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Especially for you...
How to get the most out of doing on-air dedications and requests on your radio station.
Do members of the public make good radio? Phone-in shows are another matter, but for now we'll concentrate on the request/dedication call. And whether it has any use.
Just like competitions, the most important thing when you put a call to air is that it entertains the audience listening. You might have made the caller's day, but if as a result five people have switched off you've done more harm than good.
Nowadays, the majority of request-calls that go to air are pre-recorded. There are several reason for this, the first obvious one being that it means you are protected from the punter saying any profanities or libellous statements. But, surely that's why profanity-delay was invented?
The reason that calls are now pre-recorded is that the majority of people who phone stations are entirely dull and sound like that on air. Ask them what they got up today, and rather than a presenter, who would tell some funny story; the punter will usually reply "not much" and leave it at that. Who wants to hear that Joe from Bigtown did not much today?
You'll find that they often are nervous, or deaf, or don't understand the questions asked. So you end up with a conversation that sounds like a bad mobile phone call "Where abouts in Bigtown are you?", "Sorry - I didn't catch that", "I said where in Bigtown do you live?", "Oh... 42 Primrose Hill". And ten times out of nine, they won't know the name of the song they want.
So, on an otherwise slick station, a punter can really put a spanner in the works. Thanks to the advances of computer editing, pre-recording the conversation can mean that you can edit out all the mistakes and boring bits, and end up with a link that sounds as interesting as the others in your show. And start the song so the conversation ends just when the vocals start (although this does sound strange when the caller has yet to request the song!).
But this doesn't mean you don't need to prime your caller. As they ring up, see if they sound like the kind of person who is "well-up-for-it" or simply calling you in the same way that they'd call to query their gas bill. And once you've selected them, remind them to sound excited on the phone. This is less important if you are presenting in the late evening or overnight, but even then don't get a punter who "is just going to bed" because your listeners may well follow.
Chat to the caller before you put them on air, even if it is pre-recorded, so that you are not asking the questions for the first time when you are "on-air". This avoids any embarrassing "did you go out clubbing last night?" "no I'm in a wheelchair" (this is not to suggest that people in wheelchairs can't go clubbing, but I've heard a response similar to this).
It also means that you can give them closed questions, which tends to sound better because you will no doubt sound more interesting to the listener than the caller. So rather than "why have you chosen Celine Dion?" you can ask "now as I understand it, you're a bit of a Celine Dion fan and you went to see her when she last played at Wembley".
Always remember to thank the caller on air, it might appear to be really petty but it's something that listeners pick up. It also means that you can end the conversation with the station name, good practice that we've mentioned elsewhere.
When you go to play the conversation out, cut your first question and do the first question live - it sounds more natural than your voice changing mid-sentence.
I've never worked out why saying line numbers has become common place on-air - do we as listeners care that Fred is on line 1 and not line 2? Personally I'd avoid using those kind of phrases, and the other phrase "stay on the line and we'll get your details" which serves no purpose as most people know to do that anyway, and failing that you should already have their contact number from when you called them.
Your station policy will dictate how far you can deviate from the playout list to accommodate the callers' request. But, if you are playing a typical 80s-90s-current mix, and someone asks for the Beatles, are you serving your audience by playing it or just that one caller (who arguably isn't target)? Thank them for their request, and ask if there is something more suitable you could play (throw a couple of suggestions of what is coming up on your playout list).
Never admit on air that you've chosen a different record to the one they requested, or that you haven't got a particular song. And never bow to pressure of a persistent caller who wants a particular song played and keeps phoning you demanding you play it now.
Some stations use callers as an adhoc measure of how well their playlist is doing - and will get presenters to ask "which is your favourite song we're playing at the moment?" and "which song do you think we are playing too much?". Obviously don't do this on air, but keep a note and you'll start to gauge whether your music programmer is in touch with the audience.