Journalism-Lecture 5- Radio excerpts

This week's lecture was structured a little differently to the past weeks, it was an online sound lecture and it was two excerpts from radio programs. I have taken as many notes possible so I will post them for the readers of my blog! Below is essentially all of the main points mentioned in the radio interviews.

The first speaker was Richard Fidler from 'Conversations' program on ABC local radio.
The general topic for the interview was telling stories for radio.
 Richard was saying that what he needed to learn was that radio is very different medium to TV.
For example you can't say what you will say on radio on TV and you can't put a camera in a radio station. It will just make for bad radio and dull TV.
Radio is more intimate than TV. TV you can watch from a distance because it is a high impact medium, it comes at you.
Whereas, when listening to radio, the listener is multitasking and doing other things like driving or walking the dog.
Radio sort of feels like the Voice sort of comes from inside your head.
The listener should feel included in the conversation you are having on air. Richard was saying that sometimes a really interesting guest can come on and it can become a closed conversation.
An important lesson is to keep the listener involved in the conversation. In relation to Richard's program, "Conversations", it is an hour long with a guest.
Usually biographical in nature, and the guest is well known but it is better if the  guest is someone you have never heard of before.
The conversation is also about ideas as well as biography on a good day.
 In order for the story to be able to sustain for an hour, Richard has to be genuinely interested and need enthusiasm.
 Furthermore, he states that he is confident it will work before because of the pre-production crew.
A lot of pre-preparation has been done before guest has been in the studio, the guest is prepped and relaxed and know what direction the interview is going in.
Richard says that the key to a good interview is for the subject to feel safe and in a trustworthy environment where they can share their story.
The style of interview cannot be too invasive, sometimes you can tease the talent so they can laugh.
 If they are an experienced media personality they often go into a mode and then you have to take a different approach and use humour and be like a normal human being.

The times when guests are the most memorable is when they remember things for the first time. It is always very interesting. Richard says he loves moments where people surprise themselves and they have trust in the program to open up.
It also is a privilege to be part of the recollection when moments like that happen.
He says that he doesn't say that much and he gives the guest a lot of time to explain themselves.
The times where interference is necessary is if the guest they lose themselves or go off track.
 Giving the guest the time to pause and reflect is also disguised as a prompt and a technique.
It is the gateway for subtle body language indicating to the guest that they can take their time. Moreover, silence is powerful on radio.
With relation to Richard's listening habits, he says that ABC radio is thriving in new environment. Radio is the  Oldest electronic media. It is unscathed in the sense that it gets new technology and is able to effortlessly blend in to new environments.
The interviewer then asks Richard that when in the studio by yourself, how do you maintain the warmth for someone you cannot see?
 Richard says that he imagines his listeners typically as someone who needs local radio to keep informed on what’s funny and weird etc in the world or  someone who needs a break or laugh from the pressure of daily life.
The target listener can be aged from 20-60 who want to know what’s current in life and remain contemporary. He also says that the sense of public service gives an energetic feeling.

Finally, Richard's advice for students of journalism is that worldliness is good, read the newspaper, keep asking questions, be open minded, expose yourself to thoughts of ideas of people you don’t agree with you, expose yourself different currents of thoughts, because you will know who you are better and expand your world view as much as possible.

I really enjoyed this interview, I thought Richard was very insightful and easy to listen to. I also related with his pieces of advice for budding journalists. I thought the different parts were crucial and thoughtful for students of young age studying journalism.

The radio interview then switched to a different presenter. His name was Steve Austin from ABC local radio Queensland.
He said that the first thing he learnt was that in radio your voice has to be annunciated whilst still being yourself.
The aim is to try and communicate and bring down the barriers between the listener and you. One of the quotes used in this interview was that "radio is the theatre of the mind".
I liked it because it enables you think about radio in a different way.
 Steve says that the best thing to do is to reflect who you are speaking with and to not think about yourself and think about what does the audience want or need?
 Some challenges that he has faced depends on the time slot and what he knows about the talent. Steve said that if he wants to know something he will pursue it.
  Furthermore, he mentioned that the average listener is good in that the human voice and ear have a perfect marital relationship.
He said that people can tell when someone is lying on radio rather than TV because on TV there are distractions by visuals where as people can tell if someone is being fake on radio.
Steve says that his tips are that to observe the talent's body language, reward their trust and give them space to reveal themselves.
Another nice quote was "As it is in life, as it is on radio". Which basically means that if you wouldn’t do it in life, don’t do it on radio.
 With posing questions to listeners, Steve said that he is blunt and will say a simple question such as 'do you agree?'
He found that the less complicated the question the faster they respond. Making it easier on the listener is beneficial.
Some components of a good interview is to search for human experiences, look for emotional responses of things that come from a deep place. Human beings are emotional and driven by life experience which is very broad.
 Another interesting point which was raised was that there has been several changes in the way people consume media. For example, radio has continued and is becoming bigger all over the world.  Radio is good for the people who are time poor and also it is nice for a human to connect with another human subconsciously. Over time radio has gotten better and become more real.

Some tips that Steve gave was that if you are not naturally talented then do not give up and if you really want it then go after that. Don’t give up because you may become a more interesting person if you have knockbacks. The best moments he said is when a guest reveals something personal and forgotten they were on radio, they have told their story and became quite open.


Overall, I thought this lecture was really helpful to understand what the life of a radio presenter is like and the importance of radio and how different it is to TV.
In year 12, I was lucky enough to talk on ABC radio on behalf of my school. I was able to interview fashion designer, Leigh Buchanan which was a great experience. I was able to relate to what the guests were saying because I had already experienced being in a studio live.