaching new staff how to operate equipment. Normally, one of the air staff spends some time showing the new guy some of what he or she knows. Chances are this "expert" was taught by someone else who was also taught by someone before him. This probably means that the new trainee learns only a fraction of what the equipment is designed to do. There is also a very good chance each new person also learns the bad habits of the trainer. Learning by "osmosis" is not a bad thing, providing the training is thorough and the person being trained actually listens and takes it all in. Today's phone systems are not that complicated, but each one is different and probably set up differently from one station to the next. I prefer the "one touch" recording system, where the talent presses the flashing line and the recording device starts and routes the on air microphone to the appropriate bus. A better way to train staff is to create a user manual or guide, which is used in conjunction with the practical hands-on training.
Edit the Calls: Everyone is time-starved these days as we deal with longer commutes, more tasks at work and more demands on our time in general. This is just one of the reasons ratings figures depict shorter time spent listening to radio. So, it amazes me to hear long drawn-out phone calls on music stations. In morning drive, the average listener has very little time to listen, so why bother to air a call that has not been edited? Use the editing technology that is likely already in the control room or get access to something simple like cool edit pro. If you have no editing facility, download the "try before you buy version" of Vox Pro e2 at www.audionlabs.com. Then, get to know how to use this software so you can edit quickly. For users of Vox Pro, here is a great tip: One of Vox Pro PC's features is VoiceSlip. Inevitably, jocks talk over callers. When that happens, highlight the area in the edit window and in the Effects menu select VoiceSlip. Silence is automatically inserted in the caller and jock channels separating each and making it easy to delete one or the other.
Don't Rely Totally On "In-Calls": Sometimes a great bit dies because you cannot get the reaction you were looking for off the phones. Today we compete against syndicated radio and television shows that can select the best callers from thousands of calls. They can produce and hype the caller into a frenzy and get the desired level of excitement, anger or humour out of each call. Chances are you are playing in a smaller "puddle" and don't have that luxury. One solution is to get some calls in the can before the show. You can make calls to friends or co-workers. You might be looking for a line or a simple comment.
Listen To Your Callers: This requires you to be organized, have your next break planned and devote all your attention to what your callers are saying. Respond to their questions or comments and look for the angle. Sometimes you end up with a line or a comment that you can weave into your show and add life to a break or a bit.
Make the Caller Feel Like A Star: Greet them appropriately and welcome them to the show. Of course you will probably edit that part of the call out but remember they are probably nervous about calling. I am not a big fan of making the caller look stupid. Howard Stern has made a career out of it, so perhaps I am wrong, but I have always encouraged talent to make the caller feel good about calling your radio station. One way to do this is to reward the listener with laughter and applause whenever you can to make them feel like the "Star."
Plan For the Future: We all know when Christmas is. It will be December 25th for as long as we all live, and probably longer. But often, announcers miss the opportunity to gather up great audio and plan ideas ahead of time. Always try to think a few weeks ahead so when someone calls to ask for a song or what the temperature will be, have a couple of questions to throw at them. "What are you planning for the summer holidays?" or "Who do you want to win Survivor All Star?" That way you can pick the best audio and have it ready to use.
Don't Ask the Same Boring Questions: This applies to all interviews, live, in-studio or on the phone. Make the effort to do some research about your subject and try to ask the questions that would interest your target audience. How many times do you hear interviewers ask artists the question, "So who were your musical influences?"
Use the Callers To Do Your Work: This is an old trick, but it still works well. When the phone rings and someone asks, "Has the Jet flown yet?" or "Have you played the free money song today?" it's a great opportunity to save that call and the next time the schedule calls for you to read that station liner you can run the audio and then answer the caller's question on-air.
Air Sentences, Not Calls: We've already mentioned how time-starved the average listener is today. Rather than running calls on the air in a music format, I encourage announcers to edit the call and run just the relevant comment or sentence from the call. Keep the clips concise and to the point. Don't air a caller chatting on and on.
Conclusion: The above suggestions are a small part of a seminar we created for our client stations which of course covers a great many more topics in more detail than I could hope to cover in a two-page article. I encourage you to share these hints with your air staff and brainstorm ways to make your radio station sound more interactive, less predictable and yes, even less voice-tracked through the creative use of phones. |