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Thanks and enjoy!
Top tips on making a success out of your radio
interview
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
Learn the Secrets of Radio Interviewing
Create vivid word pictures. "The most impressive migrator is
a little tiny bird called the Black Pole Warbler. It weighs
less than one-half an ounce. You can mail two of these
things anywhere in the U.S. for a 37-cent stamp. It's about
four inches and of course most of that is feathers,"
explained nature expert Scott Wiedensaul. Isn't that a great
description? Both simple and concrete you get a real
visceral sense of the size of this bird.
On a more serious note, Dean of the Graduate School of
Journalism, University of California, Berkeley and Chinese
scholar Orville Schell told this resonant story on the
radio. "In 1926 when a protest against Japan reached the
gate of Heavenly Peace the war lord then in power fired in
the crowd killing 50 people, wounding 100 and the square was
bathed in blood. China's most famous writer Lu Hsun said a
striking line: 'Lies written in ink will never disguise
truth written in blood.'" In less than 25 seconds Schell has
given you a picture of a political climate visually,
auditorally and emotionally.
Tell stories, stories, stories. People remember stories. If
there's one thing and one thing only you learn from being on
radio it is to tell stories. Radio is an ideal medium for
storytelling. Your listeners are tuned into the purity of
your voice. They don't have any other distraction so they
actually focus in on your words, tone, expression. While
they hang on every word they can get hung up on every "uh,"
so work to eliminate any non-words from your conversation.
Quote from your book, business, product or cause. Tag the
pages in your book or materials and rank them in priority.
Give the audience a tasty bite of what it would be like
indulge in the banquet of your services, buy your book or
product. Think of it an auditory sample that your audience
can take home with them. Personal Coach Rebecca Everett, who has been interviewed
several times at her local PBS radio station, wrote in with
this advice:
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Prepare and rehearse 10-30 second responses that include
the crucial information you want to impart about the topic
of the interview.
*SUSAN'S NOTE: You want to make sure your 10,
20, and 30 second sound bites are not only fascinating but
relate to the product or service you're there to sell. A
great story for it's own sake is just that. I love great
stories, and I encourage you to keep your focus in mind when
you choose which one's you're planning to tell.*
-
If you can't "see" the interviewer (doing it over the
phone) or can't visualize the audience or callers, take
along some photos of people you know or clip pictures from
magazines and put them where you can "talk" to them. I
learned this from James Alburger at
http://www.voiceacting.com.
*SUSAN'S NOTE: Fantastic advice. What
a great way to give a warm feeling over the air- waves.
Remember, you're just having a friendly chat with another
person, a few million other people just happen to be
listening.*
-
Be friendly with everyone you come in contact with during
your preparation and appearance. The production assistant on
one show will probably become the producer of another and
looking for people who are easy to work with. MY NOTE: I
believe you can apply this counsel to everyone you meet, not
only people you want to book you on a show. Treat everyone
as if he were a guest in your home and you will be welcomed
everywhere.
Thanks for the tips, Rebecca!
Rebecca offers a free,
introductory personal coaching session to see if
you're a match. I took a teleclass on
perfectionism (yup, it's a quality that keeps a
lot of us from moving toward what we really want)
from her about a year ago. I learned a lot and
enjoyed it.
Learn how to maximize your radio interviews for your
product, business, or cause in *Sell Yourself
Without Selling Your Soul®* (HarperCollins). Go to
http://prsecrets.com and get your free excerpts today.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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