Radio however is a very different medium to television for a number of reasons. According to Richard Fidler, a well know ABC radio personality, the main differences that separate radio from TV is that radio is more intimate and allows listeners to feel included. Unlike TV which is a high impact medium, radio allows its listeners to multi-task and do things such as drive a car, bake or go for a run, all while listening.
This sound lecture highlighted the importance of the role of a radio interviewer. Fidler describes the perfect interviewer as kind yet probing and one that is genuinely interested in the interviewee. Preparation is a must and the story should be a good one with the key being to provide a safe environment for the interviewee so that they may reveal information without feeling too pressured. However he admits that sometimes defence is necessary especially with experienced subjects who often deal with the media and as a result need to be approached differently. The key theme that runs through his arguments however is that the radio subjects, experienced or not need to place enough trust in the program to speak their mind and reveal their experiences.
His advice to people wanting to maybe follow in his footsteps?
- Worldliness
- Read!
- Keep asking questions
- Be open-minded
- Don't live in an ideological ghetto
- Expose yourself to thoughts and ideas of people you don't agree with
- Be open to different currents of thought
- Expand your world
- Do what you like.
The second radio personality interviewed was ABC's Steve Austin who like best successful people worked his way up through the ranks through "grovelling and kissing butt."
Steve Austin in his interview discussed the importance of annunciation and the tone of voice in order to break down the barriers between the radio host and the listeners. "Radio is the theatre of the mind" and in order to perform the best one must engage with both the interviewee and the listeners on a level that allows for this.
He highlights how the best radio is not about being right or wrong but rather about reflecting and being interested in the person being interviewed's story and experiences yet still making it easy on the listener. Human beings, Austin says, are emotional beings, driven by life experiences which are very broad, we are rational yet more so emotional. The trick to balancing both the interviewee and the listeners is to be human, that is; to search for the full gamut of human experience and to genuinely be interested yet not to the point of being dry and to show respect through the art of listening. For him, this becomes evident when the interviewee becomes lost in the moment, almost forgotten they were on radio, and spills more of their experience than originally intended. According to Austin that is the magic moment in radio.
So what is it that really makes a person a good radio host? From what I gathered from the two presenters and their different contributions is that radio is really about engaging with the listeners at home with a real story that they can relate to. It's about letting an interviewee talk and share their experiences so that maybe, just maybe a magic moment may occur!
Public Radio is thriving, especially with the advances in new technology such as Podcasts and Twitter, being able to reach a large audience across the globe. More so radio has always been time-poor meaning that people who are busy and on the move may still listen to radio as it allows for multi-tasking. Either way radio has certainly maintained its popularity over the years and even more so now with the increasing accessibility of Podcasts on the move.
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