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The Bible, Testosterone and Luck: How to give your radio audience sex and spirituality
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
Fables, folklore, bible stories. In the old days people
spoke their stories. Generation upon generation repeated
them until they were woven into the fabric of a culture.
We've lost most of that. But good stories tend to live on in
the imagination and get retold over and over again. When
chemistry gets sparked between two people *hot* moments are
created. Later we relive those *hot* moments in our minds,
never tiring of them. So what makes a story, or a moment
*hot*?
1. Do your stories have an *X-Factor*?
Ira Glass, host of the NPR program *This American Life*,
talked about Bible stories and what he learned from them. He
said that many of them start out with stories like you and
me, but then there's the *X-Factor*, something weird
happens. He says there are three qualities of a story that
make a great radio show.
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Anybody can relate to it.
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It's surprising.
-
You can
see it.
When you're telling your stories check to see if you have a
twist, an *X-Factor*, that makes your audience stop,
reflect, or gasp. Is there something counter-intuitive,
weird or just plain unexpected that you can highlight? We
all love a bit of strange. Give us a taste of that special
moment.
2. Does lightening strike?
Glass says for every story he runs he wants lightening to
strike. How does he get it? He tries, and tries and tries
again. He throws out entire stories he's worked on for
months. He reworks segments. He interviews more people, does
more research. He experiments until he finds the right mix,
the magic formula that will keep audiences tuned to his
show. He says, *If you try enough things luck will strike.*
It's the entrepreneurial mind-set.
Experiment. Go a little wacky. Exaggerate. Try something
you've never considered--or have considered and ruled out.
Take a chance. Don't wait for lightening to strike, go
looking for it.
3. Are you willing to embarrass yourself?
Most people shy away from making a fool of themselves.
Don't. Another word for this type of willingness to not take
yourself so seriously, is vulnerability. We admire the
people who are honest and fresh. Surprising things can
happen if you let loose a little and stop worrying about how
you're perceived by others. Say something outrageous without
censoring it. Respond in the moment with a tear or a laugh
or a snort. Speak your mind with passion.
I love the mythologist Michael Meade for this reason. He's a
very manly man, but he will get choked up or respond to
difficult emotional situations posed by students during his
workshops with kindness and compassion that's free of
sentimentality or silliness. If you're interested in myths,
storytelling and your place and the place of elders in our
society, I highly recommend his audio tapes
http://www.mosaicvoices.org. You can learn an enormous
amount by the way he tells his stories. He's a master at it.
4. Can you use pauses as your music?
The music creates motion and puts a frame on the story and
makes it seem like a fable, explained Glass. You can use it
to give the audience direction, to tell them when to pay
attention or when to reflect. When the music fades or stops,
that's your cue. Like traditional storytellers in Africa
Michael Meade drums while telling his stories. He uses the
beat to speed up or slow down the tension. You can use your
voice as a drum by emphasizing words or beats, speaking
faster or more slowly to move your audience through a story.
You can use pauses as pacing and to give them a chance to
breathe in your words.
5. Do you talk in images?
Great writing speaks in image. So does great speaking. The
truly captivating speakers speak with poetry, art, metaphor
and meaning. For example, Buddhist Zen master, poet and
peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, says, *There is a gatha
(teaching) that says, 'Words can travel thousands of miles.
They are to build up more mutual acceptance and
understanding. I vow that my words will be like gems. I vow
that my words will be fresh like flowers.* Make your words
fresh like flowers and we will be drawn to them.
What about the testosterone, you mentioned in the heading,
you ask? Well, not everything is literal. So see if you can
find it in the rhythm or pacing of this little story. You
don't have to tell all in order to give audiences what
you've promised.
Learn more about getting good press and self-promotion to
gain publicity for your business, product or cause in *Sell
Yourself Without Selling Your Soul®* (HarperCollins). Go to
http://prsecrets.com for 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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