Tuesday Talker Tips: #3 Is One a Lonely Number?

Like an athlete, to be a successful talk host you must train! Going for a daily jog is good for the mind, body and spirit but that is not what I am getting at with my talk host tips. We are thinking outside the box to make you think, act like and be a successful talk host. This is an ongoing series of radio talk host tips for those of you new to the format and even for the experienced pro.

Sometimes doing a show solo can seem lonely. You're talking, but maybe the phones aren't ringing. When you are doing your talk show, remember that your audience is just one person. You are talking to one person. Your job is to connect with that one person listening. You might think this advice is counter-intuitive, but it isn't. If you focus on talking to one person, sitting at their kitchen table or driving in their car they will feel drawn to you to keep listening. If you are speaking as if you had an audience in an auditorium, your listeners will be more apt to change the dial. People listen because they feel a connection. We make connections by being personal. Speaking to an audience in an auditorium, you are less apt to be personal. Speaking with one person at their kitchen table, you are more likely to connect personally.

A couple things you can do to focus on talking to one person, when you have no guest and no one is calling in, is to:

1. Have a mirror in front of you. By looking at yourself, you can see the facial mannerisms you make while speaking. Believe it or not these do carry through the airwaves. we will discuss these more in another post.

2. Have a picture of someone you care about deeply and look at that picture while talking. Actually speak to the picture. Again, it may sound corny to do, but the more you personalize your delivery, the more tuned in the listeners will be.

Do you have any experience about these tips that you can share with the other readers? Please comment below.

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Bring your audience back to your website

I have been saying this for a long time. I wrote an article about this, that was published on AllAccess.com in 2011. It is great to use Social Media to connect with your listeners. As a matter of fact, it is necessary. But the most important place for you to be on the web, is on your own domain; on your own website. As a station manager, you need to make sure your station's website an interesting place, a place your listeners want to visit everyday. With the content your staff is sharing on other Social Media websites you should always, or at least most of the time, bring your listeners back to your website. That is where you can monetize and control every aspect of the experience.

I am not the only one that thinks this. Brett Slatkin, Googler and co-creator of PubSubHubbub also believes this is the best way to curate content.