Media Training Worldwide

Radio—The Feel Good Medium

When you are a guest on a talk radio program it is essential that you do more than just prepare the facts for particular questions. Facts are nice, they may even be essential, but they will not make you a great radio quest or earn you a warm place in the hearts of listeners.

Radio is a personal and emotional medium. You need to come across as friendly, conversational and accessible. You can’t seem like you are lecturing to a huge room of people. And for goodness sakes, don’t even think about reading a script when you are a guest on a radio show. Radio listeners can detect in less than a second if you are reading and they will conclude that you are unknowledgeable and insincere.

Instead, have a few key message points and a narrow, positive agent. More important, have a positive attitude. You need to literally smile when you are on the radio. This may seem like ridiculous advice when you are on the radio because no one can literally see you smile. But listeners can hear your smile. Then can also hear if you sound like you are in a bad mood, annoyed or having a lousy time. No matter how rude the host is to you or how ill-informed the callers are, you need to act as though you are having the time of your life! There is no place you’d rather be than on this radio show right now.

Your tone should be the same as if you were having a one-on-one conversation with your best friend. If you do that, you will have a new best friend: the thousands of radio listeners hearing your voice.