Tip of the Week – 2016 07 05: Don’t Like That Song? Your...
Your radio station has a target audience – probably a very carefully chosen target audience. This is the people your station is trying to reach with its programming. This is the group of people whose lives you are attempting to change for the better.
Hopefully, those who oversee your station’s programme, have made some very deliberate decisions about content, in order to attract and impact these listeners. Hopefully they are seeking and listening to feedback from the type of people your station is trying to reach. So, there may be some very good reasons why your station is playing the songs that it is.
As a programme host, your job is not to like the music; nor is it to play your preference of songs. Your job is to reach out to your listener through that microphone, and to tie the programme together into a cohesive whole (and you are the only person who can do that).
So, what if you don’t enjoy the music your station is playing? Well, your job is not to sit in the studio and listen to music. Your job is to prepare what you are going to say next; to take calls from listeners; to control your volume levels; to manage your automation playout system; to get your next interview guest on the phone; to plan your time out to the news; to do some song or artist research; to pre-read scripts; to liaise with other radio station staff; to exercise your jaw and tongue; to keep up your fluids; and to relax for a moment and breathe! Doesn’t leave much time for listening to music does it?
Just remember, that unless a survey proves otherwise, your listener enjoys the music you are playing. Play it for them, and be enthusiastic about it, for their sake. Then, simply get on with being the friend your listener tuned in for.
Happy broadcasting
James
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