by Jay Trachman
One of the concepts basic to One to One Radio is what I call “putting yourself on the line.” It means personalizing your performance in as many ways as you can, taking responsibility, and allowing yourself to be vulnerable.
The simplest example of putting yourself on the line is to stop using “we” when referring to yourself. Not, “We’ll have the weather forecast for you in just a few minutes,” but “I’ll have the weather…” Not, “We’ll take the fifth caller,” but “I’ll take…” (Assuming it’s ever really a good idea to take “the fifth caller.”)
This is more than simply a matter of pronouns. The best way I’ve found to achieve One to One-ness is to speak to your Personal Listener. Once you’re convinced you’re speaking to one close, intimate friend, rather than hundreds of strangers, your pronouns should fall into place easily, and you’ll be much more at ease expressing real feelings.
It also means, when talking about the station as a group, with yourself included, the proper reference is “I and all the KJT jocks…” For instance: not, “We’ll be appearing at the Rusty Nail Thursday night…” But, “I and all the KJT jocks will be at the Rusty Nail Thursday night — I hope to see you there!” (Better still: “Please come — I want to shake your hand!”)
It’s a little trickier with contest prizes; I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying, “I’ve got a $10,000 check for you if you answer this question correctly:…” But, “I’ve got a $10,000 check for you from KJT…” is no problem. And if it occurs on your show, it’s not “the KJT winner,” but “My winner on KJT…”
The theory behind all this is that on a personality station, the listener’s loyalty and relationship are not so much with the station or even the music (much as the consultant and the PD would wish), but with the individual “on the line.” You have to make yourself emotionally available to him or her,in order to build a personal relationship.
There are lots of easy ways to do it. Whenever you have some kind of listener “stroke,” take the responsibility! Not, “KJT congratulates,” but “I want to congratulate Emmy Lou Schwartz on winning our Shopper’s Shape-up Contest yesterday, on the Mike Maggot show…”I don’t believe people feel nearly as stroked when it’s done by a group, as when it’s done by an individual. A group doesn’t “care” about me; people care. And when that caring person is you, I’m inclined to feel friendly toward you in return, and to want to “come back for more” tomorrow.
Speaking of strokes, they’re extremely useful in positioning you as a person who cares about the community. Never miss an opportunity to say something nice: “Did you see in the paper this morning about George Smith, the truck driver who found that missing two-year-old along the highway, and took him home to his folks? Doesn’t that make you proud to be a citizen of Metroville?” Not everything you say about the community has to be sweetness and light — “saccharin” isn’t credible either. But when you find an opportunity to say something nice about the town or anyone in it, grab hold of it.
Yes, there is a negative side to all this. Sometimes you have to take the responsibility for things that went wrong that weren’t your fault. But that’s essential for credibility. Your listener doesn’t care about the engineer (to recall an ancient cliché) or the news staff or the copy writer. In saying, “I’m fallible,” you remove yourself from the world of mechanical announcers, who are paid for perfection, and place yourself in the world of human beings, whose appeal is authenticity. When you make mistakes, apologize when necessary, fix them, and move on, confident that everyone will forget about it in about 30 seconds.
The listener perceives everything that goes on, from the moment your shift begins until it ends, as happening because you caused it or you want it to. That includes the music (which is why you never put down a song you’ve played), the news (which explains why you don’t say, “I’ll be back…”), the opinions, the screw-ups as well as the gems.
You’re not just on the air; you’re on the line. Acknowledge it in little ways, and you’ll invite the listener to form a “personal relationship” with you – and, by implication — the station you perform on.
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.
