Robby Bridges
By Robby Bridges
As a contributing FMQB columnist you have several weeks notice of submission deadlines. Yet, until just yesterday, I found myself tinkering around topics unsure of what to put forth this month. Then I read a statistic that, while should not have been surprising, was still shocking, jolting if you will, to see in print: The United States Department of Labor ranks the profession of radio announcer on its list of the worst jobs to have in the 21st Century, noting the market for jobs is expected to shrink by 5% or more over the next decade. It goes on to cite new technology, consolidation, in addition to greater duties and stagnant wage scales as factors in its ranking. Wow!
As I’ve written in this forum previously, it amazes me how drastically different the landscape has become since I started working at a commercial radio station. I’ve given this topic much thought and concluded that while the market will become even more competitive, it always has been for terrestrial, satellite and Internet hosts. As a matter of fact, it is easier today, I’d argue, for a young person to get their foot in the door of a radio station and eventually on the air than it was 20 years ago. The radio announcer / host is not simply going to cease to exist, trends in broadcasting are cyclical. But, as has always been the case too, the better refined the jock’s talents, discipline and desire to accomplish what they want in the industry are, the better chance they will.
Programmers: Please pass this article on to your enthusiastic promotions assistant and to the stand-out student you teach broadcasting to part-time at your local college. I’ll end with a thought for you….
The desire to succeed is first and foremost what sets a jock apart from the rest of the pack. There is nothing wrong with being pro active in furthering your career. This means networking (and the Internet has made that easy today), willingness to work odd hours, multiple part-time and full-time jobs at once, over time and even to tackle less than glamorous duties at the station to get a shot on the air in primetime. At the start, a jock will stand out with enthusiasm, availability and displaying a willingness to learn and to try every aspect of the business. Once on the air, the process begins to first master the basics. While it’s not as exciting as doing an actual air shift, board opping syndication or engineering another personality’s shift is exponentially beneficial in mastering execution of elements on the air and watching formatics in action. These are the basics, the foundation from which to build an on-air presentation from.
The next step is listening. Listening to all the radio and airchecks possible (again, the Internet has made this easier than it used to be). The aspiring jock, even a well established jock, stands to gain by finding things they like and don’t like from various stations and talents, filing a piece or two of each away in their mind. I myself still talk up songs I hear while driving or walking around a mall, practice makes perfect (or next to it). Once the basics start to become second nature a jock can take them and apply them to any station in any format. I think this is where a lot of jocks go wrong starting out, they focus on coming up with phone bits or trying to do slick talk-ups and gimmicks before mastering the basics.
The next step for a jock in setting themselves apart is to find an on air “character” that will make them unique. Radio is show business, that’s part of the fun in my mind. So a character is the amplification of an aspect of a jock’s personality. Thinking back to the film The Mask; Jim Carrey is your average joe, but upon putting on that mask a part of him comes out amplified and suddenly he’s the life of the party. In defining an on-air character, the talent should think about their sense of humor, the tone in which they speak to others, language they use to communicate, and bring these to the air while falling back on the basics they’ve mastered. At this stage, I would suggest to young jocks that it’s helpful to actually emulate talent with a style that they enjoy. Every host is as much themselves when performing as they are an amalgam of subtle quirks they picked up from others in forming their own character.
Last, the talent should think about where they want to go. What market, format, daypart, style, attitude, image do they hope to achieve? If a jock continues to learn, fueled by the desire to excel in the radio business, growing and experimenting with their talents and abilities grounded in the discipline of understanding the basics to fall back on, they will be a success in the completive 21st Century job market.
For programmers, in looking for standout new talent, think about what your station / cluster needs. I’ll offer two brief analogies: First, radio stations are like a baseball franchise. Based in a city, the team is bigger than the team at any given time and continually offers what the fans want, great baseball and wins, but has a bullpen of exciting players with different strengths, some of which stay on for years, others who come and move on. Second, a radio station is also much like a restaurant. A fine restaurant is a landmark in its community; it makes clear what it serves, it provides an atmosphere to compliment that offering, and hires a staff to bring this to life and pamper the customers coming in.
Point is, in thinking about and looking for new radio personalities, look for what element your team is missing. Look for talents who will not only play the game well but play well with others and with your customers. And jocks, the better mastered the basics are and the understanding of on-air character is, the more versatile and hence employable a jock will be!
Robby Bridges hosts afternoon drive and is part of the programming team/AMD at Providence’s number one radio station Cat Country 98.1 WCTK, arriving in 2003. He is also President of BBOR Productions, developing and marketing syndication, music and production pieces nationally. Previously Bridges has worked in various capacities at Z100/New York Q102/Philadelphia WODS and Mix 98.5/Boston and elsewhere in New England. Robby can be reached at 401-467-4366 or bridges@bborproductions.com
