| Elements |
Action |
Tools |
TALK SHOW CONTENT |
| Clearly discernible program purpose |
- Know the target public radio news listener. The more listener-focused the program, the greater its' potential to serve that listener well.
- Articulate the fundamental mission of your program. Everything you put on the air should validate that mission.
- Tell listeners what your show's mission is on the air. It is your positioning statement. |
 Checklist: Starting a Talk Show
Talk Show Content Development Checklist
Kernis Programming Exercise
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| Topic Selection/Shaping |
- Editorial meetings are where shows and content live or die.
- Be enterprising. Many topics should be original rather than re-used from the usual sources. Dig for trends, people and events that are not being noticed, and events and issues that will have lasting impact on your listeners.
- When using derivative content, ask how your treatment of the topic will advance/deepen it for your listeners.
- Be focused. Narrow down the topic by creating a focus statement that clearly states what, why, who, and where.
- Be a leader not a follower - Find and talk about trends and issues that are flying "under the radar."
- Anytime you think the pace is wrong, it's always too slow. Unless a topic is REALLY compelling and presented in a REALLY compelling way, 53 minutes is too long.
- Think about topic count per hour. One reason for ME's spectacular success is topic diversity - up to 12 segments per hour.
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Checklist: Talk Show Editorial Meetings
PRPD/PRNDI Editorial Planning Grid
Questions about Topic Selection and Shaping
Kernis "4 Tiers of News Coverage"
4 Tiers Self-Evaluation Tool
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| Sense of Place - Local Resonance and Connections |
- Explore how topics interconnect your community with the nation and the world.
- When covering a local issue, think how you can "globalize" it to provide greater context and connection for your listeners.
- Be about where you are. Ask what truly reflects who you are and why you live here; what makes your community and its people unique?
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Checklist: Talk Show Editorial Meetings
Questions: Shaping Content's Local Service and Sense of Place
Kernis "4 Tiers of News Coverage"
4 Tiers Self-Evaluation Tool
Sense of Place: 3 Critical Questions
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| Guest Selection |
- Be distinctive. Find the guests that have not already been in the media and that have great stories that help define your place.
- Don't be afraid to be provocative and to feature live discussion with sharply contrasting viewpoints. Mix it up.
- Identify a clear role for each guest. When your guests all agree with each other why are they all on?
- Three guests at once are generally too many. It's too hard for listeners to keep track of who's who, and multiple responses to questions bog down the discussion.
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| Pre-Interviewing |
- All guests should be pre-interviewed.
- The primary point of the pre-interview is to find the story - find the focus.
- If somebody's got an emotional story, make sure they don't spill it during the pre-interview. They're only going to tell it well once!
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| Purpose & Role of Callers |
- A talk show is a program for the listener not the callers. If you can't figure out a clear role for callers that advances or deepens the topic, don't use them!
- Frame your invitation to callers in a way that will allow you to take the program where you want it to go.
- Focus your invitation to callers in a way that taps their expertise and direct experience, rather than just their opinions.
- Seek a diversity of caller gender, ethnicity age, and location.
- Air more first-time callers. New voices bring new characters and new perspectives that keep your show fresh and interesting.
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| Call Screening |
- Not everyone belongs on the radio. All callers must be screened.
- Screen to make sure callers are talking about the topic being discussed.
- Screen to help the caller boil-it-down to a statement or question that communicates his/her point succinctly.
- Screen to make sure your show doesn't turn into someone's private soapbox.
- Screen so you can tell callers that when they get on the air, they should get right to the point.
- Screen so you can alternate caller viewpoints to make your show more balanced and engaging.
- Use email to generate questions before shows - they're shorter, you can edit them and they don't have any follow-ups!
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| Call-Handling |
- Unless a caller is REALLY good, move through callers quickly.
- Don't say goodbye to callers. Just keep saying hello to NEW callers, as though more and more people were entering the room. Let your screener thank them OFF-air.
- Don't allude to callers waiting on hold. It sends listeners the wrong message: that they'll have to wait on Hold. Who's got time for that?
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TALENT |
| Interviewing |
Role of the Host
- Your program is not a forum for the host's personal opinions. Focus on the content.
- Commiserate in the pre-interview not the interview. The interview is not about you.
- Avoid being so familiar or "clubby" with guests that you leave the listener out. The job is to inform, not impress.
- Always listen to your guest. If you've done your prep, you won't need to be thinking about your next question.
- Don't be a verbal listener - "uh huh" is very annoying and detracts from the story. Use non-verbal cues to indicate your attention to your guests.
- Have quotes handy to pull out during interviews. But keep them short.
Structure & Preparation
- For interviews to tell a story they need a narrative structure with a beginning, middle, and end.
- To make the narrative flow throughout the interview, anticipate how you'll navigate from one idea to the next.
- When preparing questions you want to ask, write them down. You may not end up using them but it is an essential part of building the narrative.
- Pre-plan how to recap the important points in a segment - those "two most important things" you want listeners to take away.
- Be an information shark! Be thinking all the time about how what you're reading or watching or hearing can be used in your show.
Questions
- You've got to be able to ask difficult and challenging questions, and the un-answered questions the rest of the media won't cover. The audience expects it.
- Ask the power questions leading with What, Why, Where, When and Who.
- Keep questions short. They keep the conversation moving.
- Ask only one question at a time.
- Make sure a question is really a question. A statement with an upward inflection at the end is not a question and should be avoided.
-When a guest starts talking in the abstract, a good question to ask is "Give me an example."
- One fundamental question is "and then?"
- Listen for cues that will carry the narrative forward, and provide your next question. For example, pick out the most interesting word in their last answer like "inevitably?"
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Talk Show Host Ledger
Talent Hiring Checklist
Interview Tip Sheet
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CRAFT |
| Show Opens and Guest Intros |
- The "sweet spot" for intros is 30 seconds, 45 seconds max. Listeners just want to know what the topic is, why it is important, the guest/s, and what is the goal (where are you going?).
- Keep copy short. The longer the copy the more likely the host will stumble reading it.
- Copy should be written for the ear and not the eye and should be read aloud before the show.
- Pre-plan all transitions - how you'll open and close the show, and how you'll end a segment and move into another.
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| Resets & Other Formatics |
- Doing resets is like being a good party host - introducing new arrivals to the guests so they feel welcome.
- Always important, forward promotion is critical in talk shows.
- Keep moving forward. Once you've done a segment, don't go back.
- Minimize credits - they are station focused not listener focused.
- Use the NPR Talk Clock.
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KUOW Talk Show Reset Guidelines
Universal Talk Clock
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| Production Elements |
- This is radio - use production whenever appropriate.
- Think about ways you can add texture to the program with appropriate music, vox, ambience, movie clips, actualities, etc.
- Use well-produced setup pieces when appropriate.
- Use timely audio going back into a segment after a break.
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PRPD/PRNDI Editorial Planning Grid
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| Reusing Content |
- Remember your news department may have audio that can be used in your show.
- Did this show make any news? Use audio for newscasts or features in the station's newsmagazine programs.
- Most shows feel they are short-staffed so find ways to engage and use the ideas and talent of everyone in the station!
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Checklist: Talk Show Editorial Meetings
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| Cross-Platform Connections |
- Beyond simple promotion, think of ways to use your website to enhance the content of your program by providing visual elements or links to related information.
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