Here are 10 tips to help on air personalities (especially on music radio) sharpen their performance. For some these may simply serve as a reminder, but regardless they remain relevant for all on air personalities:
- Intimacy. Avoid thinking that there is an audience listening to you. It should feel like it’s just you and I. I should feel like you’re right there beside me. Radio is about our unique connection. Our friendship. Our bond. Just the two of us. Think about that every time you go to say something. There’s no “out there.” There’s no “(station) listeners.” Choose to be intimate with the language you use and make me feel like it’s you talking to me. Only me.
- Feel the music. Don’t just talk over the 7 second intro but feel the 7 second intro. Match your rhythm to the song’s rhythm. Match your enthusiasm to the tempo of the song. Pause for the powerful drum beat or vocal post. Demonstrate to the listener that you appreciate and are talking with the music (not over it). There is often a disconnect as talent talk over the intro of a song oblivious to what is actually playing underneath their voice.
- Be in the moment. Attention spans are short. We’re all getting increasingly impatient. When someone turns on the radio, they want to connect with you. Right now. They want to begin a conversation with you. Right now. We seemed to have developed a habit where we can’t just talk to our listener right now. We have this awkward – and unnecessary – habit of over-teasing. 10 second breaks teasing something that you’ll tell me about in “7 minutes” or “after these 3 songs.” What would radio feel like if we stopped trying to serve our needs (driving more TSL) and instead focused on entertaining or informing our listener? Be in the moment. Entertain and/or inform me… right now.
- Make the first words count. If attention spans are so short, why must it take so long for me to understand what you’re talking about? We make instant – snap – decisions. We’re good at making choices. If you don’t make me care in the first sentence or two then you won’t have my attention, and I’ll choose to not hear what you’re saying. The first words you say are the most important. Say something provocative, unexpected, interesting to me. Don’t waste the opening few words.
- Stop reading to me. As a child there is something soothing about having a story read to you. There’s a magical feeling as your parent fumbles through the words and experiments with character voices. As an adult, when you read to me, I feel nothing. We don’t connect. Ted Talks are a great example of this. The compelling talks are those delivered by someone who is passionately communicating what they believe. The less compelling talks are those delivered by someone clearly reading off an auto-cue. Yes, you should be prepared. You should rehearse. But, don’t read to me.
- Exit earlier. When a friend sends you a YouTube video that’s 3 minutes long, I suspect you think to yourself, “3 minutes? Who has the time?” The lesson here is to get out of your content break at the first opportunity. Make your point and move on. Exit on the first laugh or poignant point. Don’t try and beat your own punchline. The more efficient you are the better. Your audience will love you more if you don’t waste their time.
- Be yourself. It is the PERSON part of the word PERSONality that is most important. I want to get to know you. I want you to share your point of view with me. Tell me what you think, believe and hope for. Every piece of content on your show should tell me something about you as a person. That doesn’t mean I need to know about the trivial and insignificant events in your life, but I want to understand your thoughts and feelings around the topics of the day.
- Be unpredictable. The greatest performers make us feel safe in their style but surprise us with their content. Unpredictability doesn’t mean being outrageous… it means doing something I didn’t expect. Life is boring if we can predict everything that is about to happen. Radio is the same. Ask yourself: What can I do today/this hour/this moment that would surprise my listener in a positive way?
- Crafting. You’re responsible for how the whole station sounds during your show. Pay attention to how every element on the station comes together. How will you stitch together the sweepers and music to maximize the flow? Take pride in ensuring the transitions are seamless. Making the station sound good is your responsibility when you stand behind the mic. That responsibility stretches far beyond just what happens during your content breaks.
- Trust your instincts. There’s a lot of personalities with potential, but often they sound like they are holding back. I get the sense that if more talent trusted their instincts and acted on their inner thoughts, rather than overthinking things, we’d have more entertaining radio!
Paul Kaye
VP, Product and Talent Development for Rogers in Canada
98.5 KTIS strives to point people in the Twin Cities to Jesus on the air, online, and on the street. Through remarkable service projects, 98.5 KTIS listeners are the hands and feet of Jesus to multiply the KTIS impact in our community. The first Friday of each month was 98.5 KTIS Drive-thru Difference Day, as listeners shared God’s love by paying for the order of the person behind them in the drive-thru. Moms overcame health, financial, and family difficulties through 98.5 KTIS’ Heart of a Mom initiative; meeting needs for a kitchen update, fulfilling a missed honeymoon with a cruise to Alaska, securing a reliable vehicle, and more. 98.5 KTIS’ Christmas Blessing resulted in remarkable stories of goodwill in the community, meeting needs by blessing people battling cancer, overcoming miscarriage, and recovering from financial devastation. Collecting thousands of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes filled with toys for kids around the world, the 98.5 KTIS Shoebox Showdown shared the hope of Jesus from the Twin Cities to children around the world. Listeners continued that generosity by working together to collect over 11,000 pencils for boys and girls in the Dominican Republic. 98.5 KTIS listeners ‘Shared the Warmth’ as a local business paid listener heating bills during the cold winter months, and listeners used those funds to bless their favorite Twin Cities nonprofits. 98.5 KTIS’ Ministry of the Month connected listener passions and talents to local ministries, highlighting the good being done in our community by these organizations on-air and online.
