"Everybody Out"!

It’s a strange phenomenon in radio stations that the On Air studio is often seen by other members of staff as a nice place to ‘hang out’.

I have no doubt that you have experienced the production guy or sales person, walk into your space (usually when they are bored), just to have a chat and kill some time.
Usually they will come in on the premise that they have something to tell you.
This is followed up with a, “so how are you”? , type of question.

How are you??
You’re busy.
That’s how you are!
You’re working. You’re concentrating. You’re thinking. You’re writing. You’re editing. You’re planning. You’re generating an atmosphere. You’re performing. You’re focusing.
That’s how you are.

What you are not is :
You are not in a position to chat. You are not in a position to humour another person’s mood. You are not there to fill their need for conversation. You are not there to discuss anything other than what is relevant to that particular show on that particular day.

If you think you are, you are fooling yourself.
If you find you have five or ten minutes to chat while in the studio, then you are not working hard enough at your gig.
Let’s face it. The only people in your building who know what it’s like to be on air are your fellow presenters and other members of programming staff.
The rest of the people at your station, (sales, admin, promotions etc), all think you have an easy job that requires little preparation, planning or concentration.
All you are doing is playing music and talking every now and then.
How difficult can that be??
Well, way more difficult when you are constantly and needlessly interrupted!
They look in the window and see you standing there, apparently idle.
What they don’t understand is that, while you may be physically standing still, you are working. You are thinking. Planning ahead.
How does the next item fit in with the last one?
How can I word the next link?
What’s my ‘out’?
Do I have time to edit this call before my song ends?
You are working.
Don’t expect them to understand this. Chances are they never will.

But you can set ground rules that make it obvious you won’t accept unnecessary intrusions.
The only people who should be allowed into your room at any time are the other members of your show team and your PD.
That’s it.
No sales person should ever walk across the threshold. No promotions. No admin.
Ever!
“No sales person ever? But what if they need to tell me about a promotion for that day”?
Well, first of all they need to get to you before your show.
However, I concede, this is not always possible.
The route to take is this:
They need to tell your PD. Your PD will then decide if what Sales need to say is important enough to disturb you. It is then the PD’s job to go and relay the information to you.
Of course, the PD will also have to wait until you are ready to speak.
If you are up to your eyes for the next ten minutes then both the PD and the sales member will have to wait.
If you have ninety seconds to edit a call into twenty seconds and then get it on air before the ad break finishes in two minutes and nineteen seconds, then you really don’t have then time to chat. Do you?
Let’s understand this. A radio station is only as good as the sound coming out of the listener’s speakers.
You are that sound.
Disturbing you disturbs the radio station.
A good PD will know this.

If you are uncomfortable about asserting yourself in the On Air studio when situations like this arise, here are some phrases you can use to politely get your point across:
“Just a moment, I’m editing”
“Can you give me five minutes”?
“I have to take some calls”
“I have to get this on the air in ninety seconds”
and
“Can you come back when I’m done with this next link”?

Most people will accept these as reasonable.
If, however, you are still having problems with people killing time in your room, then have a word with your PD.
He/She will be happy you have approached them because it shows that you care about your work and want to concentrate on making your radio station sound as great as possible.


To hear more about the On Air environment, contact:
brian@bmacmedia.com

Brian.

http://www.bmacmedia.com

Passionate About Radio