Agree To Disagree!

 When you go on air with a group of people it's only natural for you to want to sound knowledgeable. So when a co-host or guest takes a point right out of your mouth you can often feel a bit frustrated. It's actually kind of funny seeing how the content wasn't discovered by you in the first place (usually). Today I'm going to talk about taking something you know and being flexible with your knowledge. The best radio isn't always the hosts talking about things they agree on. In fact, most of the higher rating radio shows have hosts that can get quite controversial on a variety of topics. People listen to radio because they like to feel like they are apart of a conversation. If you have a host that takes one side of the argument and the viewer disagree's, then that viewer is most likely either going to switch channels or tune out. You need to have the discussion take both sides of the argument for viewers of all kinds to stay happy. Sometimes you will have to go on-air taking a side that you don't actually agree on. It can be challenging but I promise you that somewhere out there a viewer is also taking that side. On radio you sometimes need to let your own beliefs stay put and explore the other side of things.   

Those Topics We Don't Like.

Today's topic is going to be something that people who aren't even into broadcasting need to understand. Everyone has fears. There is nobody in the world who has been able to ever say that they are 100% completely fearless. For me one of the scariest fears in broadcasting is being in the middle of a conversation and then finding yourself stuck. What I mean by that is whoever you are talking to has suddenly touched on a subject that you know little to nothing about. For me this subject is usually sports. Often there are times on air when sports various sporting events are mentioned, and I understand the public wants to hear about them. So if I'm on air and have no idea what is going on in the conversation then suddenly, I'm going to panic. This has happened a few times while live on Riot Radio at Durham College.  I eventually learned that the only way that I could conker this fear was to force sports news inside of my brain the day that I had to go on air. This way I was assured that I had confidence, knowledge, and an opinion on the latest sports trending topic. I have used my own fear to boost my knowledge in certain areas of broadcasting this way. All of this means that my advice to anyone out there who is interested in broadcasting is to be prepared to research subjects that you may care absolutely nothing about. Just know that at the end of the show, you will be a better broadcaster because of your determination to do this. 

Take A Deep Breath...

One of the hardest skills in broadcasting to me is pacing. After all of the research you have done on a topic, you just feel overwhelmed to tell the audience every small detail. This is a very difficult habit to break as the audience is listening to hear the important things and not the small details. To me radio is either too face-paced, or too slow. When I'm listening to radio the hosts have to talk at a perfect pace so people have time to take in what they are listening to, yet not lose track of what's going on in the conversation. It can be extremely hard to manage your pace on air if you are not in sync with everyone else who is talking. When I get nervous on-air, I tend to talk faster than normal which results in me slurring my words. This not only can cause problems for the listeners, but my co-hosts as well because they are trying to listen to what I have to say. The way I avoid this is practicing out loud before I go on-air, and to just take some small breaths during the live discussion. You must practice out loud. There are often times when you have everything planned out in your head and then when you actually hear the words it doesn't sound right or flow well with the conversation. I promise you that practicing out loud before can improve upon this immensly. It doesn't have to be the whole discussion out loud, but at least take about 10 mintues to plan out your thoughts more clearly that way.    

You Have Just Turned In!

Hello everyone interested in broadcasting! My name is Tessa Kille and you have just come across a students blog that is going to be about various experiences and any advice that I have to give towards the subject. Broadcasting can consist of many different things. Television, radio, live, control room, and on-air reporter roles to name a few. People often think that they need to decide between video or radio and I don't think that's true. Radio and television both have news, entertainment, sports, events, contests and more. When you think about it, there's always a way to do both weather you decide to volunteer at a local station or simply run your own. People always ask me tv or radio and to that question I smile an answer both. It is too early in my career to know exactly which one I'd rather do because I really do enjoy both. I'm going to be covering both radio and television aspects in this blog. I will share any experiences that I have had in the past and my advice to anyone who is interested in the field. Overall if you prefer one thing over another than it's fine. Just don't limit yourself.