Baby Baby

Any radio presenter I come into contact with, I usually (at some point) end up talking about ‘sharing a little bit of their own lives with the listener’. The need for it can vary a little depending on the daypart, but overall “real life” often provides brilliant content. There’s something reassuring about knowing that your favourite radio presenter takes out the bins like you, or goes shopping just like you, or has children... just like you.

Sure, there’s a fine line between doing ‘personal reveals’ and becoming a little ego-centric, but some presenters can get away with more than others. BBC Radio 2 drivetime host, Chris Evans, is a good example of someone who can get away with, perhaps, a lot more than most others... perhaps because he’s very talented?

Chris has shared every moment of his wife’s pregnancy on his blog (that he updates himself daily, other presenters please take note!!) and the culmination of it all this week was the birth of his son Noah. You can read all about it for yourself here and see more photos of the little mite that Chris posted. Now that’s really sharing.

Elisabeth Mahoney, who writes about radio and TV for The Guardian, thought that the level of Chris’s ‘personal reveal’ and the fact he was on the radio the day of the birth to tell all his listeners about it, really worked and she went on to say on her blog...

“It was testimony to the strong connection Evans has with his audience, and further evidence that the show at its best engenders a one-big-happy-family atmosphere. It was also an example of how Evans has matured on radio, with him knowing the pitfalls ("I promise I won't go on about it") and subsequently keeping the conventional shape and features of last night's programme. Finally, it was a tremendously sweet, feelgood couple of radio hours, which unless you are actually allergic to Evans, you couldn't begrudge him as you listened.”

Some presenters are more natural at doing this kind of stuff and more comfortable with allowing listeners into their lives, but I think (especially for ‘personality’ presenters) it’s kinda part of the deal really. ‘Develop a relationship with the audience so they get to know you, and like you... and listen to you more.’ Imagine not sharing anything about your life with your friends? It would be weird wouldn’t it.

Thought: 'Treating your listeners as your friends, (like Chris Evans does), is a pretty shrewd move. '

(Well done Chris and Tash!)

Snow Patrol

Us ‘Brits’ love a crisis. It gives us something to complain about... and we’re pretty good at complaining, and then usually finding someone to blame. If complaining were an Olympic sport for London 2012, we’d get ‘Gold’ for sure. We’re also pretty good in the media at creating a great sense of ‘national disaster’, particularly when it’s anything to do with the weather.

For my foreign friends, especially those of you in Europe, a little bit of snow for you is ‘par for the course’ and doesn’t exactly ‘put you off your stroke’. In fact, one Euro-PD friend of mine carries a spade in his boot just in case he needs to dig himself out of a snow drift... so he claims!!

So this morning’s snow across the UK has been greeted with a general sense of hysteria by the media. Now, I realise that we only get this amount of snow about once every 20 years, and it’s always more of a story if it effects London more, where all the national media are based! And yes, it causes a massive amount of disruption. (My flight was cancelled this morning, but at least I live pretty close to the airport so was able to pop home without too much trouble...)

But I think there’s a fine line between covering a story really well in news and programming... or pushing the “we’re all doomed” button.

Once I returned from my aborted trip to Heathrow Terminal 5, I whizzed across the radio dial in London to hear what was going on. Johnny Vaughan on Capital seemed to capture the tone really well. Obviously, it was the major talking point, but he spun some nice content from it by getting drivers of SUV’s / 4-Wheel-Drive cars who were feeling smug, to call in and say so!

“Everyone normally hates you. You pay over the odds for it all year long... but today you can feel rightly smug if you drive a 4 Wheel-Drive!”

Spot on. (He also did some nice 'Carry On' style jokes about leaving the house with 9 inches!) And the news and information blocks were spot on too. The weather and all its implications was the only story that ran on an extended 9am bulletin on Capital. (Extended so long that the 5 minute news bed ran out during the travel sequence!)

Meanwhile, over on LBC, they seemed to be going for it big time! Nick Ferrari at Breakfast renamed the station “97.Snow”... which... erm...doesn’t quite work really Nick. And he started claiming that LBC was your ‘Official snow station for the blizzard of 2009’! Haha! Do me a favour..!! Again, nothing wrong with keeping listeners utterly informed and making it the main talking point, but don’t turn yourself into ‘The Day Today’ in the process. Please.

Later on in the morning, one presenter had a ‘gritter’ on the line and implied that country grinding to a halt was practically all the fault of this poor chap! The problem will rolling-news and speech stations is that they need to keep feeding the beast and anything becomes a talking point, even the most dubious content. “What kind of brush is best to use to clear a path? Call us now...”

