[BLOG] Interesting, Short article about GeenStijlThe writer wonders if foreign radio stations also beg for content from listeners all day long. Have you ever been blue? How about red? Does your first name also start with P? What are you doing this weekend? Or worse: It’s raining, do you know a great record with the word “rain” in the title? This is common in Dutch radio, especially because it fills your program very well and pleases the disc jockeys and producers, because look how engaged we are! Wrong. You are supposed to come up with anecdotes, jokes, news, interesting stories and an innovative approach: that’s not your listener’s job!
In the middle of the summer, it seemed like a nice follow-up to the column on the other hot topic of “voice tracking”: soliciting apps, calls, texts, voicemails, you name it from Dutch radio stations. They are all guilty of it, from NPO Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to almost all commercial companies: Vote now! Call now! Join us! Come! Yes, it is important to give your listeners the feeling that you are involved and making the radio for them, but you do not do it by imposing convincing orders. Often to reassure the fragile ego of the producers: “People are really listening, look, 40 apps, wow!”. And then sit down and read to them all: Spermicide radio has nothing to do with entertainment or captivation, just showing the fullness. Or could it be that the average (alternative) player receives no more than three dozen per hour from John de Mol, making the preparation and explanation for the listener?
Yes, I also like people to respond to a column, but I won’t ask for it. The response comes when you say something interesting, something personal that touches the listener, something funny or expresses a clear opinion. Many radio DJs don’t dare or can’t tell a story or take a stand, so they become little kids who keep nagging for a lollipop. The app is for me now!! I’m here for you. I say: sow first and then reap. You sit there with the gift of entertainment, and that’s again – not – the job of your listener. That poor listener, who, since the program directors went to sleep, has realized that the charts work well for listening time, also has to vote every day for his favorite songs from Holland, the summer months, with a guitar in it, from an album, you name it. If almost no one texts or votes, it doesn’t mean that no one is listening, your call or item is simply not relevant, not interesting or even annoying.
I’m definitely all for “listener engagement”, but my aim is big. Come up with a strong opening yourself. What experienced radio makers know (and what you simply learn in radio courses) is that what you broadcast, you can take back. If you come up with a strong anecdote, you can then identify (or voxpro) the caller who goes beyond that. A well-founded opinion automatically elicits good reactions. “Come on over to the app” is a stupid call I heard recently on NPO Radio 5. NPO Radio 2 often issues arrogant tasks to the listener. But sitting and vomiting is also the other end. It depends very closely on how you treat the listener and the input. Just compare it to a birthday party: you wouldn’t sit in someone’s face there and ask them loudly “Did you experience anything this week??!! Tell me!!”. Just let it happen naturally and make sure you entertain the listener rather than the other way around.