Through intentional, community focused service initiatives, Spirit 92.9 partners with listeners and businesses to help make their community better, together. The station’s first “Community Spirit” project in 2022 focused on showing God’s love to children entering foster care in the area after the ministry learned that there were more children than ever before in the system. During a weeklong collection drive, Spirit 92.9 listeners and business partners generously helped provide a new pair of pajamas and a stuffed animal for over 1,100 kids. Hoping to lead by example through serving, the Spirit 92.9 team helped prepare over 800 free meals for individuals and families in need for Easter, prepared and served a meal at the local homeless shelter, and helped clean up trash at an abandoned property near their studios. Hundreds of women in the community were served and uplifted in January at the station’s first Ladies’ Night Out-an opportunity to worship, laugh, receive support and prayer. In the fall, listeners and business partners joined together to help three local organizations provide free homemade, holiday meals to those in need. This ‘More Than A Meal’ on-air and online fundraiser helped feed over 3,000 in Central Minnesota. At the end of the year, Spirit 92.9’s “Share The Joy” promotion offered listeners the opportunity to nominate someone to receive a financial blessing. Single mothers, elderly homeowners, and the family of a father badly injured and hospitalized out of state were among the 12 people granted a $500-$1000 gift.
From entertaining the airwaves on KFRC-FM in San Francisco, to dancing away the late 90s on WKTU-FM in New York City, to encouraging and uplifting Atlanta on WFSH-The Fish every afternoon, Beth Bacall’s three decades on the air have had a lot to say. In 2003, she embraced CMB and the CCM sphere when she started working at Star 99.1 FM in NY/NJ. Since 2005, she has served on the Momentum Leadership Team while also offering mentorship to CMB’s Women in Radio community. Beth is a champion for others, taking a sincere stance of integrity and leading by example with her on air work, community engagement, and show prep. As a top talent coach, she equips multidisciplinary broadcasters and artists to embrace their authentic self, grow awareness, share stories effectively, and create meaningful Christ-centered content with all audiences. Beth specializes in moments that matter and is a driving force behind The Fish Christmas Wish Program and Fish Acts of Love. Working on all aspects of creating promotional, reward-based content, including research and execution, Beth is a dot connector that the Lord uses to bring joy and experiences into the lives of others. Even after these promotional seasons, she’s always looking for the next opportunity to be a blessing.
For over four decades, Rick Dunham has been at the forefront of marketing and fundraising for Christian nonprofits. In 2002, he founded Dunham+Company, which has become a global leader in providing multi-channel strategies across some of the world’s most influential sectors. Through radio and television, local churches and overseas missions, medical relief and philanthropic initiatives, Dunham+Company is multiplying the reach of the Gospel. The company currently serves nearly 100 clients in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand – whose collective effort is reaching nearly every corner of the globe. Rick is the author of Secure: Discovering True Financial Freedom and If God Will Provide, Why Do We Have to Ask for Money? He serves as a member of the board of The Giving Institute and is a former chair of the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes the most widely respected annual report on giving in the U.S. He has been published and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post and more. From devotionals to blogs, webinars to books, Rick’s personal faith in Jesus and his Biblical training are the driving conviction of his communication.
Over the decades, Jacobs Media has become known for advising broadcasters on strategic planning and digital transformation, championing forward thinking of the in-car audio experience, developing its innovative Techsurveys, and driving research initiatives with some of the most influential companies in media. In partnership with Radio Ink, the Jacobs duo created the DASH Conferences in 2013-15, bringing together leadership from both automotive and radio broadcasting industries. Working with CMB, Jacobs Media launched the first of its annual tech surveys for Christian music radio in 2014. Working in collaboration with the NAB’s Connected Car Committee, they developed the original “Best Practices” report in 2017. Fred Jacobs, a 2018 Radio Hall of Fame inductee, is credited with the creation of the Classic Rock radio format in the mid-80’s. Paul Jacobs specializes in revenue generation for Jacobs Media’s clients including heading up jācapps – the industry’s first, and now largest, mobile application development company with more than 1,300 apps worldwide. In 2022, Fred and Paul were recipients of the National Radio Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Broadcasters. They were the first duo to receive the award as well as the first consultants.
Jim Leightenheimer has passionately pursued the mission of teaching, mentoring, and preparing college students to serve Christ in radio since 1982. A 30-year radio veteran, Jim implemented and developed a student radio station that started as an AM carrier current, transitioned to a low power FM, and is currently streaming as Resound Radio. Under his leadership, student radio has served to jump-start the careers of many current leaders in Christian radio stations and networks across the United States. His students, both past and present, credit Jim for being the catalyst in building their love for radio. Throughout his career, Jim has enlisted graduates and other professionals to serve as mentors to his student radio staff. He has introduced scores of students to CMB by bringing them to Momentum and, more recently, CMB University. Jim currently serves on the board of directors at WCVO (104.9 The River) in Columbus and continues to be a resource not only for his current students, but for those who are living out his legacy in radio.
Joe Paulo has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hope Media Group since 2018. With an extensive background in media and leadership, he began at KSBJ (now Hope Media Group) as Vice-President of Operations in 2017 after serving at Educational Media Foundation (K-LOVE/Air1) as the Director of Donor Stewardship and Communications. Prior to that, he led a division of Columbia International University as Director of Broadcasting until 2014, overseeing the growth of successful radio stations in Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC. Joe has also provided volunteer leadership at the board of directors and advisory levels for other nonprofits such as Youth Commission International, CMB, and Crime Stoppers of Houston. In addition to speaking on leadership, fundraising and media, Joe and Kelly, his wife, have spoken at marriage and parenting events to share their passion for marriage, parenting and adoption.