Homepage » Presentation » Structuring a link

Structuring a link

Understand how to easily get between one element and another without confusing your listener.

Every link you do needs to have a reason for doing it. You've probably heard the phrase "if you have nothing to say, say nothing" and it is true - if the only reason you are doing a link is because you think there should be a link, then it's probably not a particularly useful link and you'd be better off not doing it. So work out what you want the listener to get out of the link. In a lot of cases that's pretty straight forward - the name of the previous two songs, the station name and the fact in five minutes time you'll be giving away a woolly Mammoth.

So your link could go:

- "Acme FM, where you just heard Coldplay and White Stripes... and keep listening for your chance to win a Woolly Mammoth in our Mammoth Giveaway…"

- "Coldplay and the White Stripes, two great songs on Acme FM, the only station that in five minutes time is giving away a Woolly Mammoth…"

- "White Stripes and before that Coldplay, none of whom look like a Woolly Mammoth, which is of course what you can win in the Mammoth Giveaway here in five minutes on Acme FM"

- "Woolly Mammoths ahoy, it's your chance to win one on the Mammoth Giveaway in just five minutes, here on Acme FM where we just played you Coldplay's latest single and then White Stripes"

Four different varieties of the same link, all with their plus points and all probably perfectly acceptable on a standard radio station. You'll notice that they get progressively more creative, the first being just the facts whereas the last one is a lot more flowery.

What they demonstrate is that they all have a link path in them. A link path is the way in which you link the separate elements (in this case there are three, the previous songs, the station name and the competition in five minutes). Whether intentional or not, the presenter seamlessly goes through the three separate elements.

Link paths are a good idea, because they prevent you repeating yourself, getting stuck or missing vital information out. The easiest way to do a link-path is to bullet point the main points and key words in the order you were going to read them out. So, if I was going to use the fourth link I'd write :

- Woolly Mammoths Ahoy

- Chance to win

- Mammoth Competition

- Five Minutes

- Acme FM

- Colplay (latest)

- White Stripes

The words that go around these points are really incidental; you can say pretty much anything you want which makes sense and the link should sound OK. As long as your link is not stilted and sounds natural, and it contains all the points from the list, it is a good link.

Bear in mind where you put things in your link-path. The third link is pretty standard on many commercial radio stations because it ends in the name of the station, and the general consensus is that listeners will always remember the last few words they hear - so put the most important thing there. That's probably a minor point, compared with say this link:

"And don't forget to ring me on 01274 233-269 to win a pair of cinema tickets, if you can answer this simple question: What was the name of the chef in the hit series Fawlty Towers?"

Hopefully you've spotted the problem. If you can't, think about the fact that radio is a linear medium. And unlike the web or printed media, you can't refer to what you just heard. So what you have is a situation where a listener hears the prize and the question, but has no way of knowing what to do because you've already given the phone number out.

What you need to consider is the hook, or top-line, which is the way you draw listeners into actively listening. On the radio this is often done by way of a question - "So would you be interested in winning a pair of cinema tickets?". Other methods include a strange phrase "Woolly Mammoths Ahoy!" or a sound effect, but they all get the listeners to stop what they are doing and take note.

Then you need present the content. In this case it's a question. Finally, you need to tell them what to do with the content, which in this case is to phone the radio station, but in other examples it might be giving a helpline number out, or ingredients. Anything which the listener might need to write down or remember put after the reason they've got to it. And repeat that information a couple of times.

So the better link should sound like :

"Fancy getting yourself a pair of tickets to go to see any film at the Acmeshire Odeon? Well, if you know the answer to this question, in Fawlty Towers, what was the name of the chef, then give me a phone on 01274 233-269, that's Bradford 233-269."