The World's Best Advice for DJs, Show-hosts and Presenters

Michael Hedges December 30, 2005

Advice to Holiday Replacement DJs (et.al.)

Reader attention to suggestions offered to DJs, show hosts and presenters in the recent conversation prove that the cover is truly off the box of secrets. Unfortunately the knowledge transfer so accessible in this internet age has not filtered down to holiday replacement presenters this humble writer has had to suffer with. Hence, here are a few more suggestions from le ancien directeur du programmes (sounds far more sexy than “old PD “).

First, ask yourself a question: “Why are you on the radio right now?” Unless you are righteously volunteering at a community or university station, forget everything except one simple fact: You are on the radio right now because somebody is paying you to be on the radio.

What, exactly, you are being paid to do varies from station to station, program director to program director, owner to owner, city to city, country to country. Essentially you are being paid to pay attention and give your total concentration. This means stay off the telephone (unless that’s part of the job), off the internet, out of the bosses office during long music sets.

Second; be and stay prepared. You are also on the radio right now because you love being on the radio. Therefore, be totally knowledgeable of the equipment and the program rules. Know how to do the job you are expected to do. Hate the rules? Fine: to break the rules, you must first know the rules. Want an example? Go to the BBC Radio 1 archives and listen to any program by John Peel.

Forget all that nonsense about “being yourself” on the radio. You are a character in a wonderful story that unfolds each hour of each day. You can choose to live the character or fake it. Once you enter that studio, you are that character.

Number 3: always respect the listener. He or she is the reason you are on the radio. Show that respect by placing the listeners needs above all else. If an important news, sports or weather item breaks, do not wait until some formatted “correct” moment. Get it on. With this in mind, don’t even think about interrupting any program element with something frivolous concocted to entertain your mother or, worse, yourself.

Radio is not TV. It’s personal. You are talking to one person, never “all you fine folks out there in radio land.” Likewise, visualize being right there with that one listener. Radio succeeds most when it effectively reduces its distance from the listener.

Once you open your mouth to talk on the radio, respect the listener by limiting yourself to three thoughts (Rule of Three). This applies to talk-show hosts, too. Remind the good listener who or where you are, do your bit then move on. And don’t mumble; respect your language.

Want more? Sorry: re-read the preceding paragraph.

One ftm reader asked: "Have you seen a good style-guide, something up-to-date, for DJs, show-hosts and presenters." We posed the question, and here are the expert answers. Click here and add your advice, too!!

Don Murphy, radio show host, Germany and US

1)  Find someone you, yourself enjoy listening to; someone with a certain level of success in their career.     Analyze why it is you enjoy listening to them.  Write down notes about their show.  Aircheck yourself and compare the notes from your show to the notes about the show you personally enjoy.  DO NOT COPY EXACTLY what it is they do, but adapt their techniques to your style.

2)  Find a mentor; someone (perhaps the personality you enjoy listening to) and trade ideas with them.     Ask them to aircheck you. Maybe they will ask you to aircheck them. (Some of my biggest personal growth came after becoming a talent development coach; helping other talent grow their shows.)

3)  Hire a coach and work with them every day or at the very least once per week. Some of the highest paid professional athletes in the world are American baseball players that regularly hit home runs. They have batting coaches with whom the work every day... even in the "off season". They don't just show-up to spring training, work with a guy a couple of days and say "thanks". They're on the field with them right up until game time working on their swing. Wouldn't you like to earn $2,500,000 per year?  (2005 Average MLB Player's Salary)

Rik deLisle, Burns Media/Europe

"I don't think there is one anymore. The most important thing is that the PD "hears" where the station needs to be headed. Then he needs to "guide" each DJ seperately. By that I mean, each DJ brings (hopefully) something special, something that makes him or her special, to the table. "Guiding" a DJ is a "one to one" experience. It should not be left to "books""pamphlets" or "guides". Those things are for civil servants. It is a natural born hate of things like guidebooks and rules that make some of us become DJs in the first place. Fact of the matter is, most DJ's read with thier ears and not with thier eyes.Play them a demo of how it should sound. Guidebooks tend to lay in the corner of the studio and never get read by anybody. You should be able to "guide" your DJs along the right path with a few simple sentences. If you can't do that, you may not know yourself where you want to be heading."

Maxim Kunin, Radio Alpha, Perm, Russia

"We made at our radio station the special book - the handbook, that we named "DJ's Bible." Actully it is the guidleine for what on-air staff have to do on the air and how they have to do. It consists of 20 pages, and if you are interested I can send it to you. But the language - Russian, and I need a few days to translate it into English."

Valerie Geller, consultant

"Perhaps you can suggest the Powerful Radio Workbook?"

Ivars Embrekts, Radio Skonto, Riga, Latvia

"Listen to WABC on the internet."