The Last Minute
Interview
by Tony Hanover
Whether
you’re working for Rick Dees at “The Weekly Top 40” and are told as you
stroll in one fine morning at 8:45, “Here’s her bio, you’re doing a phoner
with Jewel from a tour stop in Baltimore in ten minutes,” or are asked
by a promoter friend late one afternoon to “do a live interview/in-studio
performance with North African Kora virtuoso Mamadou Diabate tomorrow morning
before his only area gig on this tour,” you’ll find the need in radio to
be prepared for anything.
This
concept was known in 70s hipster slang as “Having your game tight.” OK,
OK, so the Boy Scouts had dibs on the concept far earlier, but still, the
point is to expect as a given, rather than be surprised or caught off guard
by abnormalities in timing, scheduling, travel and the like.
In
both instances cited above, I was able to respond with top-notch results
because the information necessary to carry off the tasks at hand was already
familiar territory for me.
While helping to produce one of
the world’s most popular and widely syndicated radio programs, I made it
my business to have reviewed and assimilated every bit of trivia and statistic
on all the top pop stars, past and present, who could come up as subjects
on the countdown. Huge binders of clippings, articles, record company
bios, website info, and trivia were at my fingertips and largely comitted
to memory. Many reference guides lined our studio shelves.
I
knew that morning before I even put down my briefcase or got my first cup
of coffee that Jewel Kilcher was born in Homer, Alaska, came from pioneer
stock, and had a roadhouse musician for a father. I knew that this (at
the time) fairly new artist was a poet-singer-guitarist who had lived a
truly bohemian existence for a time with her mother, surviving together
out of her car. I knew about her early gigs in a San Diego coffeehouse.
Most importantly, I knew she could yodel. I could’ve done the interview
right that moment if she had been on the line.
Likewise,
when many years later I was called about the harpist from Mali, I knew
exactly who he was, and furthermore, I had his CD within arm’s reach while
taking the call. Listeners still remark to me about his unique and enlightening
on-air visit and performance.
I believe that as broadcasters it
is our responsibility to keep cognizant of not just our “corridor of Classical
Music,” but of local, regional, national, and world affairs.
Try
to soak up everything in your perifery. Trivia is your friend. Imagine
remarking, as our gifted KCSN Director of Classical Programming Martin
Perlich did to a certain celestially gifted soprano, the granddaughter
of a slave—a fact that the diva had never publicly spoken of—and you’ve
got interview GOLD. Know, too, that in reference to the title of this article,
Mr. Perlich was informed he could have this particular interview “if he
could get down here to the Music Center today before the end of Mahler’s
4th.” Martin scored in a big way with no prep time because he knew his
stuff.
Here
are just a couple of tips on how to be more “ready for anything” as a classical
announcer.
-
Have a few stock questions in reserve
for the main “types” of folks you could expect to talk to: conductors,
soloists, vocalists, chamber players, orchestra players, studio musicians,
composers.
-
Know the terms and tools of their trades
and where they work. Know what their jobs entail. For instance, how much
does the average person know about a violin bow? Do you know how one works?
What are the parts of it? What they’re made of? What do they cost?
(Have you ever priced a set of gut-strings for a double bass? WOW!)
-
Be ready to talk on a basic human level
about things that are common and relevant, rather than things trite and
obvious.
To conclude, having a good base of information allows you to separate the
human being from what they’re there to promote. (C’mon, how often does
Leonard Slatkin or Cecilia Bartoli drop by the station unaccompanied “just
to chat”?) This way, you can more easily flesh out the standard “Hi-how-are-you,
so-you’re-playing-with-the-Phil-tonight, the-blanky-blank-concerto-in-G-Major,
what-else-is-on-the-bill, do-you-and-maestro- Sowanso-get-on-well, MARvelous!,
tickets at the PerformingArtsCenterBoxOffice or online at priceytix.com,
thanks-for-coming!!!”-type interview. Hopefully you’ll look forward to
those “invigorating” last minute in-studio guests because you’re prepared
to shine in those (never again) unexpected happenstances.
Tony Hanover is Program
Director at KCSN,
Northridge/Los Angeles California
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