A Flair for the Radio Mic? – Guest Post

Of all forms of communication, the spoken word  has an  unusual power that is both  constructive and destructive.  It is the most pervading method of communication, which other forms only complement.  With the spoken word, you can easily gauge mood, strength and character.

The advent of radio has taken the power of the spoken word to an extremely unique level, giving it the ability to convey the same thing at the same time to large and diverse audience spread over different climes and territories.

Here lies the challenge, in radio, you don’t have to see the people you’re talking to, you don’t need to  have met them personally or one-on-one.  Yet you must relate with them on air as if you’re  part of them. Indeed, you should be part of them, because you’ve got  to understand them intimately: their yearning, their strengths, their weaknesses, their potentials  with other radio.

Radio, like other media of mass communication has as its function, information, education, entertainment, cultural transmission. A radio man, whether  he is working in public or private system cannot successfully undertake  these  functions without understanding  the values of his audience, even if his purpose is to correct or change  the values.

BEHIND THE MIC  4th  May, 2007.

There  is no doubt  that there’s a lot of glamour and  fun behind the microphone, at least to the listener who gets hooked to what he listens to on his favourite Radio.  The man or the station that he gets hooked to therefore becomes his idol who he loves to see, meet and relate with at the slightest opportunity.

There’s  tendency  to  think that  the radio talent  is a natural thing, with effortleness of the idol. So, those  who admire the man or women behind  the mic want to be like him.  There are quite  a lot of young people who are only  thrilled by radio, but lack the training  and discipline of the profession. They  soon end up making a mess of not only themselves  but the station.