One of the most informative and motivating presentations at RadioAsia2014 on Friday came from Shaq (Riyaz Sha Jahan), the morning show host and Channel Head of YES FM, Sri Lanka’s number one English station.
Shaq is also the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on Maharaja Television.
Speaking about the need to pre-sell better on radio, Shaq told the audience that whenever you watch TV, you will always be pre-sold the upcoming show.
He said that studio automation tools had made jocks lazy, with many not doing enough show prep and failing to plan each link/break effectively.
Shaq wondered if when jocks go on auto-pilot mode, listeners do the same.
His five tips for powerful pre-selling during your show are:
1. Make use of audiocrafting
If you have a daily contest like ‘Battle of the Sexes’ or similar, play a clip from the previous day’s contest, which will immediately help listeners ‘catch-up’ with what’s happening, rather than explain the contest. You can use audio in many ways to help you tease vital elements of your show.
2. Be creative
To be truly creative, you need to sit down and plan what you are going to say. Make it different from the way you teased a feature before. If you work in a team, you can bounce around ideas about pre-selling together and not just brainstorm ‘bits’ for the show.
3. Relate to your listener
Make your pre-sell ‘relatable’ and personal to your audience. You shouldn’t sound superior and talk down as you pre-sell elements in your show. You need to be in rapport with your fans.
4. You need to sensationalise
Radio is all about drama. So if you’re going to entice people to keep listening, don’t be afraid to go over the top a little. If you are teasing something exclusive or limited edition, ensure you sell the uniqueness of the item. Make it into an event. Again TV is really good at sensationalising when they pre-sell.
5. You need to tease twice or three times.
Listeners are busy. They have a lot going on in their lives. We just don’t ‘get’ things the first time we hear about them. Just mentioning something once, is not enough. You need to keep repeating your pre-sell and vary the way you tease elements.
Shaq was asked about pre-selling songs with clips.
He told the audience that while playing hooks of songs can whet the audience’s appetite for what is about to play, one of the most emotional moments in radio is hearing the unexpected. When a song starts playing that you love, it is often a ‘wow’ moment for fans and it was important not to lose that, he said.