TV is from “there,” Radio is from “here”

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #82
                                                                          
You may have seen the fine 1987 movie “Broadcast News” with William Hurt, Albert Brooks, and Holly Hunter. Director James L. Brooks (who also did “Terms of Endearment”) wove a captivating and sometimes hilarious picture of the TV industry. In it is a scene of a tragic story being covered in which Brooks is on the phone to Hunter, who is speaking into the earpiece of the News anchor (Hurt), showing how fast information can travel, and the frantic pace News Departments have to keep to get stories on the air.

One of the most poignant moments is at the end of the story when William Hurt says, “I think we’re all going to be okay.” To which the Department Head says, “Who cares what YOU think?” to the TV monitor.

And this is one of the fundamental differences between TV and Radio (and between News and other Programming).

While the TV viewer may not want an opinion from a “talking head teleprompter reader,” the radio Listener DOES want your opinion, and here’s why.

TV people (and not just News people) talk AT the viewer. Some (like Oprah) overcome it through subject matter that’s well-targeted, but they still distance themselves from the viewer with terms like “for those of you watching” (instead of talking to you as an individual, rather than as part of a “collective”), and constantly telling you that they’re going away (“when we come back,” when we continue,” or “right after the break”), which are mannerisms that I greatly discourage.

But your Listener is PART of your show, and wants to know what you think, as part of the CONVERSATION (even though the Listener may not speak).

Now be clear that the Listener does NOT want to be told what he or she should think, but what YOU think. Then he/she agrees or disagrees, uses or discards your opinion--but still sees some value in it, because Radio is not USED in the same way that TV is.

TV is a broadcast, Radio is a conversation, or more simply, TV is from “there,” radio is from HERE.

tommy@tommykramer.net

© 2008 Tommy Kramer

If you're supposed to talk to just one listener, how does the most successful radio talker of them all .. Rush Limbaugh .. get away with constantly addressing his audience as "you people."

Oh I see .. If you do everything ELSE right you can ignore a few rules and get away with it.

Funny how life's like that!

Any broadcaster who presumes they have a connection with any single listener and communicates to them as if that were so has just taken a first step towards disaster.

As to whether a listener is open to an opinion of ours: Some are; some aren't. Don' matter. Programmers are adamantly against it. (They may have read some research generated in 1976 or talked to another programmer at some point and that's enough.)

Plus, in fairness, a number of broadcasters would have difficulty in a.) identifying an opinion and b.) communicating it.