All the great music hall legends knew it, most good stand-up comics know it and anyone who entertains a live audience, for any length of time knows it. Radio is just such a live audience but instead of walking out the theatre, they have an on/off switch or can retune to another radio station.
So what’s the best way to keep them tuned in to you?
Radio Creativity and Making Entertaining Radio
The history of radio in its early days, and to some extent and in some cases today, is a history of popular entertainment that once graced live theatre. There are numerous cases of the following entertainers playing live to an audience in front of them first and then transferring their act to radio. Entertainers such as:
- Comedians (especially with the current popularity of stand up comics
- Musicians
- Actors and Playwrights
- Book readers and storytellers
- Music Hall Entertainers
Anything that is popular entertainment or worthy of bringing to or gaining a larger audience can be entertainment for a radio audience.
Live Radio and the Radio Audience
The unfortunate, some would say, and often ignored part of radio that’s different from live theatre is that any feedback is seldom instant. You can make-up a radio show, promotion, or commercial, transmit it, think it’s wonderful and then go home. There is no instant applause or conversely booing or large scale walk-outs. Feedback may not be instant and the radio station will not usually be aware of the listener switching radio stations or as may be hoped for, being entertained and staying listening.
Think about what an audience does:
- If what they’re listening to interests them they keep listening
- If what they’re listening to doesn’t interests them they switch off or switch stations
- They may keep listening for awhile in the hope of find something that interests them
- They look elsewhere for radio that does interest them
As Dick Orkin, famous head honcho of California’s Radio Ranch said , “People listen to what interests them and sometimes it’s a radio ad.“
What Interests a Radio Audience
Research by the radio industry in the UK and specifically the Radio Advertising Bureau revealed a number of interesting facts in a recent survey. The findings focused mainly on the effects of advertising, the RAB being the marketing arm of the commercial radio industry in the UK, and some of the findings about listeners' response to radio advertising included :
- radio was the joint lowest (media) with Cinema for Ad Avoidance
- most people rarely switch radio stations to avoid the advertising
- most listeners “zone in and out” of radio content all the time according to their level of interest or distraction
The findings could in some instances be extrapolated to radio programming. Similar research and historical surveys have found that, unlike television where the viewer is by and large passive, the radio listener often does other things while simultaneously listening.
Writing for Radio
There are of course a number of different types of radio production that a radio listener may want to find interesting for any number of reasons. Radio that includes:
- Music Radio - in all its forms
- Radio Drama
- Talk Radio
- News and Sport Radio
Each of the different types of radio require different skills and you will be good at some better than others. As a good radio professional you will find the area of radio broadcasting that you feel fits your talents.
To find what interests to you and your audience there are a number of simple rules:
- Do what you’re good at
- Write More and Write More Often
- Write about what you know
- Ask your audience what interests them and give it to them
The one skill that’s very difficult to learn is experience. The music hall entertainers and comedians quickly get to know what entertains their audience and how to survive on stage. This is usually achieved by not a little talent but mainly a good deal of trial and error.
Dan McCurdy - Dan McCurdy is a freelance writer producer creative and lecturer. Dan is one of the UK's most experienced radio writers and producers. ...
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