Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio 
Spring 1999 

     So, your program director gives you the following advice during an aircheck session: “you need to think about your listener when you announce.” 

     When I was new to the business of radio, I was offered that same bit of advice. It’s a statement that’s a little oversimplified, but it’s well-intended. You may already have a pretty good idea of what to do with such a direction (remember, you want to keep your job). And I can also understand how an announcer might be offended by being told to “think about your listener.” Of course, we ALL think about our listeners, every time we open the mic. I can’t envision someone who wouldn’t. 

     I guess what’s meant by “you need to think about your listener,” is this: we need to find the words and techniques that communicate to the listeners that we are thinking about them and talking directly with them, one-on-one. It’s a very subtle thing, but the word choice involved, combined with the style of delivery, will reflect a concern for the listener. 

     A big part of making a positive connection with your listeners involves understanding what your listeners are like, what their preferences and lifestyles are. It’s an easy mistake to assume they are exactly like you, or that they are all like your friends who listen to your station.  Fortunately, there’s some very helpful audience research available on line. 

     Look for it as a part of the Audience 98 study. The Audience 98 study is an incredibly useful tool for re-calibrating your on-air approach. To get started, read Report 15,  “A Community of Characters.” In the same report, check out the great information included as the “Abbreviated Guide to VALS.” After you’ve read the reports from Audience 98 you’ll have a much clearer picture of the listener you need to think about and talk with. “Understanding how [our listeners] perceive themselves and their world helps us choose the programming, the words, and the appeals that can accomplish our ends more effectively.” ( Audience 98 report 15, sidebar entitled “VALS Notes—Why Use VALS?”) 

     What specific techniques can you use today, to “think more about your listener?” Here are a few suggestions: 

     1. We need to choose subject matter that the listener finds interesting and considers important. Classical music announcers can be notorious when it comes to missing wonderful opportunities to connect with the listener. The listener that I’m referring to here is the average person who “likes” classical music. Keep in mind, the 100 musicians in the local symphony and the music teachers at the nearest university are not a part of this group of listeners, and represent a small percentage of your weekly cume. (Flame shields up! I used to be a music teacher, and played in symphony orchestras.) Would your average listener care much about learning that “Alexander Porfirevich Borodin, born in 1833 in St. Petersburg, was a member of the influential group of Russian composers known as the Mighty Five?” Or would they find it more engaging and get a better look at the person who wrote the music by hearing that Borodin was a foster father and chemistry professor? I believe it’s best to look for the human angle, something everyone can relate to, and avoid a professorial lecture. 

     Please understand, these techniques should not be equated with “dumbing down” the music or the presentation. However, I am suggesting that a careful selection of appealing music combined with a friendly and intelligent presentation can go a long way toward building an audience for classical music. The Audience 98 research tells us that public radio listeners “place the highest value on news and information and the lowest value on locally produced music.” ( Audience 98 report 1, “The Value of Programming—Major Findings”) Unless you take steps to increase the radio audience for classical music, your GMs and board members may decide to serve the public with something else. Symphony orchestra directors and managers know how to reach out to people. They offer special events and gospel nights, family and pops series, all-Mozart concerts; and every time they do, someone new is brought to the concert hall. Gradually those new concert-goers move from casual listeners to fans to classical music lovers. As radio professionals we can employ our own populist approach to increase our audience, and we need to do so with intelligence. If our classical music selections and presentation styles appeal to the typical, highly educated NPR news listener, we will in fact be providing a stronger public service. ( Audience 98 report 17, sidebar entitled “Appeal, Affinity, And Other Programming Considerations”) 

     2. A friendly sounding (and skilled) announcer will use language in the same way the listener uses words. A good starting point for this is to “talk about” the weather, instead of delivering the forecast like a weather radio. Thinking this way, a National Weather Service forecast of  “a 70 percent chance for rain showers, with a northwest wind from 15 to 20 mph,” translates to “looks like we’ll get some rain today...and it’ll be kinda breezy too.” When the National Weather Service says “the extended forecast calls for no precipitation,” I say “the dry weather should hold up for the next few days.” To avoid clutter, the announcers at my station usually give weather information that can be easily digested the first time it is heard; that is, the forecast for today, tonight, and tomorrow. Besides, around here, the extended forecasts often change. This basic change of wording can have an amazing effect on your sound. And once you start to do this with the weather forecast, you might begin to think differently about the way you says other things on air. 

     Less is often more. Keep that concept in mind when you are scripting a break, and select the fewest, most memorable words possible. Remember that your listener cannot reread a portion of the text to get its meaning. That’s a luxury not afforded to people who write for radio. To have any power at all, your words and concepts must be clear and concise. 

     3. The style of delivery can make or break a positive connection. This is a tough one to analyze, but an announcer’s inflection often has a lot to do with it. A “sing-song” approach really gets in the way. If your PD tells you that you’re locked into a roller-coaster style, get him or her to help you by listening to your tape before your next session, transcribe one of your breaks, and mark the copy, perhaps using arrows or a sine wave, showing the places where the pitch goes up and down. Then during your air-check session, review the chart together, listen to a different break, and do the same analysis yourself.  Now have a little fun with your session by reading the copy aloud in a variety of ways. Try reading with NO inflection! Or go way over the top with the “sing-song.” The idea is to HEAR and FEEL what you are doing with your voice and to understand that you have the flexibility to control the pitch. You’ll also begin see that pre-reading and “owning” the copy is essential to the process. Once you have the words under your belt and fully own the copy, you can concentrate on inflection. What we’re really trying to do here is to become a DJ with flexibility, one who can eventually voice-act. 

     Style of delivery also includes pronunciation. Usually, it’s a problem with announcers sounding too precise, having that detached, I’m-the-announcer- reading- the-copy-to-you sound. To foster an informal, friendly sound, I’ve suggested that my announcers pronounce “a” and “the” as “uh” and “thuh.” You’ll be amazed how much more natural and friendly a sentence will become by altering the pronunciation of those two words. 

     Getting the right amount of friendliness without sounding fake can also be elusive. For the classic have-a-smile-in-your-voice sound, the best advice I’ve ever heard came from David Roden at WKSU : “try to project a sense of comfort and well-being. It’s cloudy (and maybe dark) out, but think of sunlight streaming in the window. Smile gently, just a little.” Imagery like this works best for me. 

     A friendly sound can also be enhanced by simply remembering to sincerely greet and thank the listener a few times. Give your name and say “hello,” or “good afternoon.” One of my announcers described this as “showing courtesy to the listener.” There’s always someone new tuning in, and they’ve chosen to listen to you. 

     4. Although very difficult to pull off, some kind of recognition of what the listener is doing right now can really hit home. An oblique approach will help avoid a contrived effect. As an example, I once heard Classical 24 announcer Tom Crann say, at about 3 or 4 a.m., “Good Morning!  It’s early!  What are you doin’ up so early?” And I knew he was talking to me. I also remember hearing a local announcer follow a particularly bright piece of music with “I bet this is the kind of thing that makes your day move right along!” Explicit lifestyle references, however, may present problems. If not carefully done, they may come across as too clever or intrusive and could alienate certain listeners. What I’m attempting to describe here is a subtle technique. It does take a lot of work to develop a sense for when it’s right to use. 

     There are many, many more ways to connect with your listener, but that’s what comes to mind for now. Words and styles are powerful tools...have fun talking with your listener!