However, extremes of weather always seem to do ‘radio’ as a medium, a favour I believe. Despite many stations pushing the drama of the event to excess, radio still seems to act as a focal point for the pubic to get up to date information quickly and first, to share experiences, and then inevitably to complain and play the blame game. (Social Networking sites are great at the personal photos, but why don't radio stations get listener pics and galleries on the front page straight away? BBC News have already had 16,000 photos in at the time of writing)

I’d love to hear if you have any other examples of local stations going slightly hysterical with the snow. Meanwhile, I’m off to start my lovely 4-Wheel-Drive SUV and feel smug as I go to the shops to stock up on essential provisions to last me ‘till the spring.

I hear a blizzard is-a-coming...

'Every Car You Chase'

It’s nice to surprise your audience once in a while with a piece of music that creates a debate or causes a bit of a stir. One of my friends recently posted a link on Facebook to this YouTube video of a mashup that’s being doing the rounds for about a year it seems... but it’s the first time I’ve come across it to be honest with you.

If your format permits it (and playing The Police or Snow Patrol won’t send listeners into some sort of toxic shock), it might be nice to give this a spin on the radio and see what listeners think? Two iconic record... a ‘classic’ and a ‘modern classic’... mashed up together... it’s bound to cause some reaction – either really positive or really negative.

In a world flooded by content, (much of it uninspiring)... creating or playing something that provides a ‘standout moment’ and causes a reaction, good or bad, is a valuable thing to do. Make your audience sit up and take notice of you. It’s better than sitting in the shadows of those that do it regularly.

Good Positioning!

Having a clear message works... in whatever arena you operate!

Owning a word in people's minds is a pretty good idea too...

Dance, Dance, Dance

Ocasionally, a bit of content comes along that you just have to share. After all... Life's For Sharing!

How good is this?

The Real Thing

I sent an email to someone I haven’t spoken to since before Christmas and said ‘Happy New Year’ on it... and then realised that we’re half way through January already! Christmas is now a distant memory and 2009 is well underway... so it's about time I got blogging again!

So far this year, I’ve travelled a total of 7986 Miles (around 12,500km) and we’re only a couple of weeks in! I’ve been visiting my stations (Radio 1 and Radio 2) in Dubai this week. Now, if you haven’t been, Dubai is an amazing city with lots of fascinating things going on. Here was the view from my hotel window looking across the main highway that runs through Dubai... the Sheikh Zayed Road.

The rather tall building in the distance on the left only happens to be the world’s tallest building! I drove up to the bottom of it a little later that day and it was, as billed... bloody enormous!

Dubai is brilliant... but it is full of things that are a bit surreal. From a hotel that chills the sand on the beach in case it’s too hot for your feet, to the shopping mall with the built in Ski Slope!

I thought I’d take a picture of it to share with you...

It’s a bit odd to say the least. There you are, in a massive shopping mall, smack bang in the middle of the desert, and there’s a ski slope that’s chilled to Minus 2 degrees all year round! If you turn around 180 degrees from where I took that photo, this is what you see...


There’s something about that fact that the ski slope is not ‘genuine’ which for me, makes it a little less appealing. Sure, it’s a novelty to see, but more like peering at something strange at the zoo, as opposed to seeing it in the wild. In fact, there are lots of things in that city which are not genuine. However you can look for reality if you try.

On my last night there, I went with some friends to a lovely little Lebanese restaurant, right off the beaten track. There were no tourists; no Westerners (apart from us) and no fake palm trees or ski lifts or anything. What you got was no frills, genuine Arabic food that just tasted fantastic. Actually, the fact I knew it was authentic made it taste even better for me. I knew that in an oasis that excels in the artificial, something that was real, was a treat indeed.

As I was flying back to London, I mused over the notion of ‘genuine’ verses ‘contrived’ and thought how the analogy for radio was a obvious one. When we listen to any radio station, we can all tell when presenters are being genuine... being real... being true to who they are, or if they’re just a bit fake. I’d go for the real deal every time... and I’m sure I’m not alone.

I’ve talked before about the need for stations to ensure that their presenters are genuine people who able to convey that sense of reality and reliability to the audience. Some can do it easily. Some need a little coaxing to relax and ‘be who they are’, but the results are always worthwhile.

I switched on the radio when I got back in the office and flipped around some stations for a few minutes. Sure enough, there were some fantastic ‘real’ presenters who I’m sure are actively encouraged to be as authentic as possible on air. But I also found some DJ’s who were just false. They talked like only insincere DJ’s can talk... “All this week we want to give you... yes you, the chance to win a brilliant prize. That’s right... a brrrriiillliant prize...” Sweet Jesus.

Let’s make 2009 the year we encourage originality, creativity and authenticity in all our on-air staff and banish the proverbial ‘ski-slope in the shopping mall’!!.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone...