by Jay Trachman

(This “summer re-run” originally ran in March, 1997. –Ed.)

I’m working with a station now where the morning team — one of the best in the Biz — is addicted to beginning commercial and other breaks with the phrase, “We’ll be right back, after…” I understand why they do it: they’re syndicated to other stations and this is a cue. But it goes beyond that: yesterday morning, I heard the host extro a record by saying, “We’re back…” This is a pervasive mind set and, in my view, a destructive one.

Unlike TV, where the “show” starts and stops for commercials and other events, the listener hears everything that happens during your shift as part of your “show.” People don’t wait for the commercials when they’re listening to radio, then go to the fridge or the bathroom or start talking to each other. And our “show” doesn’t “stop” for events, it includes them. I believe that’s an illusion we want to foster, not damage.

But you hear it done wrong an awful lot: the most common error being: not relating to the music. A lot of DJs play the songs as though they were happening in another dimension: no relating, no responding, no comments, no clue that they were listening along with the listener. These are the “one-speed” jocks who extro ballads with the same energy they use for hard Rock; it makes an immediate statement: “I don’t care about the song.”

Music is entertainment. Entertainment works by affecting the emotions. If you don’t show, at least occasionally, that a song affected you too, the impression created is that you’re not paying attention. Now, to my way of thinking, one of the basic premises of the DJ show is: “Two people spending a portion of the day enjoying music together, which one of them has selected for the other.” It may not actually be that way, but that’s the feeling you want to encourage. Unless you occasionally show that you’re involved with the songs too, then either they’re not part of your show, or you’re not part of theirs.

I realize it’s not usually automatic, or easy, to get emotional over the songs; it takes a conscious effort. You have to somehow find the time to actually listen to a song now and then, immerse yourself in the melody and lyrics, let your mind go, and feel what it does to you emotionally — then Share it when the song is over. I think that’s part of our job as radio entertainers.

You can’t do it with every song, nor should you. After you’ve heard a cut twenty times, it’s hard to get emotional over it. And very often, you’re simply too busy to enjoy the luxury of listening. Beyond that, nobody responds to everything; it would paint you as a phony or a “neurotic” if you tried. But once in awhile, when the time is there, and the feelings are real, you should say to your best friend what that song did to you. (Keep in mind, “What a great tune!” is not an emotional response, it’s a liner card.)

The same technique applies to all the other events in your show: you want the listener to feel that you’re experiencing them simultaneously with him or her. Another area that seems to occur on a different planet is the traffic report: it’s delivered, the jock acknowledges it or makes banter (unrelated to the report) with the traffic reporter, and then moves on. Meanwhile, you and I are sitting in our cars, smacking our foreheads, knowing that we’ve just been told we’ll be late for work today.

You don’t have to rent your clothes every time there’s a bad traffic report, but once in awhile, it would be nice to say, “Good grief — if you’re out there tied up on I-10, my heart goes out to you.  It’s gonna be one of ‘those’ days!” Just acknowledge that this information affects people — possibly your listener — and offer some appropriate words that say, “I heard it too, and I care about you!”

The listener doesn’t perceive your show as separate bits and pieces, nor do you want him/her to. A radio show doesn’t keep stopping and starting like TV; it’s an organic whole, and you’re the “glue” that holds it together: you’re the host, the designated companion, chosen by the listener to keep company with. Don’t separate yourself from the opportunities.

Jay Trachman is publisher of “One to One,” a weekly information and humor service for broadcasters. Jay can be reached at: phone (559) 448 0700, fax (559) 448 0761, e-mail at 121@att.net, or www.121online.net. Reprinted with permission.