Five Links.

As a radio person, you will have noticed by now that you listen to the radio in a very different way to non-radio people.
The non- radio person may tune into a station and stay there because they like the music, or enjoy the talk, or just through pure habit.
I’m sure you’ve been sitting in someone else’s car when they turn the radio on.
They listen to songs all the way through and tend not to change the station much. Or, horror of all horrors, they change station when the presenter starts talking! What’s that all about!?
Radio people, although most of the time we’re not aware of it, will channel hop like crazy. Preset buttons are always being pressed as we search out the next link. That’s right, we’re generally not looking for music, we’re looking for links and promos and the nuts and bolts that make each station either great – or not so great!
I think most presenters do this.
I guess we’re just trying to find out what the ‘other guys’ are doing and whether they have any new ideas.
I know, personally, I’m a compulsive station flipper.
In my car, I have one of those frequency changers attached to the steering column, so I can keep my hands on the wheel and still flip around. Lovely.
Here’s how my routine begins.
Get in the car, start it up and put on the radio. Then it’s a rapid flick through the first six presets to see what’s going on. Then the next six. After that it’s back to the original six to see if anything has happened in the fifteen seconds I have been away!
Aha! Someone is coming to the end of a song. I’ll hang around here for a bit just in case there’s a link. Invariably, there is one and I’m off.
This continues until the link is over and then I’ll scan around for another upcoming link from somewhere else. Never once waiting to hear a full song (unless I’m in the mood).
Do you do something similar?
OK, I’ll admit when I’m working with the radio on, I will stick to one station that I have decided to monitor, but that’s different. In the car, it’s general listening and done only as a radio person would do it!

I have been doing a lot of driving this past week and, therefore, listening a lot too.
I now present for you, the five links I reacted to most over the past seven days…drum roll please!


Link 1:

This involved a presenter coming out of an ad break. The break was rounded out with a station jingle. No problems there. I expected a song and was just about to flick stations when…the DJ spoke!
The jingle went along the lines of (sing along if you wish): “Billy Bland in the afternoon on XYZ Radio”.
The presenter’s link was: “Yes indeed, this is Billy Bland on XYZ Radio and here’s the latest from Kylie Minogue”.
Did he not hear the jingle?
The jingle announced his name and the station ID. Just to make sure you heard it the first time, he repeated it. How very thoughtful…and totally unnecessary.


Link 2:

I liked this one. Going into an ad break the presenter said, “In the next fifteen minutes we’ll play a song from a lady who likes walking around town in her bra…and it’s not Amy Winehouse”.
The first person I thought of was Amy Winehouse. Who else could it be? I flicked around a while and came back after about ten minutes to find out. He got me!
OK, it might not be the greatest Hook and Tease in the history of the Universe, but it was quick, to the point and served it’s purpose – getting the listener back. The good ole Tension and Release was doing it’s magic.
By the way, it was Madonna.
Pretty obvious really, but effective nonetheless.



Link 3:

Coming out of Bryan Adams ‘Everything I do’, the presenter opened the link in a nice sultry, soothing voice and said “What a beautiful track that is…”
To some, it may be a beautiful track (song?).
The point being, hasn’t it become a bit of a cliché that whenever we play a slow ballad or love song, we always come out of it by behaving very sincerely and saying what a “beautiful track” that was? You nearly know it’s going to happen before it happens.
What are we saying here? Are we trying to convince the listener that it’s not a load of rubbish? If it’s a beautiful song for me, then I don’t need to be told. If I have no real opinion on it’s beauty, then do I need to hear someone tell me that it’s beautiful? Why not just leave it be?
That song spent five thousand weeks at number one – it’s a very popular song. Do we need convincing and if so, why?






Link 4:

This one made me scream at the radio. I really thought we had moved on from this, but no, apparently not.
The presenter went looking for requests and said at the end, “You know the number by now…and if you don’t – shame on you”!
Then he finished his link – without giving the number! (Excuse all of the exclamation marks, but sometimes I need to use them)! (!).
You know the number by now. It’s one of the oldest and most tired clichés of the lot and here was a professional on a national station using it.
Maybe I don’t know the number by now. Maybe it’s my first time listening to you. Maybe you should just give me the number and then I’ll know it.



Link 5:

Start of a show. I was turning on a roundabout at the time and nearly veered the car onto the grass verge when this one struck.
It was Wednesday afternoon when I heard this link. I wouldn’t have known this but for the fact that the presenter told me.
He then told me the time and hoped I was enjoying myself. Actually, here is the link as I remember it:
“Two twenty five and I certainly hope your enjoying this Wednesday afternoon”.
I don’t mean to sound cynical, because I know we all do the best with what we have available to us at any particular time. However, this is basic stuff. The very fact that the person has been hired to be on air mid-afternoon on a weekday should indicate that he has learned enough about presenting to know not to fall into this bottomless hole of bad links.
If you analyse what he has just said, basically he’s saying that he hopes we’re enjoying this Wednesday afternoon. Well, what about last Wednesday afternoon, or the one before that? Would he like to hear about those? Don’t they matter too?
If you are going to mention the day, then have a really long think about why.
I have a funny feeling that most of your listeners have a rough idea what day of the week it is. Why stop at the day? Let’s give the date and year too – “It’s Monday, December 10th 2007 at twenty one and a half minutes past the hour of nine o’clock”!!




There you go, just my thoughts on random links heard in the car over the past week.
Like you, I hear an awful lot of really entertaining and well thought out radio too. Most of the ones highlighted above are just reminders of the basics – both good and bad.
We still do them. All of us. When we break one bad habit you can be sure another one will try and come along to replace it.
It’s just a case of being aware.
Be aware of the clichés and the traps. Trying to avoid them can be difficult, but it’s your profession. Sometimes it’s hard work getting it right.
Put in the hard work and you will sound focussed and in control.
Avoid the hard work and you’ll get away with it for a while…but that’s about all.


I need to do less driving!

Have a great week.

Brian.


brian@bmacmedia.com