Radio Interview Content Points

Review with your guests

Prior to the interview, always take a few minutes to review your questions or talking points with your guests. This will enable you to be sure that you don’t catch anyone off guard and unable to respond. Going over the questions or talking points will also enable you to figure out which items should be in and out of the show, and who will address which items. 

Voiced Introduction

The show must have a voiced introduction. An introduction should be about 100-200 words long and should include: Who you are, the name of the show and the topic of the show. Remember that the shows run both day and evenings, so avoid saying things like “this morning on the show…”

SAMPLE SCRIPT

“Welcome to another edition of Community Connection, I’m your host Bill Peterson. Our topic on this show is volunteer opportunities in our area.

You can call the individual shows installments or episodes, current language uses the word “editions.” Simple and direct is the best way to get into the program.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that nearly 120-million people each year do some kind of volunteer work. And the range of the kinds of volunteer work people do is vast-- everything from cleaning highways to ringing bells for the Salvation Army outside retail stores around the holidays.

The introduction should include a brief statement that orients the listener to the relevance and/or importance of the topic. Make a statement that shows you’ve done some research into the topic and aren’t just offering up your own opinions. Cite your sources.

Joining us to talk about some local opportunities for volunteers is Jan Anderson, director of the Volunteers Center, a local nonprofit organization that helps place volunteers.

Also joining us are Michael Porter and Colleen Morrison, both of whom are students here at the college who volunteer at different organizations. Welcome to you all (They respond).

For each person on the show, give a title or reason they are on the show.

When there is more than one person at the interview table, always direct your questions to someone by leading with the name.

“Michael, tell us about your first experience with volunteering that you can recall” or following with the name, “What about you, Colleen?”

Don’t leave a question hanging without being directed to someone because it often leads to everyone waiting for someone else to respond, leaving you with dead air.

On the other hand, more elaborate responses that lead into next questions can be helpful. So a better approach might be something like: “I didn’t know that. Why does that happen?” 

Or use a more conversational response; “I had a similar experience, but in my case….”

During the interview, new directions or opportunities for unplanned follow-up questions might arise. Don’t be so bound to your original set of questions that you miss a golden opportunity to an interesting line of discussion.

For example, for the student who tells you unexpectedly “I spent last semester working in the Public Relations Office of the Irish Prime Minister” your next question might be “Did you get the opportunity to meet him at any point and what was that like,” instead of, say, your original question which might have been focused on something other than that.

Have your next question ready when the person is done talking. This means you must glance (briefly) at your questions WHILE the person is responding. Do not bury your head in your notes – make it a short glance. You should be well enough rehearsed with your questions that you have a fairly good grasp of them. And they should be printed in a way that is easy for you to see. If you have to pause and struggle to make sense of own handwritten questions, you have not prepared them correctly. Always make them easy to read and short.

It is OK to use hand signals as long as they are very obvious and there are only a few. Tell your guests before the recording that you may want to use a hand signal to indicate you want to jump in with a question. I recommend you use something that doesn’t look too halting, such as raising your index finger like you have a question, but not an open palm like a stop sign.

To indicate to your guests that you are about out of time, point to your wrist where your watch is and then hold up a few fingers indicating how many minutes are left.

To stop the interview, agree ahead of time on a hand signal, usually the time out signal or a hand raised high.

Keep the close simple, ex: “Thank you Jan Anderson for being on our show, and thank you Michael Porter and Colleen Morrison for being on as well. And, of course, many thanks go to our listeners for being with us. Fore more information ....  Join us next time on Community Connection.